Pictures With Santa - and so much more...

Question: Do you plan to get Jude's picture taken with Santa Claus?

Answer: I honestly haven't given it much thought. If they do the dog night again, I think I'd love for Buddy and Jude to get one together. If they don't, I can imagine us never making plans to actually go and do it, but if we're at the mall one night and happen to think of it, sure.

It's funny that you ask that though as I was just having 'the santa' conversation with my brother and Katy yesterday.

Katy grew up in a house where they didn't celebrate Christmas, so they never believed in Santa. My brother (being the youngest of the three of us) said he was heart broken when he found out there was no Santa. I'll say that he might have been younger finding out than some other kids (or at least younger than me and my older brother) because in my opinion, it's one of those things you all realize together. I mean, being the evil older sister I am, I can imagine me making fun of the 4,5,10,whatever year old Bryan, for thinking there's a Santa after I find out there's not. The two of them seemed to be leaning in the direction of not telling their kids there's a Santa. (so, when your future kids come home and say "_____ Wilson told me there's no such thing as Santa, the Easter Bunny, tooth Fairy..." you'll know who to blame.)

Now up until this year, It was never a question - duh, Jude's gonna think there's a Santa! But yesterday I caught myself wondering if it's really something I want to push. My main reason for questioning myself was because of what Christmas has become to some degree. Parents who may or may not already be struggling to get by, get this three page list of toys and gadgets their child HAS to have and to the young child, it's nothing... Santa's elves make it, it's free and it gets delivered, end of story. I mean I don't want Jude to have our financial situation at the time on his shoulder's when picking out a gift, but I also hope that from a young age we instill some sense of responsibility in him making him aware that money does not grow on trees and toys can be expensive, so he can not always have everything he wants (no matter how much I want him to). I personally feel that too often parents keep their finances this huge secret and just give and give when they don't have it.

But at the same time... I want my child to be just that... a kid. Maybe not a kid with a million toys and parents with a negative bank account, but a kid with an imagination. A kid who with out a blink of an eye can picture Santa's workshop chuggin' a long up at the North Pole pumping out Nintendo Wii's, Tonka Trucks and baseball bats all hours of the day. A kid who doesn't question why elves have pointy ears and sing Christmas Carols all day long. And last but not least, I want it to make perfect sense to him that Santa can hop in a sleigh with eight reindeer (who have to be at least 100 years old now) and fly around the world in one night delivering presents to every little girl and boy with out them knowing. That it the great part about kids - their unwavering imagination. Who am I to take that away from him?

So I think I've come to the conclusion that Jude will be told there is a Santa. We will not push it on him like my parents did (yes - in middle school, my parents still insisted I believed and would say over and over again that the presents stop coming when you stop believing) but I also won't be that mother who outright tells him this is the way it is, there is no Santa. But I will not say every gift under the tree is a Santa gift. I think we will tell Jude every year to pick one special gift that he wants from Santa and that's what we will put out after he goes to bed at night on Christmas Eve. Everything else will be from mommy and daddy and be wrapped and put under the tree a head of time.

Another option is that the gifts under the tree can be from us and we can fill his stocking with little gifts from Santa. I'm not sure. But I'm liking where this is going. I think it will make that gift all the more special.

In addition to all of the gift giving to Jude, I'd like to incorporate the idea of giving to others into every Christmas. I'd like to make it a tradition for us to take Jude out to pick out gifts to give to other kids. I think it would be a fun and rewarding thing to start doing more regularly after this year.

Question: Do you think I'm crazy? LOL