Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Through the eyes of children

This will be Nat's third Christmas, but the first year he really has much of an understanding of anything related to the holiday. He gets Santa, though, and understands that Christmas is also Baby Jesus' birthday...as much as a two year old can, I guess.
We took the kids to see Santa at a small country store in the area that has the best Santa I've ever seen. Santa comes down the chimney every night. Savannah, obviously, doesn't understand anything beyond the sparkly lights, but it was fun to see her enjoying the twinkling lights on the trees. Watching Nat's eyes light up as he spied Santa's boots dropping from the chimney was enough to melt my heart. His anticipation was very apparent as we waited in line. He was so excited to tell Santa that he has been a good boy and that he'd like some more Cars things for Christmas. He's been spoiled in that he's my taste-tester for every holiday cookie I'm baking, and he'll also get the occasional treat of staying up "late" to watch a Christmas special in his jammies, snuggled up with mama while eating some popcorn we've popped on the stove top. I wonder if any of these things will serve to become one of his first memories. I hope so. I can't recall many annual Christmas traditions from when I was little, so I hope to create many for these kiddos that will help make each holiday extra special. I know, though, that I'll remember enough for the both of them.

I made the decision to move Nat into Savannah's bedroom, which happens to be his old bedroom. He's been having an awful time sleeping lately, and I wondered if he missed his old room, or if he just wanted company. I was a little nervous about the two of them sharing a room, thinking that one would disrupt the other, but so far it seems to be a success. He loves to look across the room and see his baby sister.

In medical news, my PCP has reached out to medical staff in Rochester to see if anything of my case rings any bells with them. Apparently some doctors at the large teaching hospital in Rochester are quite interested, so I'm wondering if I'll have to travel a bit in my continued effort to find out what's going on. Travel + WNY winters = fun.

I'm at an impasse with Christmas shopping. I would love to buy and buy and buy, giving the kids everything they want, but we also want to instill in them the notion that they don't need to be knee-deep in material possessions to be happy. After all, it's not the amount of things that we have that makes us truly happy. So I'm wondering how much is too much. I know some families who give one gift per age in years - so Nat would get 2 following that rule, and Savannah would get - what, half of a gift? I know some families who have their kids make a list, ranking the top 5 items on the list, and more families who save and save and save during the year and then go crazy at Christmas time. Hubs and I don't exchange gifts, so that leaves some extra wiggle room to spoil the kids, but I don't want to raise spoiled kids. It'll be fun to see what ends up happening.

Lastly, I have the Facebook virus, and nothing we do seems to get rid of it. We've tried a gajillion different antivirus programs, including that one we pay $80 a year for, and nothing works. Anyone have any insight?

2 comments:

Bakersfunnyfarm said...

Yeah,we're one of those families that saves all year then goes nuts at Christmas but I do love it! :-) It wasn't always that way, just turns out that as they get older, they get more expensive LOL In all honesty though, my kids have always shown SUCH appreciation that we figure it doesn't hurt to spoil them freakin' rotten at Christmas. LOL We also make sure that above all else, they understand the reason for Christmas. We've always made sure that they give to the less fortunate, especially during this time of year and I think that helps them be appreciative of what they have too. I think no matter how you choose to handle the gift situation, you're instilling great morals in your kids as well as making wonderful memories for them. Whatever you end up doing...it WILL be the right thing!
XOXO

Elisabeth said...

I love this post and I love this picture!

I agree 100% with Nana - I think regardless of how much or how little you decide to give your children, as long as you're teaching them WHY we celebrate and exchange gifts and they express true appreciation, then you are doing a great job.

It sounds like whatever you choose will be great because you're teaching Nat and Savannah the REASON. We are trying to do the same for Hudson.

PS - I hope the new docs figure something out and the next year bring GREAT health to you!