Christmas 2007
For those that celebrate, Merry Christmas.
2007 will go down as the first year both of my children “got it” with regards to Christmas. My son has always understood it but prior to this year my daughter didn’t. A family tradition we have is that Santa stops by our house just after dark on Christmas Eve to surprise the kiddos with a special Christmas gift before he heads off across the world to deliver other toys. Last year my son hid from him for a while. Once my son finally acknowledged him he spoke to Santa with his back to him basically. A tad bit anxious but we didn’t push it. My daughter was comfortable with him as she was curious what was in his big red sack.
This year the second the kids heard the jingle of the bells my son hid again but my daughter beelined for the door. She peered out the window and gleefully screamed “Santa!” My son got a huge grin on his face so I told him I’d hold his hand and we’d go see what was up. He said “I have anxiety” and I told him it would be OK, we’d just go see. Within seconds he reached his comfort zone and started in talking to Santa. Santa surprised my daughter with the much desired blue Cinderella dress that she asked for and my son was the very excited recipient of a new game for the Nintendo DS (Mario Party DS). They continued to talk to Santa and even sat on his lap (no visits to a mall Santa this year). When it was time for Santa to go they both gave him big hugs.
Now I know Christmas isn’t all about Santa or presents but for me it was heartwarming to see both kids really get into it this year. Definitely a lot of growth on both of their parts.
