We have been busy getting ready for Christmas, cleaning out the house, decorating the house, cutting and dragging in greens and prettying them up with bits of red, hanging them on the doors and placing them here and there. We've been taking out the old Christmas albums, singing songs, preparing gifts, cooking and baking.
My baby, my little one, Duncan will be nine years old in a few weeks. He is beginning to ask questions. He is wondering if Santa is well Santa and if it is not somehow the parents but he can't seem to really wrap himself around the parents pretending to be Santa.
He has a plan. On Christmas Eve, he is going to set up a motion sensor and a video camera, well maybe two motion sensors are in his his plan, one near the tree and one near the bedroom doors to see what he can see. (Mind you, we don't have two motion sensors and a video camera.). He wants to wait up too.
Yet I am not feeling certain that he really wants to know or give up the magic of Santa Claus. Angus at eleven was ready. He was clear and certain. There was no turning back. With Duncan there is a hesitancy, a sense that he knows but wants to be convinced maybe that Santa is really Santa.
In a phone conversation with the workshop that makes the elf jammies that Santa brings each year at Christmas, a woman named Cathy shared with me a story from her family, of going out on Christmas Eve with her family and when they returned home, just as they were entering the house, they heard jingle bells from the back door and ran to see, but it was too late, Santa had gone and the gifts had arrived. Another year Santa actually arrived at the house and delivered a pack full of gifts.
Hmn...I am wondering how to keep the magic for him. The gifts have always arrived in the night while the children were fast asleep. I love the idea with jingle bells being heard. And I am thinking of possibilities yet nothing is coming. Have you been in this place with a child who seems to want some magic, is not quite ready to let go but needs some convincing? What did you do to keep the magic alive? I'm so wrestling with this and would love to hear from you.
Christmastide blessings on you and yours!
Lisa
Hi Lisa, I've been reading your blog for a little while now (love it by the way), just thought I'd leave you this link to another blog which has a lovely story about santa, the tooth fairy and trying to keep the magic for children that little bit longer
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Lisa. Keeping Santa alive is hard. My 7 year old does not like the Santa's at the mall. I told him they were his helpers. He said that they are terrible helpers and he doesn't want anything to do with them. He wants to see the real Santa.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think being so close to the North Pole it would be easy : )
Kris P
Did you know you actually CAN capture santa on a photo in your home? With a little technical magic- it's super cool and might just satisfy your 'on the fence' kids for another year or two.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.capturethemagic.com