countdown to christmas

the tree is up. christmas crafty-ness has begun. letters are written to santa. amazon wishlist is updated. and the girls are very excited for the holiday. i am starting to realize that the christmas holiday will need some deft maneuvering on my part to make sure that the girls don't get overly materialistic or brainwashed for the holiday. a hard thing to do when christmas is everywhere.

recently a good friend of mine told me "if you celebrate christmas you are a christian", which made me laugh in its stupidity. but then i thought about it, and realized that i really wish this was the case. I wish that christmas wasn't about buying copious amounts of toys and gifts. I wish christmas was something that was kept sacred for those who do believe in Jesus, and that the rest of us weren't pulled along by the commercialism of it all. To be honest, I feel like a hypocrite celebrating the birth of Jesus, and most of us non-believers should. I have contemplated trying to have only a "winter solstice" or "yule" celebration but i am fully aware that my girls expect Christmas in all its glory. It is a hard one, but one I will leave for future years, when the girls will understand.

One of my oldest and dearest friends was brought up as a Jehovah's Witness and never celebrated Christmas. Although she was told this was the right way, I know she always hoped for a Christmas celebration and felt left out when the holidays came around. I don't want my daughters to feel as if they were forbidden a Christmas when so many others celebrate it without any religious connection. Because truly, Ruby and Esme have no clue what Christians mean by Christmas. Even after attending the school Nativity play (don't get me started) Ruby still didn't get it. When I asked what Christmas was all about, Ruby said "angels and fairies" which was an OK answer for me.

So for now, we open up our chocolate advent calendar daily and count down the days until Santa comes on his sleigh delivering toys to the good little boys and girls. As usual we don't spend too much, but have some good ol' family time together.