2012 was of course S' first Christmas! My first baby to be so very young at Christmas - so I got to do the cute Christmas outfit! Thanks C for the present!
Christmas is a curious time for us atheists. We don't make a big deal of the nativity traditions of Christmas at home, nor do we overdo Santa. However at school the latest traditional reason for Christmas (Jesus'birth) is explained and so T is aware of that. Note that the school doesn't mention that Christianity hijacked to a certain extent the pagan celebration already earmarked at this time, but that's okay.
Santa is a difficult one. I discovered that T desperately wants to believe in S, so I went along with it. If he had asked me outright, do you believe in Santa - I would not have lied. I just kept up the pretense, with an absence of comment - so that I didn't feel too bad about this giant fib we play on our children. Many many people think I am dreadful for not making Santa special for my kids. My answer, in the true atheist/skeptic fashion, is that there are so many miraculous, wonderful, amazing REAL things in the world to be inspired by - why make up a silly story? But I live in a western civilisation and my children interact with that world, so I guess I need to go with the flow.
However Christmas involves one present each from Santa, and two presents each from the family. I spend a maximium of $50 on each child. So there is no huge pile of presents under the tree at our house. My gorgeous girlfriend in the UK sent a present each - so this made it look 1/3 bigger!
As you can see - not a huge amount of presents, but ....
... Mummy & Daddy chose well - T's first gift - Wii ABBA Just Dance. Wow - he loved it!
And hear they are playing it. E and W both dance along when the 'big boys' do it for real! By the way, D is still VERY funny to watch - even more so given it is ABBA songs. Will try and video in secret again to give you all a good laugh! I love him to bits that he still gives it a go!
And just as happy with his second gift - a box set of 'Diary of Wimpy Kid' books!
W got a set of Thomas' books and a Thomas colouring book. He loves to chose a new book each night to read since then! Favourite is the Christmas story of Thomas who gets lost in a snowstorm on his way to pick up the station Christmas tree.
E got a box set of ''In the Night Garden' DVDs. He still doesn't quite have the attention span for a whole show - but I think we are getting there!
Santa caused a huge stir at about 5.30am when T rushed down to see that Santa had left a new train set and set it up for the boys!
Santa also left a jumping castle (and air compressor for Daddy to blow it up with - but this needed to be returned!). A little bird told me that Santa got both these items from a garage sale for less than about $20. Clever, budget conscious Santa!
The boys' aunt gave them great presents - a helicopter for W and a drill set for E, and a battleship game for T.
My girlfriend in the UK's presents were rugby jumpers for all the boys - including S! So gorgeous. My fashionistas (E and W - T has NO interest in clothes or his appearance) modelled them all day.
D and I, having assisted Santa with the setup of train and running around neighbourhood looking for an air pump/compressor a 11pm on Christmas Eve, plus the normal nighttime shenanigans - were truly exhausted Christmas morning. It took super human effort to pull off the day. I don't think I have EVER been so tired in my life. Truly.
I think this is why we had a rough few days post Christmas - in terms of my feeling quite blue and down about everything not getting done as planned (see prior blog post) and the two of us just being miserable together and at the kids. It shouldn't be that way - but it was, unfortunately. We are definitely doing it tough at the moment - no sleep, no couple time and no personal time. But I believe it will be worth it in the long term - four beautiful sons to bless my life. This time will be a memory soon, and I will look back and mourn for it, I know. Just got to survive it to get to that point!
Labels: Atheist, Christmas, Family Traditions, finances, Newborn, parenting, values
