We just finished Chanukah.. Now that the kids are a little older and have so much more awareness of celebrating holidays things are getting a little more complicated. The kids LOVE the lighting of the candles, making and eating latkes, and even more: opening presents.
We are also finding this time of year to be difficult. How do we separate out all of the celebrating from all of the materialism? With opening presents comes: He got the color I wanted, He got more presents than I did, I won't wear that color, etc. etc.
I am now bracing myself for the coming of Christmas. Growing up Jewish I can't say I looked forward to the holiday in the past. Now, though, I am in a family that will, in some way celebrate Christmas. Since I have been with Patrick I have enjoyed Christmas as a great family day, where we all stay home, stay warm, and enjoy each other. We are still settling in to what is "our way" as a result of our blending of backgrounds. Christmas, too, is hard to do "low key." Everyone is talking to the kids about Santa, for example. Its not that I am adamantly opposed to the Santa concept, but its not something I can get excited about either. I am finding, though, that like other areas of parenting if you are wishy- washy about something, strong-willed kids will have a hard time with that. Its confusing about how to proceed. If we are acknowledging Christmas as a holiday that we celebrate in our family, than do we have a tree and if so how big and is it real? Do we elaborate the celebration with Santa and the entire story that he comes with? How do I answer the kids' questions about Santa when I am not into him in the first place? I guess these are all the questions of a family that is still new. I have to remember that sometimes- we have many years to go together and I guess we will figure things out as we go along.
