December Traditions

My kid's are scared.

Maybe scared is not the right word... they have a healthy respect for the power that is Santa. What they ARE scared of is the possibility that Santa won't bring them presents on Christmas. That's fear in it's most primal form.

As a parent, I have learned how to take their "fear" and harness it into ways that will benefit me. The origins of my Santa manipulation are rather innocent, only over the years have they evolved into something slightly more self-serving.

Let me break the scenario down: A random day in December 2010. A 2 and 5 year old fighting over the noise-making-toy-of-the-day. Mama pleasantly asks them to knock it off. Fighting obviously continues. Mama threatens time-outs, no desserts and corporal punishment in the form of push-ups. Fighting obviously continues. Mama about to have a nervous breakdown because of the screaming and noise making. Fighting has turned to crying. A worn down mama looking around for help and/or inspiration.

A-ha! Santa! Santa won't come to little boys that are fighting.

5 year old smart alack asks how Santa knows if they have been good or bad? Mama goes blank because kid's fighting kills brain cells. It's true.

But then Mama has a moment of inspiration. "The Elf on the Shelf."

My mom bought us this book and we had yet to try it out. The Elf on the Shelf is a book. And an elf. The elf sits on the shelf and watches what happens throughout the day, and then flies through the night to the North Pole where he tells Santa what he has witnessed. Then the elf flies back and sits in a different part of the house to watch the next day. The 5 year old totally didn't believe me. So I put Ernie (you have to name your elf) in the Christmas tree... and the next morning- he was sitting on a picture frame across the room. The fear healthy respect was then born, and every morning Ty and Ryan frantically search the house for where Ernie is watching that day. It's awesome.

I also put up my Nativity this week. I really want the kids to recognize the holiday for what it is- the time that we celebrate Christ's birth, even though Santa is fun. So, I grit my teeth and put my beautiful nativity set down where they could see it. Right under the TV. I told them the story of Christ's birth, and used the nativity pieces to act it out. The boys loved it. Though... I set the angel down for a second and Ryan scooped it up and started flying it around the room going "Buzzzzzzzz." Apparently something was lost in translation. The angel is NOT a bug. I went back over that part.

The funny part- I threatened the boys with mayhem if they touched the nativity. But every day something is moved to a different position. I never catch them at it... but I can tell that they are watching and thinking. I suspect that it is Ryan that moves all the lambs to crowd around baby Jesus, because during the story- he wanted to make sure that EVERYONE saw the baby Jesus. And I suspect that it was Ty that put the angel on the DVD player, because he pointed out that angels have to be up high so they can see when they need to sing. Though the jury is out on who added the Transformer to the scene in the stable...

They are such funny little boys. I love them so much. It's always more than a little overwhelming to me when I think about all the things that I need to teach them and that they need to know to get them through this life. But they are smart. And I think they'll do alright.