Today was pretty similar to yesterday on the stress meter. I'm not sure what God is trying to tell me, but I feel like maybe it's to slow down? Or learn to have better patience? Or spend more time in prayer every morning? Probably Definitely all of those would be good.
After a long afternoon of trying really hard to hold it together, I completely ruined dinner and had to throw out ALL of it (after spending close to an hour preparing it and trashing my kitchen in the process, including spilling melted butter all over my brand new microwave and range).
After some tears and James making a quick pizza run, we ate and realized it was too late to head all the way to Safety Town in Frisco. So instead, we headed 5 minutes up the road to Santa's Village.
I feel a little conflicted about Santa's Village...pretty much just like my inner conflict with Santa in general. I've decided that he's everywhere and pretty much unavoidable, but haven't decided to actually sit down and tell the kids the truth about him. Although part of me really longs to do that. Hunter has been asking questions about where Santa lives and about how he's going to get in the house, and I always just change the subject. I don't figure this parenting strategy can last too much longer, so sooner or later I'm going to have to take a stand.
I don't want to steal the magic from them, but I also don't want them to get so wrapped up in Santa and presents (me! me! me!) when we are really trying to make the focus of the holiday Jesus. We love Him and believe in Him and He deserves to be celebrated.
Anyway. Santa's Village. Everything about that place revolves around Santa. It's his village, so why wouldn't it? It was a little bit of a struggle for me. Our first stop was the post office where the kids wrote a letter to....you guessed it, Santa. I've never talked to them about writing a letter to him or even asked them what they want from him, so this was kind of a new concept. Charlotte just used the reindeer stamp (which she totally loved) to make her paper pretty...
And Hunter wrote a list of things he liked, inlcuding Krismus Chrees...
Then they dropped their notes in the mailbox...
Next stop was the ornament factory where they got to make these super sparkly Christmas tree ornaments...
Then we went to the Polar Bear Credit union and they put their "ATM card" into the ATM machine and got a lollipop...
Next was the bakery where Mrs. Claus was passing out cookies...
Then we met The Cat in the Hat...
And stopped at the reindeer house...
I always feel like I need to say I don't judge anyone for doing Santa. James and I both grew up in homes where our parents went all out with Santa and we have great memories. I'm conflicted about what to do about him and know in the next year we'll have to make a decision, but whatever it is, I know that each family is different and has to make a decision about what is best for them in all situations, including this one.
We sat down tonight and read stories and then talked about how fun tonight was and how talking about Santa and going to his village is super fun, but the real reason we celebrate this holiday is because it's Jesus' birthday.
Tonight we read Luke 2:16-17 (still talking about the shepherds)...
"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child,"
Super excited about tomorrow! (Even though Santa is a part of it:))
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