Happy holidays everyone!  I hope everyone is enjoying the peace of the season…although as a parent, I think our piece of peace is just a little bit smaller than everyone else’s!  

My family celebrates Christmas, and this year it was pretty special.  My 2 year old doesn’t really understand the idea of Santa Claus, and this year when asked if she wanted to go and visit him, she said, “No.  I don’t like Santa!”  I was shocked, but I took it at face value.  Do two year olds really like Santa?  If you think about it isn’t he a bit scary?  A large man with a big beard in a huge red suit with a big black belt and a floppy hat. Even more so, you don’t get much time to warm up to him - you’re just expected to sit in his lap and smile.  We know our baby girl, and that would have been an ugly scene. (I know others feel the same as evidenced here) So, we didn’t take her to see Santa this year.  It was a bit sad for me, because I like having the pictures with the idea that we can show them to her when she’s older, but the idea of a screaming 2 year old outweighed my desire to have the pictures.  

It does of course mean that we missed out on the first pictures of our tiny baby with Santa, but I’m ok with that.  We can always tell them why and have that be the memory - the year baby girl said, “I don’t like Santa!”

We celebrated Christmas at home this year, and have no plans to go anywhere, which is really unusual for us.  Typically we celebrate the holiday with my husbands family early, which we did on Christmas Eve this year and then we go to visit my parents and spend the weekend with them.  We’re not doing that this year, and it’s a big change for us.  My sister-in-law is flying in from her home to come for a Christmas visit, and that will be fun.  We don’t get to see her very often, so it’s great to have her home.  My brother and my soon to be sister-in-law came to visit yesterday and in the true spirit of the holiday season, we put to rest an issue that had been plaguing us since Turkey Day.  That felt good and just right for the Christmas season!

So, that’s what Christmas has been about for us.  What about you?  What are your holiday traditions?  Do you celebrate with extended family or do you stay intimate with the immediate family?  Do you travel over the holidays?  What about the kids?  What do you do special with them for the holidays?