Another great local site for info... Norristown Mom

In my last post I mentioned that my son is a little frightened of Santa. Now, not to completely absolve us of any responsibility here, but he really has always felt that way: about Santa, Chuck E Cheese and pretty much every costumed character (I mean real live giant magical creature) we meet. So I tell myself that the fact that in our house Santa has now become a sort of ‘god’ isn’t entirely to blame for his seeming terror.

We do not attend any sort of religious services, yet. As a former student of comparative religion, I have this great plan to take them to services and meetings, meditations and prayer groups at all sorts of religious centers when they are a little older, and to teach them about all of the different ways and things people believe and have faith in. I think faith is essential to a happy life, but I also think it can be a personal thing… what you have faith IN… but I digress.

Now putting all of that idealist cynicism aside for a moment, I have noticed that Christmas, which our relatives avidly celebrate, and Santa in particular, have become monumental in my three year olds minds. Lists have been in the making for months, and the first time DH warned them that Santa was watching, I was at first ready to scold him, and then… held my tongue in amazement at the sudden turn- around of their inappropriate or otherwise negative behavior.

It worked… like a charm.

So alongside the greed, comes the ever present and watchful god who can reward good behavior and punish the bad doings. Suddenly my children are in a world filled with consequences larger than just their parent’s disappointment, which I admit was losing its power at a distressingly rapid rate.

Is it wrong? It feels sort of wrong… sort of like it feels when I can stop a tantrum or end a sibling wrestling match just by switching on SpongeBob the hypnotic.

But as a friend of mine with older children pointed out, it won’t last very long, so you might as well take advantage of it while it works.

OK - so Santa is pretty much everywhere these days. My son is afraid of him... as in, 'let's not go to the mall if Santa is there'. That's fine - who needs to go to the mall in December anyway? No really. But if you have kids who WANT to spend some qt with the big red guy, the Pixie Cowboy is having a Santa Storytime this weekend (Sunday the 14th at 1pm and 2pm, call for details 610-458-3409) with craft and a portrait sessions, and I really like the store at it's new location so I am all for a plug! It's a great place to pick up fabulous holiday outfits at a fraction of the price as well.