A Special Visitor :)

Last week, Carter had a special visitor show up at his house.  We had been debating if this was the year.  Even though Carter loves the idea of Santa, would he flip his lid when Santa actually rings his doorbell?  Would we ruin him forever?  Or is he the big boy kindergartener that we think he is?

Shortly before bed, the doorbell rang.  Carter knew.

"SANTA!"

We'll never know how he knew, but he did.

Let me start by saying that in my family, Santa is a THING (yes, all caps).  Santa has been visiting our family Christmas gatherings since I was itty-bitty.

In fact, I found the following photos of myself and Jolly Old Saint Nick in the basement just now.  I searched for about 3.7 seconds.  If I had looked longer, I could have found at least 12 more pictures from other years.

Santa loves our family that much.

We are a very well-behaved family, therefore, we know Santa on a personal level.

:)

We love Jesus a whole lot, we read the Christmas story every year as a big family, and we know that HE is the real reason we celebrate.  But still, there's Santa.  There's always been Santa.

Since becoming parents, Jake and I have been torn.  We never really thought we'd be Santa people.  Because how does Jesus compete with someone who delivers fun presents and rides a sleigh driven by reindeer?  How can we ever find the balance between this little Santa thing, and the Savior of the world?

And then.

And then we had a little boy whose eyes light up every time he sees Santa in a book or on a show.  And we remember our wide-eyed wonder at this happy, kind, jolly man and how he helped to make our childhoods so very special.

So we threw our hands up and decided that it's okay.  We emphasize Jesus and the nativity.  Because that's what it's really about.

But this Santa guy is special, too.

If our kids can just learn love from our Christmas traditions, then I'd say we did it right.  What's love?  It's giving without expecting anything in return.

I'd say Jesus and Santa both have that figured out.

Maybe 20 years from now, we'll wish we had done things differently.  Or maybe we'll look back on all these special, treasured memories and be so grateful for each one - which all happen to reflect our own childhood Christmas wonder.

So for now - we'll thank the Lord for his indescribable gift of his one and only Son.

And we'll throw in a 'Ho, ho, ho' every now and then.  Because this is the way we're choosing.  We're doing it our way.  And stop shaking your head at me, because we don't have to agree on everything.

:)

The visit was a smashing success - Carter loved his stuffed elephant (elephants - his latest obsession), colors for his bath, and activity/coloring desk (coloring - his other new obsession).

But most of all, Carter loved Santa.  And Carter's mommy and daddy loved Santa, too.

As Carter would say "HO, HO, HOOO - baaaaaary kik-kis!"

One Thing I Know For Sure: So grateful Santa's knee held out for a quick visit :) Love you, Santa!