The holiday season can be stressful even when you’re not
carrying a bowling ball everywhere while planning for its arrival and chasing
his older brother around. Every parent wants to create picture-perfect moments
for their children, especially during this time of year. As a parent, you get
to see the magic of Christmas come alive again through a child’s eyes. Participating
in all of the traditions and activities can be so much fun! It can also be
exhausting.
Between shopping, decorating, wrapping, and planning, I
signed up for the annual “Breakfast with Santa” event at the community center.
My family already had the perfect Christmas photo at the park for our holiday
cards. Now, all of my friends were posting adorable Santa photos with their
children on Facebook, and this would be a great opportunity to allow Toddler B
to sit on his lap, talk about his Christmas list, and smile for a picture I
could look back on years from now and admire his adorableness. In the past, our
photos looked like this:
I just knew this was our year. With two Christmases under
his belt, B would finally be comfortable enough to willingly sit and smile and
receive a gift as a reward for his photogenic behavior. The event included
breakfast, crafts, cookie-decorating, and or course, a meeting with Santa.
There we were, watching family after family lead their
children up to Santa, snap a photo and create that perfect moment- tiny people
in tiny sweaters sitting on the big guy’s lap, smiling with joy. Soon, it was
our turn. We escorted our toddler to the platform on which Santa was perched.
But that’s as far as we got. As we bent down to pick him up, Toddler B wrestled
out of our arms, practically tearing off his own shirt in the process. He ran
across the room, unable to be convinced or swayed. “No!” he said, with a decisiveness
well beyond his two years. He never got close enough to sit on a lap, talk
about his Christmas list, or get that pinterest-worthy photo. We calmed him
down and sat back at our table and decorated cookies. He had a great time and
it didn’t matter that the point of it all had been missed.
In reality, I’m the one who missed the point. If all of this
effort was for him to make holiday memories and have fun, what did it matter
that I didn’t get to post a perfect photo? On the plus side, I don’t have to
worry about him getting kidnapped by a guy in a red suit with a white beard.
Later in the week, we started a new holiday tradition. In
lieu of the annual “Santa photo” we’re going to do a letter. I helped him write
his first one. He wants three very
specific hot wheels cars from the movie, “Cars.”
Of course the best gift will come 8 weeks later.
