Winter Holidays and Consumerism Galore
Raina's daycare was closed on Thanksgiving and the Friday after. Raina completely understood being closed on Thanksgiving -- family was coming for the Feast of Friendship -- but she didn't quite comprehend the Friday part until her teacher explained it. Here's what Raina learned:
Thursday is Thanksgiving. Friday is Shopping Day!
And suddenly it all made perfect sense to her. She, however, had no interest in actually going shopping on Shopping Day, so I had to buy pots all by myself.
Immediately following Thanksgiving began the Winter Holiday Indoctrination period. I'm being generous by saying "Winter Holidays" because, I'll be frank, Raina's school is all about teaching Christmas in the strictly consumeristic style. But they also spent a day a piece on Diwali, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, so it's all perfectly diverse and acceptable (to them). Anyway, Raina transitioned into wanting our Christmas tree to go up, to see Christmas decorations all around, to hearing and singing Christmas songs, to making Christmas ornaments, and to discussing Santa and presents. They even watched the Grinch Stole Christmas movie, which thoroughly terrified her, because she was worried that someone would steal our Christmas tree. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
So the Whomptons have changed the language within the house. We have a Holiday tree with holiday lights, we ignore Santa completely, we sing a lot of Jingle Bells and Rudolph, and we don't discuss presents at all. We've had small conversations about how different people celebrate different things, but haven't delved into my full American consumerism rant just yet. Needless to say, Raina is not receiving Christmas presents from us and we have standing agreements with family members to not give her presents either. I'm hopeful that Raina will learn that presents are happy surprises which her parents and loved ones will give her occasionally, as opposed to on designated "gimme, gimme!" days scattered throughout the year.
On the flip side of this, we're doing some minor giving / sharing work with Raina. Raina is in charge of putting the change into the Salvation Army collections, and we talk each time about all the good things that happen because of our sharing our change. Also, we "adopted" a second grade boy who wanted books as a gift, and she and I had a good time at Borders choosing all the books for Anthony. Yes, I know that giving gifts around the winter holidays increases the consumer tendencies, but how do you say no to a boy asking for books?!?
The good thing is that Raina, right now, has no expectations that Santa will be depositing a huge number of gifts under our holiday tree, and I hope that we can keep that going for years and years. Or at least through this holiday season!
Post-note:
Apparently Raina did have Santa expectations. She met Santa at daycare and told him that she wanted something princess oriented. (I think it was a Cinderella doll.) Christmas day passed and she did not receive said item. Maybe three days later, she asked when it would be Christmas. When I told her it had already happened, she said, "but I didn't get my Cinderella doll!" That conversation was slightly uncomfortable, but it was okay. The next one was worse.
Raina returned to daycare after winter break, and her teachers made the day's journaling assignment "What did Santa bring me for Christmas?" Well, Santa did not bring her anything, and that's what she said for her journal. Her fellow classmates were shocked and some even said, "Raina, were you bad?!" At this point, Raina got a little upset -- she prides herself on being good and she was a little distraught that Santa may have thought her bad -- and the teachers immediately changed the subject.
The conversation with Raina that night was more difficult. How do you explain to a kid the real reasons behind the no-Santa and no-extravagant gifts policy of the house? It didn't matter that she had received a number of presents that week; none of them had come from Santa and that was her concern. So we told her that we don't have a chimney so Santa doesn't come to our house. That appeased her for this year; we'll have to be more thoughtful in advance for next year.
Thursday is Thanksgiving. Friday is Shopping Day!
And suddenly it all made perfect sense to her. She, however, had no interest in actually going shopping on Shopping Day, so I had to buy pots all by myself.
Immediately following Thanksgiving began the Winter Holiday Indoctrination period. I'm being generous by saying "Winter Holidays" because, I'll be frank, Raina's school is all about teaching Christmas in the strictly consumeristic style. But they also spent a day a piece on Diwali, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, so it's all perfectly diverse and acceptable (to them). Anyway, Raina transitioned into wanting our Christmas tree to go up, to see Christmas decorations all around, to hearing and singing Christmas songs, to making Christmas ornaments, and to discussing Santa and presents. They even watched the Grinch Stole Christmas movie, which thoroughly terrified her, because she was worried that someone would steal our Christmas tree. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
So the Whomptons have changed the language within the house. We have a Holiday tree with holiday lights, we ignore Santa completely, we sing a lot of Jingle Bells and Rudolph, and we don't discuss presents at all. We've had small conversations about how different people celebrate different things, but haven't delved into my full American consumerism rant just yet. Needless to say, Raina is not receiving Christmas presents from us and we have standing agreements with family members to not give her presents either. I'm hopeful that Raina will learn that presents are happy surprises which her parents and loved ones will give her occasionally, as opposed to on designated "gimme, gimme!" days scattered throughout the year.
On the flip side of this, we're doing some minor giving / sharing work with Raina. Raina is in charge of putting the change into the Salvation Army collections, and we talk each time about all the good things that happen because of our sharing our change. Also, we "adopted" a second grade boy who wanted books as a gift, and she and I had a good time at Borders choosing all the books for Anthony. Yes, I know that giving gifts around the winter holidays increases the consumer tendencies, but how do you say no to a boy asking for books?!?
The good thing is that Raina, right now, has no expectations that Santa will be depositing a huge number of gifts under our holiday tree, and I hope that we can keep that going for years and years. Or at least through this holiday season!
Post-note:
Apparently Raina did have Santa expectations. She met Santa at daycare and told him that she wanted something princess oriented. (I think it was a Cinderella doll.) Christmas day passed and she did not receive said item. Maybe three days later, she asked when it would be Christmas. When I told her it had already happened, she said, "but I didn't get my Cinderella doll!" That conversation was slightly uncomfortable, but it was okay. The next one was worse.
Raina returned to daycare after winter break, and her teachers made the day's journaling assignment "What did Santa bring me for Christmas?" Well, Santa did not bring her anything, and that's what she said for her journal. Her fellow classmates were shocked and some even said, "Raina, were you bad?!" At this point, Raina got a little upset -- she prides herself on being good and she was a little distraught that Santa may have thought her bad -- and the teachers immediately changed the subject.
The conversation with Raina that night was more difficult. How do you explain to a kid the real reasons behind the no-Santa and no-extravagant gifts policy of the house? It didn't matter that she had received a number of presents that week; none of them had come from Santa and that was her concern. So we told her that we don't have a chimney so Santa doesn't come to our house. That appeased her for this year; we'll have to be more thoughtful in advance for next year.
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