Just Simply Holly

You know, in many ways I wish my kids were still young enough that they still “believed”. Christmas was always such an exciting time when the kids were young! Christmas Eve would be spent getting things ready for Santa’s visit that night. We’d bake cookies and dig our special plate and cup out that we used every year for Santa’s treats. The kids would carefully write their last minute letters to Santa and leave them with his treats, as well as a few carrots for Rudolph and the gang, because we all know that reindeer get hungry too! Then we would start the huge chore of getting the kids to wind down and get to sleep. Being kids, they were always totally excited that Santa was going to pay them a visit, and we went through heck and back trying to get them to sleep! I remember one year that Santa almost didn’t pay them a visit because they were up so late that Santa kind of fell asleep on the job…LOL! Fortunately, Santa is an early riser!

This year, the reality is that the bills have to come first. And since my kids are now teenagers, we don’t have to worry about Santa any more. So, after a family meeting and explaining to the kids that we have to put the priorities first, we asked them if they would be OK with us postponing Christmas for just two weeks. We explained to them that by doing so, it would be more possible for us to fulfill their Christmas wish lists which include things like MP3 Players, Cell Phones and a notebook computer. Not that they’ll actually get what’s on their wish list, but by postponing Christmas two weeks it means that they’ll actually be able to have a Christmas. So even though I miss the magic of the Christmases from when they were young, I appreciate the fact that they are old enough to understand that priorities are more important in life!