Monday, December 31, 2012

Sadie's Take on Santa...

Sadie's 1st visit with Santa
Last year I wrote about how we "do" (or perhaps to be more accurate don't do) Santa Claus (standard Santa disclaimer: this isn't meant as a judgement on how other people "do" the whole Santa thing, just an update on how our decision to handle the matter is going for us!).  And this year, with Sadie's interest in all things saint related, it was easy to continue the conversation when she asked questions.  I've found that saying "let's pretend" to a four year old doesn't make things less magical than acting as if what we're pretending is an actual fact.  I've also realized that in Sadie's mind the truth when discussing these people who practiced heroic virtue often seems to be even more enchanting than anything we could dream up for her to play at.

Sadie knows who Saint Nicholas is, and she knows that that's who Santa Claus is based on.  She knows that the jolly man in the red suit at the store is "just pretending" but as many of us may remember from our own childhoods, pretending can be pretty awesome.

The second year it didn't go quite so well...
Since she talked about Santa and his reindeer so much while she was playing I figured that I didn't have to worry too much about her spilling the beans to other kids.  After all, she giggles and pretends he's real at home, with a silly little look on her face.  Why would it be any different when we're out and about?

Yet a conversation she had yesterday gave me pause.  One of Paul's friends asked if Santa came to our house.  And instead of launching into her regular "pretend" version she said:

"No.  Saint Nicholas was a real person who really lived and he died and went to be in heaven with Jesus, forever and ever."

I think my mouth might have dropped open a little because I was so surprised after weeks of hearing about reindeer and present delivery (we've read a lot of The Night Before Christmas in our house).

I guess the upside is it's unlikely that another kid her age would understand that she'd basically just said "Santa isn't real" by her wordy little answer.

And I'm just happy that after reading and talking about saints and having our hearts set on heaven for four years, she thinks that being a saint is the most wonderful thing of all (at least most of the time!  After all, she is four!)!

2 comments:

  1. I approve very much on doing the whole REALITY and TRUTH thing with Santa. It certainly never hurt our ability to pretend and enjoy the fiction.

    We did "Santa" gifts this year and I must say I have not done as well as you have in teaching my 3 yr old about the Saints. Must remedy that!

    Have you blogged about your favorite Saint books and DVDs?

    ReplyDelete
  2. We do the same thing with Santa!

    PS tomorrow is a Holy Day of obligation. :)

    ReplyDelete

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