This morning we woke to frost on the back
of the car. My son exclaimed. “See! I told you it was the Christmas season!”
We have been discussing this for about a
week now. He says we should decorate for
the holidays now that it is no longer summer.
Yesterday I tried to convince him that we should celebrate the now. He would have nothing to do with it. I told him, “No. We are not putting up Christmas lights until
after Halloween. No!”
He continued to plead his case. My husband said, “That’s the rule. We do not decorate for Christmas until after
Thanksgiving.”
“But WHY? There’s nothing to Halloween and Thanksgiving
is part of the Christmas season!”
Often I don’t have a compelling enough
argument to win a debate. I am glad when
my husband steps in even though I don’t always agree with him either. I would have been fine letting him decorate
his room after Halloween.
Once upon a time we decorate our house with
lights around the roof. After many
months I decided I would be the one to take them down. When I got up there, something weird happened
and I found myself unable to move, unable to finish taking the lights off, and
unable to turn around and get myself off the roof. I was frozen with some crazy fear that I didn’t
realize I had until I was already in the middle of it.
My brother was a fire fighter at the time
and rescued people all the time. Bless
his soul, he never did post those embarrassing pictures on Facebook or anywhere
that I know of. He came and helped me
down and finished taking the lights off the rood for me. I love my brother. I love decorating for the holidays. I did not love being stuck on the roof.
We created a new tradition that serves us
better. Now the kids each get a strand
of lights to decorate their bedrooms on the inside. We put those little push pins around the
ceiling and try to be careful of where the cord ends up so there aren’t any
places to trip over it or be dangerous.
The kids have loved this! They
get to choose their own colors. I get to
let them participate more than if the lights were just on the roof.
About an hour after the last “No! That’s the rule. We don’t decorate until after Thanksgiving.”
I found my son in his room with a strand of lights, plugged in and already headed
up to the ceiling. The disagreement was resurrected. I was called some names like Scrooge, and
other more creative names. At least he
didn’t call me a flush down the toilet again.
That was a great day.
So, this morning when we found the frost on
the windows he began again. Boy, is he
ever persistent! I asked him why he
wanted it to be Christmas so bad. “Is it
just for the presents? What if you don’t
get what you want? Would you still be
this determined for it to be the holiday season?” I was sure I had caught him in a trap now,
since he has been making sure I know what he wants for Christmas since August.
Then I reminded him that we need to celebrate the now, enjoy each holiday and
not skip over them.
His response surprised me. He was a little angry and asked, “Does that
mean I won’t be getting it?”
“No, not necessarily. I just wonder, what if you didn’t get it? Would
you still love Christmas?”
“Mom!
We’ve already been over this!
First, it’s not summer. Second
there will be snow. There’s the family
sleepover, sledding, hot cocoa, a second Thanksgiving sized dinner, family
time. Celebrating our Savior’s birth.
Presents are just like extra wow!”
He threw his arms out to the sides and made a big noise of excitement. “Besides, Mom.
Halloween doesn’t celebrate anything.
It’s just to be scary and over sugared. There’s nothing real about
Halloween anymore.”
I was put in my place, once again. I decided to change the subject. It was early in the morning so I made the
observation that the sun is not coming up as early as it used to. “Wow. It sure is dark for this time of day.”
He said, “See Mom! It just goes to prove that it’s the Christmas
Season!”
If he can convince my husband, we might be
decorating this week. At least in their own rooms.
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