As parents, I think that one of the most fun things that we get to do is be Santa. Although I spend much of December trying to reinforce to my boys the true meaning of Christmas, I can’t help but be pulled into their excitement over Santa. When Z was 3, he desperately wanted a pirate ship. He sat on Santa’s lap and told him his great wish with such seriousness. I think that Christmas will stay in my memory as one of my favorites. I will always remember him coming out of his room. When he saw the pirate ship, he threw his arms around it screaming, “I LOVE it!!” Bringing such joy to your child is an unbelievably incredible feeling. I wish it was something we got to experience more often.
Of course, that brings us to the current Christmas season. D is now 3, so I have been hopeful that we would have a similar sweet experience with him. When will I learn that this child is his own human being, and will not repeat the history of his older brother?
A little background for this story; D LOVES Buzz Lightyear. He has loved him for several years. I believe that “Buzz” was one of the first 10 words that he learned to say. Over time, he has accumulated quite a collection of Buzz Lightyears. He has them in multiple sizes, several colors, on articles of clothing, cars, etc. Anyway, one of his favorite pastimes is to look at “Buzz pictures”. To do this, we go to Flikr, and let him watch a slideshow of pictures of Buzz Lightyear. So as we started talking about Christmas for this year, D tells us that what he wants to ask Santa for is “Dirt Buzz”. We went a few days trying to figure out what that was, when we realized that it must be one of the pictures that he has seen in the slideshow. Great. So, I had several sit-downs at the computer with D watching the slide show. Me: “Is THAT Dirt Buzz”?? D: “NO!!”.
Finally, success! He identified Dirt Buzz.
Yes, this is what my child wants for Christmas from Santa Claus. What is a parent to do?
