So I found out what Christmas is all about for our family. It's pretty much just a big threat to get the children to clean up or be good.
"If you don't help clean up then I am going to cancel Christmas forever!"
Okay, I didn't ever go to that extreme, but I found myself using Christmas and presents as a bargaining chip to try to get him to stop fighting, crying, and to get him to clean up and do his chores. My son would always come back with something along the lines of, "If you don't want to give presents then that means you don't love Jesus." Oh this kid knows how to really push my buttons... In the mean time my little girl just ran around being good and truly earning all the presents she got. In the end I didn't throw out any presents, even though I really wanted to, and we had a good Christmas. Next year I hope I can abolish the Christmas Threat attitude and replace it with something more positive.
3 comments:
Sounds like your son has caught on. When we were little you used to pull the, "would you be doing that if Jesus were here." I knew you were just trying to make me feel bad.
You just helped remind me that Christmas hasn't lost it's magic. Those threats are so crucial to Christmas even happening.
IF YOU DON"T STOP THAT SANTA WON"T COME!
or
YOu will get a lump of coal!
or
Stop fighting santa's elves are watching!
No matter what the Christmas threat it all boils down to if you get the presents or not and you probably will because it just IS Christmas.
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