Do we do Santa?

A slew of questions on what kind of parents we are.

Holidays are a time I find myself evaluating what type of parents Clayton and I are. Are we the kind that does Christmas Eve presents or Christmas Day? Do we even do presents? Or do we do experiences instead? What should the girls' Easter baskets contain?

The questions are a spiral.

Do we say the Easter bunny left the baskets or tell the truth that Grandma shopped for months to find the best sandals and dye-free suckers to include? Do we let our kids sit on some strange man’s lap in some rundown mall so they can get a photo with ‘Santa’ for the baby book I haven’t made yet? Do we ruin the magic and admit early that Santa’s not real? Are we really such grinches?

Our questions always start with holidays and then get deeper.

Will we send them to private school or public? Or by the time we need to decide will there be some new school we don’t even know about yet? Will we have family values that we talk about, refine, and live by?

Are we a sports family? If yes, what kind? Will we be spending our weekends on I-70 driving between St. Louis and Kansas City to play on the best sports teams, because if our kids are athletes, they’ll be elite, right?

I found myself caught in the spiral of questions again as Easter approached. I didn’t yet know what we’d do this year, baskets or bust, bunnies or truth-telling. I pulled out the oversized Easter activity book Aunt Brenda gave the girls last year that included sticky window clings.

It had colorful eggs, bunnies and spring flowers, at least we had something festive for the upcoming holiday I thought. Untouched, I brought the book down to the kitchen for the girls to play with before dinner.

As dinner approached we sat down together and I asked the typical evening question, “Does anyone want to be the leader for grace?” strategically using the word leader to get Caroline invested in our dinner-time gratitude.

Caroline quickly raised her hand.

“Father Son Holy Spirity.

Thank you God for Santa giving me those window clings.

Amen.”

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Thank you

Brooke Smith

for always finding time to review!