Santa and such...

So we have been thinking and talking about how we feel about Santa being a part of our Christmas.  It's been an interesting journey.  I was a BELIEVER as a kid.  I was devestated when my family shared with me that he was pretend....I had an overactive imagination, and I had believed forever that I had seen and heard him. 

One friend posted an article by Mark Driscoll that I loved and really helped me sort through my many thoughts...
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/mark_driscoll/2010/12/what_we_tell_our_kids_about_santa.html

So it came down to a few things for us:

• Jesus is at the core of everything we are and do...our giving, our receiving, our celebrating (down to decorating)...He is our EVERYTHING and our ALL in ALL. 
• We desire for our kids to know the story of the real St Nicholas who was a generous man who gave to many in secret
• And while celebrating and enjoying the festivities of American Christmas, along with pretend and surprises, we want to be fully honest with our kids so that they always keep Jesus at the center of every holiday

So, with that being said, we took Emilynn to a Santa at Cook the other day.  They have an employee event where a Santa comes and then there are refreshments and then a spectacular light and firework show.  Emilynn did very well...this Santa is a pretty great one, so while we got no smiles, she was super cute studying the jolly man!

Who are you, Mister?

Not one crack of any kind of smile

All smiles after meeting Santa

She loved the fireworks later.  We watched from a parking lot across the street and she didn't have to hear such loud noises.  She thought they were great... and they were!  Beautiful! 

Yesterday I took a couple of pics of her after church in her reindeer dress...pretty cute!