Christmas Confusion

This is the first year that Babykins really gets the idea of Christmas.  She knows that Santa will bring presents, and she made a special request for a scooter.  Every morning when she wakes up, the first thing she wants to do is add a piece to the advent calendar.  And she is now able to sing a good selection of Christmas carols.

But in true toddler fashion, she still finds a few Christmas concepts a little hard to grasp.

Last weekend, we went to Carols in the Park in the park across the street from our house.  There was a barbecue followed by Christmas carols.  In between the Christmas carols, a puppet would pop up, and the pastor would use the puppet to talk about the meaning of Christmas.  One of the things they talked about was how Christmas is Jesus' birthday.  That idea really stuck with Babykins.  Later that week, I mentioned to Babykins that we needed to get a present for her to give to Babyroo for Christmas.  She looked at me and responded, "I can't give a present to Babyroo!  It's Jesus' birthday!  Only Jesus gets presents!"

Interesting.  So I responded, "Does that mean Santa shouldn't bring you any presents, either?"

"No!  I can still get presents!"

Ahh...

Then on Thursday, Babykins had her Christmas concert at daycare.  After watching a roomful of toddlers sing songs and shake bells (absolutely adorable), we had morning tea followed by a visit from Santa.  When Santa appeared, the look on Babykins' face was priceless.  Each child was called up to meet Santa and received a bag of candy.

Babykins came running over to me holding up her bag of candy.  She was super excited, and she immediately recounted for me how Santa had rung his bells and gave her a present.  Then she stopped and informed me, "Santa gave me candy, but I didn't get a scooter!"

Oh, no.  I quickly explained to Babykins that Santa only gave presents like scooters on Christmas.  Before Christmas, he only gave out candy.  Thus reassured, Babykins commenced to tell me about Santa's visit the entire walk home (a 20 minute trip, by the way - it's amazing how many times a toddler can re-tell the same story when they're excited).

I can't wait for Christmas to come.  Knowing how excited Babykins is for the day has re-kindled my own excitement for the joys of Christmas.