Saturday, November 24, 2007

SWIM-A-THON...and santa claus

...wow...
a busy weekend so far!
i had my monthly HALL CROP last night with 24 great gals ( and a wee new 6 week old 'newbie' who slept through most of the evening! thanks for the visit Liberty! )
it was a very late night by the time mike and i got everything packed up and back home...i then had some typing to do for courtney's dance teacher for today that had to be done, so that led me to a 2:30am nite! ( her dance teacher called me with 3 pages of notes about half an hour before i had to go to the hall to set up, so that's why it had to be when i got home after )
..because first thing this morning courtney participated in her very first Swim-a-thon for her Manta swim group!!
we were off the the Pan Am pool first thing this morning where she had 30 minutes to swim at her own pace as many laps as she could...she did thirty 25m laps, all different strokes!!
great job courtney! i enjoyed watching her and taking it all in!
after that, mike and i took her to tim horton's for a hot chocolate and a muffin before i took her off to her saturday dance workshop! ( no rest for the weary this weekend i tell ya...)
here's some shots from this morning!





...this is courtney and her swim coach Jessica from Concordia Manta...

...i have attempted tonight to add and finish off the sample album for my class this coming friday night...hang in there to the few ladies who wanted to see it...suffering from lack of brain function tonight!!! i do still have 4 spots available for this class. pic's coming soon! ( promise )
...HEY, i have a 'beef' i wanted to vent a little about...
tell me what you think?
tonight my little guy came home from a visit with his father and when i was tucking him in to bed and saying bedtime prayers he said, in this sad little voice...
'...told me that there's no such thing as Santa Claus. is that for real mommy?'
i was surprised and wasn't prepared by his father that he decided to TELL HIM THIS without any discussion to me. he knows that my family makes the holiday season all about the kids and i suppose he wasn't brought up the same way. and i have gone through this with courtney over the last couple years asking 'if Santa is real' or not because of things kids say at school...i tried my best with her, as i ALSO found myself with my son tonight, to explain that they can believe in whatever holiday 'magic' they want to believe in. i told them that in a way the whole idea of 'Santa Claus' is the spirit of giving, not getting. it's hard to explain this to someone so small because at 5 years old, it's all about getting...ya know what i mean?
anyway, i tired to tell him that some people believe that Santa is a realy person, which in part is actually true! maybe you know him as St. Nicholas? there is a true story of many years ago of a kind man who DID in fact give gifts to people ( mostly the needy ) around Christmas time to share his kindness and act of selfless giving...he later became known as the above, St. Nick....and since then Santa Claus.
courtney knows this story and i suppose tyler will hear it too someday, but he is still too young to try and figure it all out. so i was a little upset that this fact was exposed to him and left me unprepared to deal with.
i was not traumatized as a child to find out that santa was not real...i guess i really figured it out for myself as i got older...school stories, and friends....but i was definately not mad or upset at my parents for letting my believe in something as a child to put a little mystery and magic into the holiday season!
so, here's my theory on mr. claus:
i think as long as the whole social aspect of santa claus is not something to 'hold over' or control your kids this time of year ( santa is watching you...you better be good or santa won't bring you any presents...that's it, i'm phoning santa and telling him not to bring you anything because you're not listening to me...NOOOOO!" ) that it's harmless to let the kids think that someone magically brought them a gift from Santa claus! it keeps things fun for them!
i am a christian and of course believe in religious reasons for the true meaning of Chirstmas ( 'jesus is the reason for the season....' ) and my kids know this too, so i don't see any harm in letting them have a childhood memory of those magical mysteries at Christmas that made them smile and be happy!
like who really had those cookies and milk? pracitcing different ways of handwriting the gift tags to write 'from santa' without the kids recognizing your penmanship...staying up until 2am christmas eve to make sure the kids were in a deep sleep before you sneek into the room to stuff the stockings without being heard...you know all the secret santa stuff i'm talking about!
sooooo...what do you think about santa claus, the spirit of giving???




8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never pushed the Santa Claus thing, just because we take the kids to Church and want the true meaning of Christmas to outshine Santa. Santa has always been a delivery guy for us, as we explained that we purchase gifts because we show the loved ones in our life we appreiciate them, asn we all were given the greatest gift ever.

But telling a little boy who believes that Santa is fake is just NASTY, If Tyler had been told from the get go that the Santa thing is a fantasy, that would be OK.

Too bad. He may remember his dad for that revelation for the rest of his life- so his dad looses out.

Anonymous said...

that is just not right taking away the magic that he beleive in kids need to have their fairy tales and heros

Anonymous said...

I believe that every kid has the right to believe in SANTA CLAUS and for some jerk to the kid otherwise is just a NO NO...

Anonymous said...

WAY TO GO COURTNEY!!!! You keep up the great swimming!
Now for the Santa issue, what a big jerk off some fathers are!! And he tops the list off this week. How could he look at his childs sad shocked face when he told hom that there is no Santa Claus??? Some kids need to know there is a Santa cause it lets them know that there is some magic in there lives since there is garbage out in the world like war and drugs, and bad people! Let kids be kids and enjoy the happiness out in the Christmas season like good ol Santa Claus. I really hope Santa gives that non believer a BIG CHUNK OF COAL IN HIS CORN FLAKES SINCE HE OBVIOUSLY DOESNT HAVE A STOCKING OUT!! From a very upset NIKKI

Anonymous said...

Aww Kim, I'm glad to see this because last night, Tyler came in the living room and told me and Chris (Kris?) that his other Dad Ed told him that there is no Santa Claus. We kind of looked at eachother like, "what do we say"?

That is really too bad. There is nothing wrong with the spirit of Santa Claus bring a part of a childs life. They have their whole lives to grow up and I believe that the magical element of Christmas is one of the things that make it so special for children. It is the examples us parents set for them that will in time, have them see the true meaning of Christmas.

You did the right thing Kimmy, you're a great Mom!

T

Anonymous said...

P.S. Way to go Courtney!

Anonymous said...

Ok, I had to reel myself back in. I had a real good head of steam going and it would help no one. The truth of the matter is that Tyler is a lovely innocent child (and quite a dancer!).
To steal innocence, the stuff that makes childhood, and something you never get to go back to, is down right Grinch-like.
The way your house is run, what you believe, and what your children believe is, or should be, up to you. To hear something like that makes you think that this person has never rolled an egg down the hall with his nose. I feel sorry for such little people.
You should have totally been consulted.

If you require special Santa services this year, I will be most accommodating. He can be reached here along with the Wizard.

Kim said...

trevor!!! i LOVE your 'egg rolling down the hall with his nose' comment!! i had a good chuckle! and quite in fact, he never did get to enjoy that part of our family tradition!
egg rolling...sheesh...i'll be giggling all night in my sleep now!
( which i better go to bed, it's 12:57am YIKES! )
:O)