Is This Why We Escalate the Holidays?

Miriam Axel-Lute — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:01:00 GMT

Is some of the holiday excess we see a symptom of parents trying to recapture the thrill of introducing a special time to their youngest kids?

I ponder that in my biweekly column for the local paper this week:

"If you enjoy the winter holidays, as my family decidedly does, introducing them to a toddler is a blast. Our daughter wakes up each morning (and after each nap) asking "Is it a new day?" because she wants to snap another felt ornament on our advent calendar ("alendar calendar" to her). She hugs the Christmas tree. She wants to take walks to see her favorite moving lit-up reindeer contraptions in neighbors' yards. . . .

Right now it's so easy. She's full of wonder anyway; everything is new and exciting. . . . In fact, if we act excited about something, we have an 80 percent chance of her being excited too. I remember clearly how last year, when she was one and a half, getting to eat a cookie first thing in the morning and getting a gift of a container of raisins that was under her control, to be eaten at whatever pace she wanted, was enough to make a red-letter day.

This year, the simple little idea of shining our shoes on Christmas Eve is so exciting she can barely wait and keeps lobbying to do it earlier.

I think it was the shoes thing that made me realize: I am in grave danger of trying to recapture this thrill, this sense of being able to effortlessly offer my children wonder, every December. I know that no matter how much she might continue to like the holidays, it won't be like this again. But who wouldn't want it to be?

Suddenly I had a flash of compassion for the parents escalating their purchases each year or fighting to hold on to their kids' belief in Santa one more season. Even if you're not facing peer-instigated disappointment from older kids who didn't get the latest whatsit, who wouldn't feel the urge to keep reaching after the irreplaceable delight of a kid facing her first snow, first menorah, first stocking?"

Here's the rest. Does it ring true, or am I off base?

Photo by OctopusHat.

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The Ten Best Christmas Songs For the Kid in You

JeanneSager — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:02:00 GMT

They hit us with the music first. While the stores are still stocked with mallowcreme pumpkins and orange bags of mini Snickers, they start piping a few holiday tunes into the mix to make us spend, spend, spend. Yes, there are still people who listen up and even (embarrassing confession coming) tune in themselves.

We've never met a "Silent Night" we didn't like, but we'd rather fill them up with renditions of Rudolph. So power up your iPods, here are the absolutely ridiculous songs you need to pack your playlist with to make sure the family's rockin' around the Christmas tree:

"Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey" by Lou Monte - Hey, chingedy ching. You can make an ass of yourself in front of the kids singing this one - they won't mind. At the heart, it's a song about a little creature who helped Santa in a big way - and wouldn't you know it, the jolly old man shops in Brooklyn!
"Christmas Don't Be Late" by Alvin and the Chimpunks - An education in patience . . .and punctuality (where is Alvin?), the high-pitched 'munks can hula hoop those Gregorian chanters any day.
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" - Zoning code in just about every neighborhood prohibits parents from fulfilling this request, but here's a kid who's thinking out of the box. Now let's shoot for something that won't eat 90 pounds of grass a day. That puppy sounds better already.
"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy - How is a song about a dead grandmother one we play every year for our kids? Truly a warped way to put you in the holiday spirit, but if you're sipping on the egg nog that got one over on Granny, you'll just smile and nod.
"Mele Kalikimaka" - The Hawaiian Christmas song played over a Clark Griswold dream scene in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation cemented this as a holiday classic in a way that even Cousin Eddie in a banana hammock couldn't destroy. (It was Bing Crosby's silky smooth voice providing the soundtrack, by the way)
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" - Although it paints Mommy as something of a tramp, this song adds a little more armor for parents in the fight to make them believe just one more year. See, he does exist - that guy on the radio saw him too. Supposedly the song was commissioned by ~~Needless Markup~~ Neiman Marcus for a holiday advertising campaign. They were depending on kids to believe at least another year too.
"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" by assorted artists (Bruce Springsteen's version is far and away the best) - Score another one for Mom and Dad, because it doesn't get better than the Boss scratchy voice warning them the big guy won't be coming if they don't straighten up. Now's the time to teach them, you don't mess with the guys from Jersey. The space beneath the Meadowlands is full of the naughty boys and girls who tried it . . . and lost.
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" - If Gene Autry can't give them a self-esteem boost this holiday, who can? The littlest Rudolph with his bright red nose will take their nose off their stuffed honker (what is it with passing a cold around the holiday table?) and back to the usual twenty questions about that fat man who makes it around the world in one night.
"All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" - When the kids start getting greedy, here's a hearty reminder that some kids don't get what they want . . . they get what they need. Maybe if they're still good after the holiday's over, the Tooth Fairy will get it for them.
"Nuttin' for Christmas" - There are nuttin' but consequences for naughty little children, 'specially when someone's always snitching on them.

Image: CBS

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Is This Why We Escalate the Holidays?

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