It Was One Week Before Christmas, and All Through the House…

….there was much anticipation, although they were not sure for what.

I started moving things in my living room around last night so that when DearDR buys a tree (tomorrow or Saturday he says), we have someplace to put it. Monkey was all like, “What are you doing, Mommy? Why are you moving that? Why are you moving that??”

Monkey seems to know that it will be Jesus’ birthday, and that Santa is coming. Surprisingly, she doesn’t ask me EVERY DAY if it is Christmas yet. There is still time.

Bun… well, it’s hard to tell what exactly Bun knows, although she always surprises me. Snowmen seem to catch her interest quicker than images of Santa. It think she may lose her little mind when we get the tree up and decorated. It’ll be her first one.

I still have a lot to do. This final weekend before Christmas I’ll be wrapping everything, shopping, baking cookies, making gifts for teachers, going to a Cookie Buffet, and decorating a tree.

I am excited to have Christmas Day with my children. I am looking forward to going to Mass — I love Christmas Mass — and then seeing how excited they get when they see their presents and start opening them.

I know that Santa comes to see many of you during the night before Christmas, but for some reason, Santa doesn’t come to our house until we go to church. I guess we’re close to last on the list!

This is what happened when I was a kid. We three children went out to the car with our mother. She got us settled in, and started the car. Then we sat. Inevitably one of us piped up from the back seat, “Where’s Daddy?” To which my mother would inevitably reply, “He’s shaving.” Finally my father would come out of the house, and we would head off to Mass.

When we got back home, walla! Santa would have visited, and there were piles of shiny presents under the tree for us.

I was about 7 before I finally figured out that Daddy wasn’t shaving.

I hope that Monkey and Bun’s suspension of disbelief holds out that long!

For the Record: I Agree

I was curious about the whole DCL concern about Monkey and P kissing, too. A few of you commented here and on plurk that there was nothing wrong with it — it’s cute. And I agree, it is cute when kids hug and kiss. Kids are affectionate, and they model adult behavior. Monkey knows Mommy and Daddy love each other; Mommy and Daddy kiss each other on the lips; Monkey loves P; she and P can kiss on the lips. Elementary!

Although there is nothing inherently sexual in kids under, say, ten kissing — even on the lips — or holding hands, we live in a weird society. And while I wouldn’t condone going this far, I think daycares and schools are within their rights setting rules for appropriate touching. After all, if the child being pinched doesn’t want to be pinched and asks the pincher to stop, and the pincher doesn’t, then it is harassment. Albeit not sexual harassment.

While I feel that telling Monkey that she is not old enough to kiss boys (or anyone outside of our family) on the lips is a good strategy in this case, I think there are other appropriate boundaries to set. For example, I would tell Monkey to ask permission before holding someone’s hand. That would be respectful. I would hope that the little boy in question with Monkey at least said, “Hey, I really like you. Want to kiss?” In that case, I can’t see Monkey saying, “Heck no!” Especially if the boy was cute. (Monkey, she likes the boys.) I would hope that if someone forcefully kissed Monkey or grabbed her hand, she would have the confidence to pull away, or say, “no” or “stop”.

But I’m not going to use terms like sexual harassment or inappropriate touching or even “mouth kissing” with Monkey. She’s four, as she points out several times a day. Not eleven.

I don’t want to go giving her ideas.