I have been in talking with Deseret News and the company Deseret Connect which is over Deseret News and they have accepted me as a contributor for writing freelance columns, articles, and that type of thing. I wrote this article about Luke and Christmas this year and they picked it up and published it on Christmas Day on mormontimes.com. Luke is famous! :)
A child's interpretation of Christmas
From recent conversations with our 2-year-old, I'm starting to find this business of filling him in on all our Christmas customs is a little tricky.
Try explaining about a big guy in a red suit who rides in a sleigh pulled by reindeer and then slides down the chimney to bring toys to children, while also explaining the story of the first Christmas and how we celebrate baby Jesus’ birth.
It's a lot for me to keep straight, let alone my son.
A week or so ago I was telling him about how baby Jesus was born in a stable and that there were animals around him like cows, sheep, pigs (now that I think about it, I may have misinformed him on the pigs) and other animals. Soon after, however, we were back on the subject of Santa and how he'll bring presents.
The next day, I asked our son what he wanted for Christmas, to which he replied, "I want baby Jesus to bring me Piglet from his stable." I tried to remind him that Santa is the one who brings us toys at Christmas not baby Jesus.
His response was, "No, no, Mommy, baby Jesus will bring me a present. He will bring me Piglet from his stable." His eyes were big and wide, and he had the most sincere look on his face. I wasn't quite sure how to handle this one. After all, I did say there were pigs at the stable, and now I realized that to him a pig means Piglet. Of course it does.
Again, I tried telling him I was sure Santa would bring him Piglet, but he would have none of it. I decided to play along. What can it hurt?
Afterward, however, I kept thinking about what he must have been imagining when we talked about the Nativity story and the manger scene with Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men and Piglet, all staring down in wonder at the baby Jesus. That's not quite right, I thought. I made a quick trip to the bookstore and picked up a picture book with the story of the first Christmas. I figured this would naturally clear up any misunderstandings he had about the story of baby Jesus. He instantly loved the book, and I was excited that my endeavors seemed to be a success.
The other night I was reading the book to him before bedtime. When we were finished, he said excitedly, "Baby Jesus will come down our chimney and bring us lots of presents."
Here we go again. I tried explaining that Santa is the one who comes down our chimney, and not baby Jesus, but his reply was, "OK, Mommy, baby Jesus will slide down our Christmas tree!"
At that point I gave up. Nodding, I responded with, "Mmhmm, yeah. That will be … neat.” It was much easier to agree with him than try to set him straight — again. I tucked him into bed and that was that.
I doubt he'll think it forever.
