Parenting is an evolutionary process, I have learned. I expected everything would just ‘work itself out’ just like always… after the baby was born. But the truth is that parents are MADE by their children. Just as our job as parents is to help our children discover who they are to becoming on a daily basis. It’s trial & error…
I hope to create a magical & memorable childhood for my daughter, I’d like to ingrain things in her that will follow her through her life… warm memories that will remind her of how much she is loved. But everyday I ask myself how? How can I make the days of her youth special for us both? How can I hide the inevitable frustrations of daily life & enjoy this time with her instead.
Part of my solution is to create family traditions that are our own. A few things that might remind her of happy times. This was the first holiday season that she had the ability to understand the excitement & anticipation of the holiday. We hadn’t really ‘celebrated’ the holiday for the last few years but when you have a child in your midst the holidays can become magical again for us all.
Thus we began a daily ritual in the beginning of December. After the tree went up, we would begin the morning with a tribute to the tree, ‘O Christmas Tree’- just the first verse. And so it began, within a week she began running to the tree singing ‘Ohh iszmass trweee, ohh isszmas trwee’. Very soon she began pointing out Christmas trees everywhere… & I mean everywhere!
She saw them on plates & notecards, wrapping paper… in the background on tv comercials, a painting in the background of a cartoon… in every window of every house!!! But it still made us giggle every time she excitedly exclaimed ”Oh ismas tree!’
It’s amazing how a child’s sparkle of wonder can brighten even the most gloomy of days. Now that the holidays are over, and we’ve finally packed the tree away, she still sings ‘O Christmas Tree’ several times a day. Now that the christmas trees are out of the windows, she instead points out any evergreen she notices. Then the song starts again.
I have a feeling, we might hear this song all year… but that’s okay, it’s still adorable. I’m promising myself to try to enjoy it every-time as much as I did the first… because all too soon these days of her youth will be gone & I know will very much miss her sense of wonder.
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