The Christmas Conundrum...hmm....

I read this blog today entitled, "The Christmas Conundrum" and thought it was inline with my philosophy of the holidays almost perfectly. I didn't necessarily agree with the opening belief that you should do away with the lights and Santa all together to help one remember the "Reason for the Season" but the remainder of the blog was awesome. I am not for doing away with Santa in our house but we are about doing away with the materialism of Christmas and "remembering the reason for the season". I am trying to start Cyrus's life off in a way that he is aware of all that he has and that he is continually grateful for this. I have no intention of ever having our living room FULL of gifts for him on Christmas morning simply because I want him to appreciate the few thoughtful gifts that we give to him. I never want my son to equate happiness with "stuff" but with love and experiences and giving to others. I am sure that it will get harder as he gets older and all his friends have this or that but I want him to be grateful for all that he already has. I think the philosophy of: "Something you want, Something you need, Something to wear, and Something to read" for gifts is perfect. I also really liked the part in the blog where she said this year she is instilling the "something to give" part of the season by giving each of her children $100 to give to others in any way that they see fit. That's pretty awesome and I will do that with Cy when he is older and can understand a little better why he's doing it. I love the holiday season, but I love it because of the way it makes me feel, when I see the lights on the tree and when I hear Christmas music. It's not that I am deeply religious, that is a constant struggle for me but I am deeply humanitarian and I want for all people to feel these blessings. The greatest legacy we can ever leave as humans is through our children and I want to know that my son is aware of and grateful for his blessings in this life. He is lucky. We are all lucky. To be born here, in the US instead of Haiti. To have parents that could support us financially. To have a home. To have food. To turn on the faucet and have water simply spill out and that he/we can drink it. It was chance and it was luck and we won on this end but that does not mean our responsibility ends there. It is our job to help those who were not so lucky and that begins at home.