{"id":1204,"date":"2012-12-09T13:46:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T19:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1204"},"modified":"2012-12-09T19:40:28","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T01:40:28","slug":"santa-claus-and-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1204","title":{"rendered":"Santa Claus and Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So Last Christmas , being a new Ya Ya and all, after much searching , pleading, money changing and bended-knee begging, I found a real live\u00a0Santa\u00a0to come to our house on Christmas Eve to surprise my grandson, Charlie, then a year and half old. \u00a0We have an annual party each Christmas Eve for a few friends and relatives which started out as a one time deal and has become a sacred tradition in our family.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I thought this\u00a0Santa\u00a0appearance\u00a0was going to be a \u00a0brilliant idea and spent all of Christmas Eve day anticipating the glory of his arrival. I didn’t tell my daughter or her husband or the rest of the family, thinking the fewer who know, the the more joyous and \u00a0authentic his appearance would be. He dressed in the garage using a hand mirror propped on a stool that I had carefully hidden from view. He strolled the yard\u00a0with\u00a0his big black boots and bowl full of jelly belly and waited patiently until his appointed entrance time.<\/p>\n

As the clock stuck six, he came “Ho Ho Ho-ing” through the door to no one. Zippo, zappo. \u00a0Not a soul. I was frantically heating appetizers in the kitchen, my husband was setting up the bar and my son in law was pushing\u00a0match books\u00a0under the legs of said bar table, as it was wobbling\u00a0uncontrollably\u00a0under the weight of the 5 gallon Grey Goose and Jim Beam bottles my\u00a0husband\u00a0insisted on purchasing for the event at Cosco.<\/p>\n

My daughter was upstairs readying my grandson for his first real\u00a0Christmas\u00a0party and unfortunately\u00a0when\u00a0the big red furry guy arrived, Charlie was still in the bathtub.<\/p>\n

So I offered Santa some eggnog and kibble for his deer and seated him on the living room couch where he waited patiently for precious grandson number one to come downstairs.<\/p>\n

Now I am sure you are all chuckling before I deliver the\u00a0punch line. Of\u00a0course\u00a0Charlie was\u00a0petrified\u00a0of this huge stranger\u00a0with\u00a0the big white beard and floppy red hat and cried\u00a0historically, hugging his mother’s shoulder and begging him to go away. \u00a0But YaYa prevailed to elicit at least a tiny high five exchange between the two of them and an almost sit on\u00a0Santa’s\u00a0lap, albeit, thirty\u00a0seconds\u00a0with\u00a0daddy holding Charlie mid-air in a quasi-seated position.<\/p>\n

So this year, we are talking up this\u00a0Santa\u00a0guy earlier. \u00a0Showing\u00a0Charlie\u00a0pictures. \u00a0We took him to a distance viewing last weekend at our local village green. We’re reading\u00a0Santa\u00a0Christmas\u00a0books. \u00a0Explaining where he lives and how he makes a living making toys for little children.<\/p>\n

So last night we were driving home from a family outing to buy our Christmas tree. \u00a0Charlie was sitting in his car seat recapping the event. He was talking about the outdoor fire, the cider, the\u00a0buzz saw\u00a0he was more\u00a0afraid\u00a0of than last year’s Santa. And then there was a pause in the conversation and he asked where Santa lives and his mom said\u00a0quickly, “Oh, in the sky.” \u00a0And Ya Ya quickly corrected mommy saying, “No, that is Jesus who lives in heaven,\u00a0Santa\u00a0lives at the North Pole.” \u00a0To which my son-in-law mumbled under his breath something like, “We get those imaginary people mixed up.”<\/p>\n

Oh, man, do I have my work cut out for me, educating my grandsons about Santa and Jesus. If I leave it up to their parents, they’ll think Santa has \u00a0twelve\u00a0disciples\u00a0and Jesus had his last supper\u00a0with\u00a0a bunch of elves.<\/p>\n

Does the generation behind me think all the religion and tradition and bigger than ourselves stuff I tried to impart to them in their upbringing–weekly\u00a0Sunday school and\u00a0confirmation–was all a\u00a0bunch\u00a0of bunk?!<\/p>\n

Let’s see. \u00a0It took a week \u00a0and a couple\u00a0hundred\u00a0bucks to find Santa last year, so if I start now\u00a0building\u00a0the manger, put a “No Vacancy” sign on my Inn and truck in a few sheep and a donkey, maybe,\u00a0just\u00a0maybe…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So Last Christmas , being a new Ya Ya and all, after much searching , pleading, money changing and bended-knee begging, I found a real live\u00a0Santa\u00a0to come to our house on Christmas Eve to surprise my grandson, Charlie, then a year and half old. \u00a0We have an annual party each Christmas Eve for a few …<\/p>\n

>>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSanta Claus and Jesus - askmsmom.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1204\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Santa Claus and Jesus - askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So Last Christmas , being a new Ya Ya and all, after much searching , pleading, money changing and bended-knee begging, I found a real live\u00a0Santa\u00a0to come to our house on Christmas Eve to surprise my grandson, Charlie, then a year and half old. \u00a0We have an annual party each Christmas Eve for a few ...>>Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/?p=1204\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"askmsmom.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-09T19:46:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-10T01:40:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/askmrsmom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/santa-2011-1-179x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5031095d2f9410eb51dc2762789e1945\"},\"headline\":\"Santa Claus and Jesus\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-09T19:46:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-10T01:40:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204\"},\"wordCount\":682,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/12\\\/santa-2011-1-179x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/askmrsmom.com\\\/?p=1204\",\"name\":\"Santa Claus and Jesus - 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