On The Christmas CONOPs...
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’ve really been thinking a lot about parenting lately. There have also been one or two stray thoughts about Christmas. I generally don’t like having more than one thing dominating my thoughts at a time, so I decided to do some mental consolidation and combine the two. Ultimately, that led me to the conclusion that a decision needs to be made regarding how to parent during Christmas. As it has been noted elsewhere, I do currently possess a piece of paper, framed, that states my qualifications to be scientific about politics. I am a political scientist. As such, when faced with a decision like the one outlined above (e.g., parenting at Christmas) I find myself forming a policy statement of some kind. Perhaps even a Concept of Operations (CONOPs). At any rate, some sort of plan needs to be in place so I can change it when faced with a future reality.
So I began to develop my Christmas CONOPs with the awareness that Commander in Chief: House (CINCHOUSE) would ultimately have to approve. Some of you may be lost in all this military speak I’m throwing around. Know that I am sorry, but sometimes it cannot be helped. It’s my world; it affects me. Also, note that I am not CINCHOUSE and with the impending arrival of Kaleigh, I fear my position may be slipping further…
But I’ve digressed…
As I stated, the development of the Christmas CONOPs is currently on my radar. My wife and I are fairly conservative in our beliefs, and since those beliefs are of a Christian persuasion, not having Christ be part of Christmas seems a bit counter-intuitive. Since we have elevated Christ to the primary position during the holiday…perhaps even “the reason for the season”, Santa Claus’ usefulness is under review.
On one end, I certainly believe that Santa has totally supplanted any religious reason for the holiday, even among Christians. While the concept of gift giving is admirable, it seems like rampant and even aggressive commercialism so parents can prop up the Santa regime among their naïve children, undermines that value. Not to mention, how do I tell her that while Jesus, his miracles and his resurrection are real, that Santa, his reindeer and sleigh, and chimney dropping are not. I’m not sure that does much for the whole taking things on faith deal, especially your faith in your parents. Furthermore, it’s not like Jews and Muslims make up imaginary people…or even animals (yes, I’m looking at you Mr. Easter Bunny) to spice up their religious observances. Although, I must admit that I’ve been working on this concept where Mr. Ramadan Camel spits assorted sweet meats to good little Muslim girls and boys…but only after sundown. I think it has potential.
Totally negating religion, what do I tell Kaleigh when little Britney, the spoiled hell in pigtails neighbor with rich parents, gets more and better toys from Santa? She’ll know that Britney was a totally waste of oxygen the past year, but will not understand why Santa favored her. How do I explain to her that economics makes Britney’s Santa a little bit more forgiving (or flat out blind) while her Santa is trying to live off one income in Northern Virginia? Maybe I'm just bitter that Santa didn't bring me that 6 foot long G.I. Joe Aircraft Carrier in 1986...the bastard.
Then again, I know that there are other Christians who negate Mr. Claus totally. Their belief is that he has zero place in the holiday and our focus, specifically as Christians, should be solely on Christ. Some have even substituted a birthday cake for Jesus as the sole holiday observance. I don’t think they even have Christmas trees due to its ties to paganism. Of course, they’d have to ignore the whole reason we celebrate Christmas during this time…and by time I mean during the Winter Solstice…
In the end, I can’t really imagine celebrating Christmas without some of the non-religious pageantry. I’m for dang sure not giving up the tree, of which much has already been written. It’s not like Santa is totally without historical reference with the whole St. Nick deal. I think as long as we take care to teach Kaleigh the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place, allowing her to also force herself to stay awake on Christmas Eve on the off chance of hearing Santa on the roof should be allowed. Heck, even at 30, when I’m at my parents house for Christmas I still strain to see if I can hear them setting up shop downstairs.
So I began to develop my Christmas CONOPs with the awareness that Commander in Chief: House (CINCHOUSE) would ultimately have to approve. Some of you may be lost in all this military speak I’m throwing around. Know that I am sorry, but sometimes it cannot be helped. It’s my world; it affects me. Also, note that I am not CINCHOUSE and with the impending arrival of Kaleigh, I fear my position may be slipping further…
But I’ve digressed…
As I stated, the development of the Christmas CONOPs is currently on my radar. My wife and I are fairly conservative in our beliefs, and since those beliefs are of a Christian persuasion, not having Christ be part of Christmas seems a bit counter-intuitive. Since we have elevated Christ to the primary position during the holiday…perhaps even “the reason for the season”, Santa Claus’ usefulness is under review.
On one end, I certainly believe that Santa has totally supplanted any religious reason for the holiday, even among Christians. While the concept of gift giving is admirable, it seems like rampant and even aggressive commercialism so parents can prop up the Santa regime among their naïve children, undermines that value. Not to mention, how do I tell her that while Jesus, his miracles and his resurrection are real, that Santa, his reindeer and sleigh, and chimney dropping are not. I’m not sure that does much for the whole taking things on faith deal, especially your faith in your parents. Furthermore, it’s not like Jews and Muslims make up imaginary people…or even animals (yes, I’m looking at you Mr. Easter Bunny) to spice up their religious observances. Although, I must admit that I’ve been working on this concept where Mr. Ramadan Camel spits assorted sweet meats to good little Muslim girls and boys…but only after sundown. I think it has potential.
Totally negating religion, what do I tell Kaleigh when little Britney, the spoiled hell in pigtails neighbor with rich parents, gets more and better toys from Santa? She’ll know that Britney was a totally waste of oxygen the past year, but will not understand why Santa favored her. How do I explain to her that economics makes Britney’s Santa a little bit more forgiving (or flat out blind) while her Santa is trying to live off one income in Northern Virginia? Maybe I'm just bitter that Santa didn't bring me that 6 foot long G.I. Joe Aircraft Carrier in 1986...the bastard.
Then again, I know that there are other Christians who negate Mr. Claus totally. Their belief is that he has zero place in the holiday and our focus, specifically as Christians, should be solely on Christ. Some have even substituted a birthday cake for Jesus as the sole holiday observance. I don’t think they even have Christmas trees due to its ties to paganism. Of course, they’d have to ignore the whole reason we celebrate Christmas during this time…and by time I mean during the Winter Solstice…
In the end, I can’t really imagine celebrating Christmas without some of the non-religious pageantry. I’m for dang sure not giving up the tree, of which much has already been written. It’s not like Santa is totally without historical reference with the whole St. Nick deal. I think as long as we take care to teach Kaleigh the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place, allowing her to also force herself to stay awake on Christmas Eve on the off chance of hearing Santa on the roof should be allowed. Heck, even at 30, when I’m at my parents house for Christmas I still strain to see if I can hear them setting up shop downstairs.
posted by Beeley at 1:41 PM
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