Christmas Sweater Debut and Noah Claus?

Thanks for the great Christmas sweater Grandma and Grandpa! Ben loves it! We painted a reindeer on his cheek to top off the look. It was a fun treat, and thankfully not too traumatic come bath time when we had to wash it off.

All decked out in our festive clothes in preparation to go to Christmas in the Park... a park here in town with numerous light displays, a train and a horse pulled wagon you can ride. Oh, and Santa was there too, which I'll get to in a minute.

What a treat! A kiss from my sweet boy under the mistletoe! Now I just have to catch his daddy :)

This train is free and circles the park every night in December. It was quite a treat for such train enthusiasts as we have become lately-thanks to Ben!

Ben tried so hard to smile for the camera, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of the horses on our wagon ride... especially since a REAL COWBOY was driving the wagon (he kept saying "look mom, he a real cowboy!" since the driver was wearing a cowboy hat. Thank goodness we had his favorite winter hat - knit by his dear Great Grandmother Nan Nan - so he wasn't so disappointed about not having his cowboy hat on.)

So after our rides we walked around and looked at all the lights. And in the middle of the park up in a gazebo sat Santa, or rather Noah!?! At least that's who Benjamin thinks Santa is, which makes us pretty proud. The conversation went something like this...

"Oh mommy look! What's that Noah doing?"

"Noah? Oh, I see who you're talking about sweetheart. He does look like Noah, with the white beard, doesn't he. Actually, that man is called Santa Claus or Saint Nick."

"Oh, who's that?"

"He's a man who lived a long time ago and he loved Jesus so much that he used all his money to buy things for the poor and needy." (See full description below if you've never read the history behind the actual Saint Nicholas.)

"Oh. Well, what's that Noah doing? Where his ark? Where his ANIMALS?!? I go ask him?"

"Sure honey, we'll go say hello and you can ask him."

Good thing this is such a Christian town and 'ol Saint Nick was more then willing to discus the ark and animals.

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[The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to the those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.
Under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who ruthlessly persecuted Christians, Bishop Nicholas suffered for his faith, was exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of bishops, priests, and deacons, there was no room for the real criminals—murderers, thieves and robbers. After his release, Nicholas attended the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. He died December 6, AD 343 in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church, where a unique relic, called manna, formed in his grave. This liquid substance, said to have healing powers, fostered the growth of devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death became a day of celebration, St. Nicholas Day.
Through the centuries many stories and legends have been told of St. Nicholas' life and deeds. These accounts help us understand his extraordinary character and why he is so beloved and revered as protector and helper of those in need.]

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Quite a fun expedition! As for the Noah vs Santa talk... I love getting more in depth glimpses into our sweet Benjamin's little mind! I'm not surprised with his Noah infatuation, since that is one of his favorite Bible stories. And we're working on our Santa explanation :) It just hasn't come up before. So far, all of our Christmas teachings have been about what CHRISTmas really is, a celebration of Jesus's birth. We don't think Santa is a bad thing, he's just not our focus. So far, we figure we'll just teach him the real story of Saint Nicholas as we sort of did above and explain with more detail as he gets older that it's a fun custom that people do to commemorate his story (the whole leaving your shoes or stockings out for special treats from a "Santa"), but that the real story is about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! My sister and her family have always sung happy birthday to Jesus and we think we'll continue that tradition and add the making of a cake for him each year. We have a neat book of other Christian customs and ideas that we got some fun projects from. We also found a neat Fisher Price nativity online that we ordered for him so hopefully he won't be so focused on playing with our fancy one. And we have a cool advent calendar/activity book we're working through. What a fun time of the year! And December is just getting started!

Oh, I have to add that we were so excited to be asked to light the first candle of the advent wreath at Church today. Of course, I broke my toe yesterday so I had to hobble up there in front of everyone... but it went very well! We lit the right candle, at the right time, didn't burn ourselves with any hot wax and, unlike my poor mom-the first time they were asked to light an advent wreath candle, I didn't catch anything on fire!!!

love,

Jaimee