Meaning of Christmas

Nicholas is working much more actively this year to really figure out the whole Christmas thing.  While not unexpected, it is very challenging for me.  On the one hand, I can't stand lying to him.  On the other hand, I can't really tell him the truth.  And then there are all the things that straddle those two categories, but he is not yet ready for the nuance.

For one, he is very confused by the whole St. Nick/Santa thing.  Some books and movies use one name and some the other.  We tried to just say they were different names for the same person, but he has a VeggieTales movie that is about (well, more or less) the historical saint.  And St. Nick came last week to deliver presents but Santa doesn't come until Christmas.  But not only is he way too young to explain the historical difference, but popular culture isn't consistent.  Case in point: "jolly old St. Nicholas."

It gets even stickier when it comes to the religious meaning of Christmas.  We have been reading various versions of the Christmas story, I have been talking about who baby Jesus was, and he has a whole shelf devoted to the nativity scene my mom made him last Christmas (fabric figures he can play with). 

When he was bored earlier today I suggested that he go play with the nativity scene (which he calls "activity scene") and see if he could set them up and have them talk to each other.  When I came back the shepherds were stuffed on a different shelf, while all the other figures huddled around baby Jesus.  Nicholas' explanation?  The shepherds are in a dark cave because they were trying to kill baby Jesus.  His quote: "They were trying to kill baby Jesus.  They were trying to kill God!"

So I did what any good parent would do.  I changed the subject and left the shepherds in the "cave."  If the parents of either of my godsons are reading this they are probably regretting their choice.  But I just didn't know what to do with it. 

I wanted to lecture him on the violence because it is part of a recent trend of pretending to shoot and talking about people dying or being killed.  (That is a whole different post.  The influence seems to be mostly school but a little the recent transition from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to Disney movies.)

But, on the other hand, he is shockingly close to the biblical stories.  No, the shepherds didn't try to kill baby Jesus, but Herod sent others to try to accomplish this.  And as far as Jesus being killed, well we all know how that went.  I can't think of anywhere he would have heard the story of Herod, so I assume it was just a lucky guess, but still.  The real problem is that I may say I want to teach him the religious meaning of Christmas but there are parts of the story that are just not appropriate (or comprehensible) for a 3 year old.

On which note, we may have to just boycott Easter entirely this year because I am not ready to talk about crucifixion with my preschooler.