ChefBeckyD
Gold Member
- 20,376
I need to vent...and then maybe I'll feel better. I don't know.
I usually get along well with my In-Laws - but I feel like they've taken liberties that weren't theirs to take this past week.
My son came home from spending the weekend at their house last week, and said "Mom, Grandma told me that Santa isn't real"....
Now - regardless of your feelings about Santa (I really DO NOT want this to become a thread about believing in Santa vs. not believing - Santa at our house is a fun, imaginative part of Christmas, and I really don't want to get into that debate) I feel like my MIL had NO right to have that discussion with my 5 year old, and I really didn't appreciate that she took it into her own hands to do that.
We do a lot to make sure that DS knows the true meaning of Christmas, and he does know. But we also love the imagination and wonder of him being a child at Christmas, and do all that we can to make it a very special family time, full of traditions and fun. I feel like we do a great job of integrating all of the Spirituality of the season with some more secular traditions.
My DH grew up in a home where there weren't any fun traditions with Christmas. They didn't have stockings, they didn't decorate a tree, etc....and there definitely was no Santa! I've always felt bad for him to have missed out on all of the fun and excitement I remember as a child, and together we agreed that we wanted to provide that fun and excitement for our son.
Now, I feel like Grandma has taken a piece of our fun, and ruined it. It wasn't her place or her right to take that from us, and tonight, we were over there, and DS brought it up, and she reiterated that it wasn't real.
I have told him that Grandma is older, and doesn't have children at home, so she's forgotten about believing in Santa - but that in our house, we can still believe. I bit my tongue tonight, because I don't want to cause a scene with the In-Laws...but I'm a bit angry about it.
Okay - so now maybe I can let it go. Maybe....
I usually get along well with my In-Laws - but I feel like they've taken liberties that weren't theirs to take this past week.
My son came home from spending the weekend at their house last week, and said "Mom, Grandma told me that Santa isn't real"....
Now - regardless of your feelings about Santa (I really DO NOT want this to become a thread about believing in Santa vs. not believing - Santa at our house is a fun, imaginative part of Christmas, and I really don't want to get into that debate) I feel like my MIL had NO right to have that discussion with my 5 year old, and I really didn't appreciate that she took it into her own hands to do that.
We do a lot to make sure that DS knows the true meaning of Christmas, and he does know. But we also love the imagination and wonder of him being a child at Christmas, and do all that we can to make it a very special family time, full of traditions and fun. I feel like we do a great job of integrating all of the Spirituality of the season with some more secular traditions.
My DH grew up in a home where there weren't any fun traditions with Christmas. They didn't have stockings, they didn't decorate a tree, etc....and there definitely was no Santa! I've always felt bad for him to have missed out on all of the fun and excitement I remember as a child, and together we agreed that we wanted to provide that fun and excitement for our son.
Now, I feel like Grandma has taken a piece of our fun, and ruined it. It wasn't her place or her right to take that from us, and tonight, we were over there, and DS brought it up, and she reiterated that it wasn't real.
I have told him that Grandma is older, and doesn't have children at home, so she's forgotten about believing in Santa - but that in our house, we can still believe. I bit my tongue tonight, because I don't want to cause a scene with the In-Laws...but I'm a bit angry about it.
Okay - so now maybe I can let it go. Maybe....