Stranded for Christmas

Our second car has been in the shop for various repairs for over a month now. Spike takes the other one to work, which leaves me stranded without wheels indefinitely. It's made for a quiet Christmas. I'm usually running around town, delivering goodies, hitting the sales and going to Christmas events. But that's not an option this year. My girls and I just sit at home and try to celebrate the season within our own walls.

It's made for a peaceful holiday. I've dug out all the Christmas music and my toddler now knows many of the words to Handel's Messiah. When she asks me what we are going to do that day, I just tell her to get the biggest stack of books she can carry and bring them to the couch for hours of reading together. Besides from white lights, the Christmas tree remains undecorated. I learned my lesson last year when my little girl spent all day un-decorating and destroying the ornaments. A simple tree in the corner, good music coming from the stereo and snuggly girls has made our car troubles seem like a blessing.

Like most kids, she's fascinated with the idea of Santa. When I told her that he would come in the house to deliver the presents, however, she got a little scared and said, "why don't you just tell Santa that I don't need any presents, okay?" It was tempting. So the other day we had the talk about how Santa is just like one of her imaginary friends. She currently has eight plus imaginary friends so it was an easy concept for her to get. Ever since she's been much more enthusiastic about the old jelly belly. Besides, imaginary friends are often more fun for kids than real ones.

The concept of baby Jesus is a little more complicated. We've stressed that Jesus is real and lives in heaven. But there are so many kinds of Jesus for her to keep track of. The baby Jesus of Christmas, the adult Jesus of the Bible, the stained glass Jesus in the back of our chapel, which one is the "real" Jesus? Pixie deals with this difficult concept by pretending she is an angel and waving her wand over me to turn me into the different Jesuses. I'll have to make sure to crash the car again after it gets out of the shop so I have more time to work with her on this one.


Comments

Catherine M. said…
Oops, now you have to delete the last comment because I used your name. I love you though and think you're a great mommy to those lucky cultured little girls. My babies mostly just sit in car seats all day doing school runs.
Karen said…
Jesus is such a hard concept for kids. Veggie Tales don't really help, either. My kids now associate the Bible stories with cartoon, which they know are pretend. *sigh*

So glad that you're enjoying your down time and spending it with the girls rather than stressing that you can't go and do. Good for you!
Special K said…
Handel's Messiah is one of the few Christmas songs my husband can remember all the words.
Hallelujah.
Nancy Sabina said…
I love it when I remember how fun it is to read to my kids. I can't wait for them to open all their Christmas presents so we have a stack of new books. Of course, they'll be more excited about the other stuff - but I'll like the books.
Memarie Lane said…
My husband and I share a car. He works 12 hours a day and gets 2 days off a month. Some people dream about Paris, I dream about the grocery store.
jjstringham said…
So yeah. You're such a better mom than I am. If I were stranded at home with the kids I would plant myself in front of the computer all day long and lock the door so the kids couldn't get to me. Oh, wait, I do that even when I'm not stranded.
Erin said…
I pleaded with my husband to take the bus, so I get the car:) The best place for music is pandora.com and it's FREE! I'm currently on my 3rd day in a row of listening only to Baroque Chamber music. It's such a treat!
TheOneTrueSue said…
Yip. We're broke this year, so even though we have a car, I can't go spend money. It's making me realize how much emphasis we've put on "stuff" in years past. (slaps own hand)

You KNOW our Santa issues. And every day, the kids talk about how Santa and Heavenly Father are both watching them. They work together, apparently.
Anonymous said…
Oh, Hollywood, you just couldn't have posted this yesterday could you? I spent the morning patting myself on the back for how nice my tree has been looking the last few days. I spent the afternoon complacently leaving the little ones on their own with it while I "did lots of housework" (read: blogged). Needless to say, I now have a very simple tree.
chelsea said…
I too am very impressed with your attitude towards having no car. We have had one car a couple of times in our married life and I look back thinking those days were very dark. Like Sue we are poor this year so I've tried to not run errands and spend money and my attitude towards life has changed. I no longer fear the days where we don't leave the house!
Anonymous said…
My husband & I shared a car for 8 years! He just bought one 2 months ago and it's been fabulous! (we have 3 kids, so I totally understand the stranded issue.) Esp here in winter weather it sucked! At least you are able to take a simple walk outside and not get frozen to death! Hurray to simplifing the holidays! Each year I am determined to send out Christmas cards, and every year it's a total wash.
kashurst said…
Sometimes I wish we only had one car so I'd have an excuse not to go any where.

I love that Pixie waves her magic wand over your head to change you into the different Jesuses! I totally snarked over that one!
Sarah said…
Ah, it looks like my PR campaign to brush up my image after my "Blizzard" post is working. It's always nice not to have my commenters calling me a hussy.

Yes, I am the ideal mother, wife, daughter and Republican. Remember that.

The Jesus/Santa thing really is a challenge because while both of them are glad when Pixie is nice, Santa actually brings little girls dolls whereas Jesus just is happy. Kind of tough competition for us Christians. Although I've found Pixie is frequently stopping before doing something naughty to ask me, "does this make Santa sad?"

Marie - that's tough not to have a car ever! We shared a car for five years but he always took the train and I got the car during the day. I've never had to worry about when I could get to the store.

Mrs. M., I love love love Pandora! I hadn't though to listen to classical music on there but certainly will now! I've gotten a little fuddy in my old age and don't like that "kids music" as much. Go classics!

to The Wife, it's the sad truth that most of us moms have to learn through our own trial and error. I hope your ornaments didn't get ruined! I'm just going to keep all our special ornaments stored safely for the next five years or so until the kids are over the "utter destruction" phase. But really, a bare tree has it's own kind of beauty...

So yes, everyone, I'm here 24/7. Notice I posted three times today? Good times.
Unknown said…
First off, super sad that going to a very public party with a friend you've known for 15 years got you "hussified." People need hobbies.

Second... HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH ONE CAR? Maybe I'm just shocked because with my VERY early commute and classes and Francis's job and classes, we NEED both cars. Also, we fight over the one campus parking pass.

Speaking of, I should get on the road... ;P
Beeswax said…
Our eldest son called the Christ child Baby Moses. We didn't try very hard to correct him.

http://diversifiedbeeson.blogspot.com/2007/12/nativity-starring-old-testament.html

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