Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Season of Giving


photo credit : flickr/fabbriciuse

Pere Noel or Santa Claus is very sacred to the children here. They go to bed eagerly on Christmas eve expecting Papa Noel to drop off the toys during the night, if they have been good of course. For weeks leading to Christmas, parents have been using it as leverage "Do you want me to tell Santa that you have been naughty & he shouldn't bother coming to our house ?".

In Singapore, although there's Santa Claus (he does go to the Tropics too), all the kids know that the toys are given by their parents or grandparents or whoever it may be. There's no big story about Santa coming down the chimney etc.

Which may explain why I don't talk much about Santa. However he was instrumental in helping The Girl wean off her pacifier a few years ago. She left it under the Christmas tree for Santa to pass on to babies who need it & also in exchange for her present. No fuss. It was gone just like that.

This Christmas I've decided to enlist his help again in starting a new Christmas tradition. I told her that it's time we give toys that she no longer plays with, to other children. I said Santa would come by to pick up the toys & give them to children who needs them. Except I said this yesterday which had X quickly correcting me by saying Santa only comes once a year & whispered that I should get my story straight. Oops. Okay so we'll send them to him then.

Despite that slight hiccup, we continued as planned this morning, armed with several big bags, went through all her toys & she happily helped me picked out all the toys that she would like to give away. I'm really pleased that she is willing to part with many of her toys so this is going to be one tradition that I intend to keep for years to come.

Side note : The picture above is typical of the Santas that you see around here - climbing up walls or windows.

2 comments:

Charmaine said...

Merry Christmas Petite and family! I love your new Christmas tradition. We have a similar tradition in our family too. It's good for the young to learn about giving and receiving. Enjoy your holidays in Spore!

petite fleur said...

charming
I have to figure out who to give the toys to now.
Happy New Year to you & yours.