My monthly 're-post'
(This is from December 2005)
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A Christmas memory and a lesson...
I was always very precocious as a child (NO! Colette, say it ain’t so *wink*). I knew at an early age that Santa wasn’t really bringing anything to my house and that my parents were the ‘responsible parties’ for all those presents….I suppose my first clue was all the noise I would hear (tools being used and sometimes (LOL often times) swearing) as my dad and my older male cousin attempted to put together our toys (bikes etc.)...of course it also helped that you could sit very quietly at the top of the stairs and peer down into the living room and kind of see what was happening. So when this phase began I ruined a lot of my own Christmases (in other words as I do often in my ‘real’ life I sabotaged my own happiness)...
This did not stop me from ‘snooping’ especially once I realised that my mom and dad had to ‘hide’ the presents somewhere...so I’d look through closets and down in the basement etc. every chance I got. One year my mother taught me a really good lesson. I had managed to find a fur muff. It was lovely white fur with black accent fur (now mind you today I’d never even dream of wearing fur)…so I went to my mom and I said “Mom, I know one of the things I want for Christmas! I want a fur muff”. My mom did not say a word she kept cooking or cleaning or ironing (one of the things she was always doing at the time ALL the time..). When Christmas came that year, there was no fur muff for me under the tree, instead she gave the gift to one of my girl cousins (well yes I suppose giving it to a boy would have been unheard of at that time). I never went snooping for gifts again – I never again (even if I did come across things) told my mom of anything else I wanted ‘after the fact’. I also came to realise that my mom and dad began hiding things at my Aunt Jada’s house...how very sneaky of them *_*
Today, I believe in Father Christmas – the spirit of giving. I try to convey the magic to the little ones in my life (and the grown ups too) – my nephew Pat is wising up to the ‘myth’ of Santa and it’s kind of sad...as it is when all children lose their sense of magic and trade it in for the ho-hum daily grind and grow up.
I am not suggesting that kids remain in a ‘Peter Pan’ sensibility but it would be nice if we could all embrace the magic and once again reconnect to the wonder we left behind.
*********
A Christmas memory and a lesson...
I was always very precocious as a child (NO! Colette, say it ain’t so *wink*). I knew at an early age that Santa wasn’t really bringing anything to my house and that my parents were the ‘responsible parties’ for all those presents….I suppose my first clue was all the noise I would hear (tools being used and sometimes (LOL often times) swearing) as my dad and my older male cousin attempted to put together our toys (bikes etc.)...of course it also helped that you could sit very quietly at the top of the stairs and peer down into the living room and kind of see what was happening. So when this phase began I ruined a lot of my own Christmases (in other words as I do often in my ‘real’ life I sabotaged my own happiness)...
This did not stop me from ‘snooping’ especially once I realised that my mom and dad had to ‘hide’ the presents somewhere...so I’d look through closets and down in the basement etc. every chance I got. One year my mother taught me a really good lesson. I had managed to find a fur muff. It was lovely white fur with black accent fur (now mind you today I’d never even dream of wearing fur)…so I went to my mom and I said “Mom, I know one of the things I want for Christmas! I want a fur muff”. My mom did not say a word she kept cooking or cleaning or ironing (one of the things she was always doing at the time ALL the time..). When Christmas came that year, there was no fur muff for me under the tree, instead she gave the gift to one of my girl cousins (well yes I suppose giving it to a boy would have been unheard of at that time). I never went snooping for gifts again – I never again (even if I did come across things) told my mom of anything else I wanted ‘after the fact’. I also came to realise that my mom and dad began hiding things at my Aunt Jada’s house...how very sneaky of them *_*
Today, I believe in Father Christmas – the spirit of giving. I try to convey the magic to the little ones in my life (and the grown ups too) – my nephew Pat is wising up to the ‘myth’ of Santa and it’s kind of sad...as it is when all children lose their sense of magic and trade it in for the ho-hum daily grind and grow up.
I am not suggesting that kids remain in a ‘Peter Pan’ sensibility but it would be nice if we could all embrace the magic and once again reconnect to the wonder we left behind.
posted by Colette at 9:53 AM
3 Comments:
I've thought about the story of the fur muff a couple of times since you first told me about it, and I have a strange question about it for you.
Do you think the fur muff incident had any bearing on your current personal beliefs about animals, eating meat, and the use of their pelts/hides?
I've thought about the story of the fur muff a couple of times since you first told me about it, and I have a strange question about it for you.
Do you think the fur muff incident had any bearing on your current personal beliefs about animals, eating meat, and the use of their pelts/hides?
LOL
You've thought so much and so strongly about this you posted it twice?
Um...first thought - the answer is NO. I began my journey towards being more aware of vegetarianism through my ex-lover Joe. He made me realise how we really did not have the right to kill animals like that - also through him I began to study about Hindu/Buddhist concepts and most of the people he hung with and lived with were vegans/vegetarians
My mother almost always had meat every night on the dinner table - and so I never connected - this meat hide/fur is also used to make 'things' until much later. I will say I did become more picky about meat probably from the age of like 11 on - that was me trying to 'break free' of my parents and make my own decisions such as what I was going to eat...but again I would not say 'that' was caused by the 'muff' incident.
Interesting question though...
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