Christmas Oddities

The psychologists were right. Once Christmas Eve arrived, Rose's anxiety dropped. Is it odd to start an entry about Christmas with "psychologists were right"? Well, such is our life. Odd is cool. I will describe some of the oddities of the season before I write a second post with pictures and tales of the amazing days composing our first Christmas as a family.

The first oddity of the holiday is that Rose seems ambivalent to presents. She appreciates them. She gets excited to open them. Yet, unlike most kids, it seems they could disappear completely and she would be mostly unaffected by their absence. I guess by most kids I'm comparing her to my 10-year-old self who eagerly shook every present my Mom set under the tree and begged daily to open "just one."

Thankfully for us, this indifference means she didn't plead to open the gifts from Mom and Dad under the tree in the week leading up to Christmas. Nor did she bound out of her room Christmas Day with the joy and glee with which most children greet that special morning. 

Rose also didn't show the materialistic tendencies I remember accompanying the holiday elation that helped my fly out of my bed December the 25th. Except once, for one small moment, where she asked for more presents when everything had been opened. Yet, her request was small and not at all demanding. She didn't look disappointed when there weren't any more to open. I smiled when she asked because it felt less odd.  

Another oddity is all me. Being new parents, we, er, well, I suck at gift giving. When I was out shopping I saw a suit case. It was pink with little blue polka dots and swivel wheels so you can turn it any which way. Since we have a trip to Disneyworld coming up, I snatched it up. Rose will be thrilled, I thought. 

When she opened it, another oddity showed itself. Rose smiled. She looked at it, she unzipped it and pretended to care about the pockets inside. She kept betraying her disappointment with a beautiful smile, but through her eyes I heard the wahhh-wahhhhhhh. She set it aside and it has sat in her room since. 

My brother-in-law asked if I thought she'd wheel it around the house pretending she was at the airport. The thought still makes me laugh. No, of course, not. I'm not sure why I thought a suit case was a great gift for a child. To make things worse, it was one of the gifts we chose to leave out from St. Nicholas. Yep, odd parents we are, indeed.