Planning Christmas 1

Halloween has come and gone, it is time to think about Christmas.  Christmas has been the biggest holiday in the year for as long as I can remember.  We come from a Christian background and, even though theologically Easter should be the bigger festival, we place more focus on the celebration of Christmas.  I suppose part of it has to do with combining the celebration of the end of a year, taking stock and giving thanks for getting through, and winding down after a year of toil.

Baby loves Christmas and we have already started our countdown.  Throughout the second half of the year, Baby has been collecting points by doing good deeds, helping out at home, fulfilling tasks better than just at a basic effort level, etc.  Points are also taken off for not doing those things so that by Christmas we will have a numerical tally of how 'good' he has been and then we will allow him to choose an appropriate present.  He is generally not greedy.  Case in point, he has collected a fair number of points- following periods of big ups and downs on the points chart- but he thinks that he has only earned a fidget spinner.  I think he has done more but I am not going to contradict him.  Instead I have booked a trip to Disneyland, which he has mentioned that he would like to go to before, to spend some time doing something fun together and see the Christmas lights.  Increasingly I think it is better to give him experiences than items- he gets tonnes of presents anyway so it is good to give him something slightly different.  We're making memories, hopefully storing them up so that we can look back on his childhood and see some nice things.  

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