The tree is up and decorated, after a few near-misses, one new tree stand, and one incident of me leaping forward as the tree crashed over Sophie’s head. The Christmas cookies are baked, though have not been distributed, and I keep forgetting to send in checks for teacher gifts. We have a fun family trip to New York City planned, to see the Rockettes do their Christmas thing, and that’s going to be our big family present this year. My mother saw her first movie in the Radio City theater, when her grandmother took her, and this year, she’s thrilled to be taking my girls, and we’re all excited to join them. There are decorations hung, and so far, for at least one more year, the girls still believe in Santa.
We’ve been talking about other questions of faith and belief around my house recently. The girls have talked to their friends and are starting to think about who celebrates what holiday, and who believes in God and who doesn’t. We have always told them that there are many different ways to believe, and we’ve taken them to Hanukkah celebrations, played Christmas music, read them Greek myths and pagan poetry, talked to them about evolution and monks and priests and nuns. But they won’t grow up as members of any particular church, and so we’re kind of charting our own path.
Tonight, I took out a Children’s Bible that my grandparents gave me twenty-two years ago, when I was nine, and read about Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham and Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael, Isaac, and the Tower of Babel. My girls listened with wide eyes and asked me questions about forgiveness and cruelty and love and creation, and I tried to answer them as honestly as I could. Then we read a little Buddhist fable about a golden bird and I kissed them good night.
I have no idea what they will end up believing, but I always want them to believe in the power and richness of language and stories, and the beauty and importance of love and peace, and so I’ll read to them, and talk to them, and try and keep my mind and heart open, so that they can too.
Jackie, this is so lovely! Cory and I have been talking a lot lately about how to introduce (or not) religion into the lives of our future children since his family’s background is Jewish and mine is Catholic. I love the idea of simply incorporating the idea of “belief” and what that means/has meant to different cultures over different times. Such a great way to approach a potentially difficult issue!
Kristen, thanks so much! It’s certainly not the easiest way– this week one of Lucy’s friends told her kids always have to belief in the same religion as their parents, for example– but it lines up best with how we want the girls to think about the world.