Christmas around the world
As I was putting Ethan to bed tonight, I was just about out of the room when he once again figured out a way to stall. He said "Mommy, can I tell you something?" I said "yes" (thinking "please hurry so I can get out of these germ-filled scrubs and into the tub). Here's how it went down:
Ethan: We made a star of David today at school
(a star of David? Let it go and say 'oh, that's nice')
Me: What's a star of David?
Ethan: An ornament.
Me: Yes, but what IS a Star of David?
Ethan: It's what they use at Hanukah.
(Do I really want to have this conversation now? Guess so....)
Me: Oh.....what's Hanukah?
Ethan: It's where they light the 8 candles, remember? We're going to every kindergarten classroom to learn about Christmas around the world.
(funny how I imagine they will not be making crosses when they learn about Christmas, but rather Santa or a Christmas tree....but whatever. That's a losing battle.)
Me: Well Ethan, there is only one Christmas no matter where you are in the world. You're learning about HOLIDAYS around the world. Christmas is when Jesus was born, so Hanukah isn't Christmas. Does that make sense?
Ethan: Well then what's Hanukah?
(well, here we go. How long is this going to take to explain?)
Me: Hanukah is the holiday that Jewish people celebrate at this time of year instead of Christmas
(can you guess where this is going?)
Ethan: What's Jewish?
(I should have taken a religion class in college or something, I'm not an expert on the Jewish faith!)
Me: Jewish is a religion where the people don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe He was a person and He was alive, but they don't think He was God's son.
(I think that was simple and to-the-point. Good job, me!)
Ethan: Ooooooh. So Jewish people are going to Hell?
(HOLY CRAP!! What do I say to THAT???? Think, think, think.....)
Me: uh, well, um, no, not necessarily. I'm not really sure Ethan, you know Jesus was Jewish. (and that will be easy for a 5-year-old to understand).
Ethan: HUH?
Me: It doesn't matter, Ethan. What matters is that if you believe in Jesus then you will go to Heaven. We don't need to worry about Hell.
Ethan: Mom?
Me: What? (PLEASE no more hard questions!!)
Ethan: Remember that one time when we had frozen rain called hell?
Me: Ethan, that was HAIL.
(well, I guess I didn't scar him too much. It amazes me how kids' brains can move from one subject to another so quickly. I guess that's good for us moms who don't know how to answer the tough questions in lilfe!!)
Here's a cute picture of the kiddos before their 1st basketball game last weekend! Unrelated, but cute nonetheless!
