When I first heard the term “threenager”, I got a good laugh – it’s totally witty! I, however, didn’t find it identifiable with my three-year-old…that is until this holiday season. Y’all, I officially have a threenager on my hands, and let me tell you, it’s NOT fun!
I absolutely love Christmas! I always have! When I had my babies, my love for Christmas grew to a whole new level I never even imagined existed! Beau’s first holiday season resulted in his first crawl – to a talking Christmas ornament! His first climb up some stairs – to get a decorative snowman! His first time clapping – on Christmas Eve! And his first time standing – on Christmas morning! Somewhere in my Christmas crazed brain, I believed he was hitting these milestones because of his mutual excitement for this holiday 🙂
Last year, Christmas was downright amazing! Beau was into everything Christmas! From Santa to the Elf on the Shelf, he ate it all up and was begging for more! So as you can imagine, I had some pretty high expectations for this holiday season! I just figured this year would be even better…oh how wrong I was! Beau was so disengaged 🙁 It just didn’t seem right for a three year old…in fact it seemed more like he was a teenager…correction, a threenager!
- He didn’t want to watch Christmas movies…
- He’d tell me to stop singing any time I’d sing a Christmas carol…
- He had zero interest in the antics our Elf would initiate…
- When we asked if he wanted to make cookies for Santa, he said “No thank you”…
- When we went to see Christmas lights on Christmas, he said “Ugh! Not again!…
Y’all, he even put himself on the Naughty list at school!
On Christmas morning, Beau again reminded me of a tiny teen! All he wanted for Christmas this year was a new Buzz Lightyear. His Nana bought him one for Christmas last year, and it had taken too many falls and suffered a broken wing and a dead laser beam over the year! Santa delivered and he was happy for a moment, but each subsequent gift he opened he would say “Did Santa bring me a new Woody in this box?” Patrick and I made sideways glances silently asking each other if Beau had asked Santa for a new Woody? When all the gifts were open, Beau was satisfied but a little sad to have not gotten a new Woody, and made sure to show us that Woody suffered a broken finger at some point throughout the past year…
All I could do was think of the home video collection my mom has stored away of her disgruntled teenagers! Yep, he’s totally a threenager, and I really hope it’s just a phase!
Beau’s response to Christmas totally affected my response to Christmas. I found some of my Christmas joy missing, and I didn’t like it. I became disengaged. I stopped listening to Christmas music. We hardly watched any holiday movies. On Christmas Eve, I picked up store bought cookies for Santa. Heck, I didn’t even wear my “Obsessive Christmas Disorder” sweater! It just felt like a lie to pull it out and put it on.
I feel a little guilty now realizing the holiday is over and I let it go by without it being fully celebrated. I feel bad for allowing my joy to be affected by somebody else. But I can’t do that to myself! I can’t dwell on it and base every future holiday season upon it. I need to instead learn from it and be better in the years to come!
Isn’t it funny how we let the ones we love most affect us the most? We let their feelings and behaviors be a mirror for our own. When they are sad, we are sad…when they are angry, we are angry…when they are in a bad mood, our mood is suddenly sour…Friends, this right here is why we need to love God first! We need to love God above all and put Him first! If we love God first, we will respond how God responds…with love!
I do believe I put other things above the Lord this holiday season, and I think as a result I got back what those those other things give — emptiness. I can’t go back and change it, but I can and I will move forward…
Christmas is one day a year, but the spirit of Christmas should be celebrated every single day! Every day we should love like we love on Christmas! Every day we should give like we give on Christmas! Every day we should feel like we feel on Christmas! We need to wake up each day with the same excitement we awaken with on Christmas!
Christmas isn’t about the tree or the gifts beneath it. It’s not about Santa or his elves. Christmas really isn’t about everything that we are so guilty of making Christmas about…
Christmas is instead about the gift of life that we received through the birth of a child who was sent to be our Savior! We get to open this gift each day friends! Do so with the same joy that you feel on Christmas! Do so with the same hope you feel on Christmas! Do so with the same love you feel on Christmas!
Today may not be Christmas friends, but treat today like it’s Christmas, because every day we are given the gift of Jesus!
Be Blessed + Be A Blessing
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