A Christmas Story

My son started learning how to write sometime last year, before he turned three. And in the tradition that I grew up in, I asked him to write letters to Santa to ask for his Christmas gift (Okay, I know I'll have a hard time explaining when he finds out that the jolly old man is just a myth, but that concept made my childhood so I'm not going to deprive my son of a bit of holiday magic).

This was his letter last year:

Done with a lot of coaching from Mommy, but it's in his own handwriting.

Fast-forward to 2009. One Sunday evening, I reminded him to set aside some time the following day to compose his letter for Santa. I thought it would be another way to keep him occupied while I was at work. However, when I came home that Monday evening, it turned out that he forgot. When I asked him where his letter was, his eyes turned into two big O's (I was guessing his thought bubble read "oh, shit!", if only the words were part of his toddler-ese) and he got all panicky. You see, the previous night, I told him that Santa had a deadline for letter-collection (I was hoping for maximum recall and motivation. Well, trust a three-year-old's attention span to nullify all your adult theories.).

As I sat down to dinner, he bugged me over and over to help him to write. I told him to wait until after I've finished my meal because I was starving. He kept quiet for a while so I thought he complied. As I was putting away my dinner plate, my precocious boy showed me this, done with absolutely no adult intervention:

With such a darling letter, who is Santa Claus to resist?

(By the way, I drew the star on the upper-right corner to let him know what a great effort he made!)

Here's his Christmas loot from Santa:

A blue scooter (with flashing lights!). Santa was also thoughtful enough to include a toddler-sized helmet, in matching blue with yellow trims.

And because he is such a wonderful boy, Daddy and Mommy got him these:

          

That's a Zhu Zhu pet starter kit, as well as a hamster (Scoodles) to complete the fun. He's a fan of the game "Hamsterball" so he enjoyed this one, too.

Well, Grandma was not to be outdone, so my son got another gift in the form of a Vtech Read and Learn. If you must know, my son can already read very well, it's just that he gets a bit lazy with writing (blame the technological age for this...he'd rather be chatting complete with audibles). Grandma thought this will help motivate him to write more.

To cap off his Christmas, we went to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel. Mighty proud of him for sitting through the entire movie without his usual loud chatter. It's either he's starting to behave like a big boy, or he was completely pooped out from staying up too late the previous night (and waking up bright and early to play with his new toys). He didn't enjoy it as much as he did Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but he did get some laughs from the cute critters.

No wonder kids love Christmas so much. They get spoilt to bits! But I guess we parents are also guilty of a bit of self-indulgence: seeing our kids' eyes brighten up and hearing their loud shrieks of delight are just too much of a pleasure to pass up on.

P.S. Daddy and Mommy also had their share of a ho-ho-holiday:

          

LTD F50 for the guy, HP Mini for the gal :)  Woohoo!