My daughter is ga ga over Christmas. In some ways, it feels like it molded out of thin air. I’ve never "over-done" it for Christmas. In fact it took my awhile to get back into after a few years of actually hating it. So then comes the kids. How can it be avoided? Especially here where 90% of the population is Catholic. There’s no Thanksgiving to divert the public’s attention from the glittery (and I have to admit cute) diversions Christmas delivers: shiny balls, nutcrackers, stockings, fake green and red sticks of leaves or fake green and red anything.

Luckily, if I stay lucid, I know that simplicity is really all the kids need. I could buy so many things. The stores here in Costa Rica are already jammed so tight with Christmas trinkets, one can’t even get the cart down the isle (which I keep meaning to tell the manager infringes on the whole buying experience). Anyway….

My son, since he’s two, has no concept of what Christmas is. My daughter, as mentioned earlier, is crazy for the stuff. I now face a month and a half of reading Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer or some other holiday book. (Not to mention singing Rudolph…!)I got a little nervous thinking of my little brood, the three of us alone, for the holidays. But if I keep going back to that balance thing (check out the blog a few nights ago), I feel calm, happy, and even prepared for all that glitters and is gold.