Fast forward two days to us getting home. When we got home, Santa had indeed stopped here. First two gifts Sunshine opened, she was thrilled with. I mean, face light up, her world was complete, kind of thrilled. Then, she opened her third gift. It had been something she wanted, had to have, when she saw it in the store. When she opened it though, she looked at it, said, "Oh" and just tossed it aside, completely uninterested. Went through a few more gifts and she got a Fur Real cat from her grandma. Her response, "I wanted the big one, but oh, well". After all gifts were opened, I asked if she got everything she wanted (which she did...she got every last thing on her list) and she said, "I didn't get the cat I wanted from Santa" Wow. How did that happen? How did she go from last year not caring about if she got anything to this year?
On the flip side, we have Monster, who was so thankful and truly grateful for each thing he got. He had all of five things on his Christmas list and his response when I asked him if he got everything he wanted? "I got everything I wanted and so much more!"
I just don't understand where the true meaning of Christmas was lost for Sunshine. Was it the build up? The anticipation? Was it everyone and their mother saying, "Are you excited for Santa to come?" Was it the fact that she is now exposed to more people who get everything they want and she feels left out?
A day later, all is well and she has "forgotten" (believe me, she will bring up the cat again) that she didn't get exactly what she wanted. A day later and she is all about making cards, pictures, and crafts for others. A day later and she wants to make baked goods for others, but only if they are baked goods she's not interested in eating. She won't make things she likes because she doesn't want others to get anything she would like for herself. So I have a year. One year to instill the true meaning of Christmas. One year to get her to understand that we should do good for others because it's right and it makes us happy to see others happy. One year try to knock the crazy materialism that has somehow taken over her. We start by baking chocolate bread for the neighbors. She can't resist anything chocolate. I don't always believe in baby steps. I believe in immersion. But, if that backfires, I'll try the baby steps. One year. We shall see.