Holiday Initiation

I never really considered that Christmas traditions have to be taught. Here are some of the things Boo has learned (her logic).

1. Santa Claus wears a red hat and a red coat and brings presents. Boo's biggest interest is in dressing up like Santa Claus.
2. Santa Claus will bring her presents. She would like an orange one. Zoey wants a red one. What does she want inside? This confuses her mostly, but after repeating her choice of packaging she decides she wants cookies inside. What kind of cookies? Pink, blue, yellow, purple, green, orange, red....
3. She will give a present to Santa Claus because Dora did. She will give Santa claus a rainbow.
4. It is Christmas time now. What happens at Christmastime? Her birthday.
5. We will get a Christmas tree inside. It should happen "today" or "now" but Mama keeps saying that it will happen on "Sunday" and pointing at her calendar. Mama won't let her draw on her calendar other than to mark off days. That's a little confusing.

We thought it would be a treat to let her stay up late last night and watch "Charlie Brown's Christmas." She didn't think that was so great. She liked the hot chocolate and cookies that I gave her just to get some positive reaction. In retrospect, Charlie Brown probably wasn't the best special to start with. It has no identifiable characters for her, and the story is pretty esoteric for an almost-3-year-old.

Boo's learning curve has made me wonder about R2's experience. I know that he will still learn all the parts, but Boo's knowledge and excitement is sure to impact how and when he learns.