The Wiseman, The Christ Child and the Ninja

Why is it that the holiday seasons have come to be so stressful, is it because we bring it upon ourselves, are we trying to keep up with the neighbors as we try to create new or revive old family traditions? Whatever the reason that causes the added stress we need to learn to control this stress. If we don’t learn to manage the stress it will begin to manage our lives.

The night before Christmas my wife was feeling, well should I say “disappointed” because we have not done very much as a family during the holiday season. However from a mans point of view I felt, that with the exception of watching the normal Christmas specials on TV and going to band and choir concerts, that we had spent some time as a family. Don’t get me wrong I had all good intentions to do more as a family, but to be honest time just got away from me this year. It seems like Christmas came a few weeks earlier this year, (will someone please slow down time?).

Anyway, here we were the night before Christmas day and the family did not get out to see some of the lights and do some of the other “Christmassy” activities and my wife was feeling a little down. But there was still time to salvage the holiday, so I did what any smart father and husband would and that was to gather the family together for our annual Christmas pageant. I thought maybe this might make amends towards my wife and once again restore harmony to our universe.

Upon gathering the family together and making each of the kids take a “part” in the nativity. Everyone had a part, from a shepherd to the star, to Mary and Joseph to the Christ Child (When you have a large family you can put on quite the production). That is when our 4 year old, Aden, announced that he was a Ninja for the pageant. After trying to explain that there were no Ninjas present at the birth of the Christ Child he was adamant that “yes there was” (Lesson 1 of Fatherhood, do not argue with a 4 year old, you will loose every time) and he would not relinquish his stand. So in the spirit of Christmas, and to keep the peace in the home we let him be a Ninja. It is a good thing that I have a son that can improvise and interpret the scriptures on the fly.

So, when the Wiseman came to pay their respect to the Babe they were being protected by a Ninja. We all had a good laugh as Aden took his part very serious and looked like a secret service agent protecting a state dignitary, but he was only protecting his brother who as portraying a Wiseman.

So what did I learn? It is the simple things that can make the holidays memorable. There is no reason to stress about if you are going to get to all of the activities planned; it is the small things that really matter. Spending time together as a family, whether it is looking at lights or recreating the Nativity, with the Ninjas included, it is the time spent together as a family that will be remembered.