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The Mommy Track
Our baby will remind us of first Christmas
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published December 25, 2005
I used the shiniest wrapping paper I could find. I rattled each box with wide-eyed wonder, as if I didn't know what was inside. I ran Toby's tiny hands over the presents and ripped open the gifts with glee, but I still couldn't get my 9-week-old son to show much interest in the Christmas festivities around him.
Maybe I'm expecting too much from the little guy.
It's time for one of those big firsts: Baby's First Christmas. It adds a new layer to everything - pointing out nativity scenes, talking about Santa Claus, pouring on the gifts - even if Toby is too young to grasp it just yet.
Wayne and I celebrated an early Grumet Christmas with Toby last weekend to avoid lugging the yuletide loot to New Mexico, where we'll spend Christmas proper with my family. Except for my mom and older sister, who made separate visits after Toby was born, this will be the first time junior meets his extended family. (He will meet Wayne's side of the family the first week of January, when we drive to South Florida.)
As if that wasn't celebration enough, the holiday will have extra meaning this year, as Toby's christening is scheduled for today. I wanted to have the baptism at my parents' church - San Felipe de Neri, a mission-style chapel built in 1793 in what is now Albuquerque's Old Town - so my family could attend without trekking to Florida. To my surprise, the deacon gave us Jesus' birthday.
I couldn't have asked for a better day.
Forget the mad dashes to the mall and the search for shiny wrapping paper. On Christmas, when we celebrate Jesus' arrival in this world, we'll also celebrate Toby's arrival in the church. I think it serves as a poignant reminder - to my family now, and, I hope, to Toby each future Christmas - of the simple holiness of the day, a day when a tiny infant carried the promise to change the world.
Talk about perspective.
A baby himself, Toby can't help his indifference to the pile of gifts beneath the Christmas tree. He's not impressed by plastic blocks and animal puppets, at least not yet. He'd rather spend the day eating, cuddling and cooing with the people who make him feel loved and secure.
I'm starting to think he's got the right idea about Christmas after all.
[Last modified December 24, 2005, 23:42:16]
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