You Can't Always Get What You Want

As the Holidays approach us and Old Saint Nick begins making his list I am faced with a dilemma, one far too familiar with parents everywhere no doubt, the never ending Christmas Wish List.

My son, being at the age where he can relate Christmas to presents has become a broken record when it comes to what he wants from Santa (and Mom & Dad, the Grandparents, ect.) which has left me feeling rather tired of repeating the fact that he only gets one gift from each person, including Santa, and not his entire list; which I must admit he always replies to with "okay" or "I know" which is probably where you are scratching your heads wondering what I'm complaining about, bear with me.

The other day while driving to get groceries I asked my son what Christmas meant to him, his reply was "Santa brings me presents if I'm good" and I told him that was only a small part of what Christmas is about that it's also about spending time with the people you love which is more important than any gift under the tree to which he replied "But I still want presents" ... I followed with a deep sigh and decided to leave it at that.
My question is how do you explain to a 4 year old the importance of family and not of presents or is this an impossible revelation to fall upon the ears of a preschooler?

Perhaps I am getting worked up over nothing as I do recall a certain family video of Christmas morning where after opening my gifts I asked "is that ALL I got??" and I turned out alright, right...
Do I just continue to explain values to my Son so that eventually he will understand?

We did participate in Operation Christmas Child this year through my Son's school and he seemed to understand the concept that some children don't get presents; I feel that was a great way to introduce the giving aspect of Christmas so he would know there are those less fortunate at this time of year.
I suppose I need to take another deep sigh and remind myself that he is 4, not 14 and that the more we show him the giving side of the Holiday season the more he will understand that it isn't about receiving, that you can't always get what you want but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need!

Knit 1, Purl 1

Creativity is not something I lack, patience most definitely is; which is why I am so excited that I've finally found a hobby that doesn't test my patience as much as others have!

I've tried drawing, painting, writing (multiple book ideas sit jotted down in my journal ignored) and scrap booking to give myself an outlet to no avail...I am great at getting started on things but I get easily discouraged when I can't immediately see the progress of my work which is why I'm sure I have failed miserably at so many things before.

However I recently took up knitting and I admit that I went into it expecting it to fall into the same category of tried and failed as the rest but alas I seem to have found my creative calling!
Maybe it's the fact that I can see the pile of yarn I'm working continually turn into whatever project I've decided to make; don't get me wrong the projects take me a few days or weeks to complete but I find that every time I pick it back up it's a smooth transition to continue whereas with my drawing, painting, writing and scrap booking I had to be feeling "artsy" to pick back up on things I'd left off which is where my inner perfectionist would come out and pick apart everything that wasn't right and I would end up with a crumpled ball of paper/half finished canvas/blog that has been ignored for months at a time/half full scrapbook... you get the picture!

I'm enjoying learning something new, adding new techniques and building my skills so I can make the next project on my list, it's rewarding and relaxing and I really like that my end results can be enjoyed by others too.

GO KNITTING!!!