Two days after Christmas, after all the family gatherings, we were finally alone in the room, just the three of us #marasigang. We held off giving Noah our gifts for him because he was already so stimulated with so much happenings, people, and gifts (not complaining). I found the alone time an opportunity to give Noah one of our gifts for Christmas, and process Christmas with him.
We sang Jesus a happy birthday and then we gave Noah one of our gifts. He was very happy having to open a gift, and both of us his parents were just focusing on him. He opened it and as he tore the wrapper and saw part of it, he said very excitedly, “A book! I like it!” As he saw more of the gift, we were surprised that somehow, he recognized the man portrayed on the cover of the book, “It’s Jesus! It’s a Jesus book!” The image doesn’t even look like the other Jesus story books he has at home. My heart was in tears because indeed, it was a book about Jesus. It was Noah’s first bible. “I want to read the book,” he said, and opened the pages in awe and wonder.
My dad knocked on the door and Noah excitedly shared, “Look, lolo, Jesus!” He started to “read,” “Once upon a time…” and as he pointed at each word on the page he said,” Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. ” Ahhh, yes Noah, every word in this book actually points to Jesus. Wow. My 2, almost 3 year old has just made the point of the meta narrative! As he reached the last page he said, “the end. Again? I want to read it again!”
I wish we took a video to relive the moment, but I’m also glad we didn’t because we were all present in the moment. This is it. This will be our first Christmas tradition. We will make that alone time for our own family and bring back Noah (and us) to what Christmas is really all about, and yes, to sing Jesus a happy birthday.
Here’s another post that got super stuck in my drafts (for almost one year)! ‘Di bale, Christmas season naman na ulit. Now, what to give to him this year… something simple and meaningful. Hmm…
