Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: The Reason for the Season of Christmas (12/04/08)
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TITLE: Through the eyes of a child | Previous Challenge Entry
By Amanda Gray
12/08/08 -
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Which answer was a sad indictment on my teaching ability – but I would try not to take it personally.
“Why do you think that, Felix?”
“Well, my mum says the reason we have Christmas is ‘cause she gets to give me presents and watch me open ‘em and everythin’.”
“Oh… Oh, well that is a good answer. Anyone else want to guess?”
I tried to suppress my inward groan as the “fount-of-knowledge” of the group waved her hand in the air in such a way that I could not avoid picking her.
“Yes, Lucy?”
“Well, my dad says…”
My heart sank a little as I had had much experience of hearing what “my dad” said. “My dad” seemed to be a bit of an intellectual who enjoyed making radical statements to challenge his children’s thinking and his children’s teacher’s ingenuity and intelligence. This had caused some confusion amongst my young class at times, and had required some ingenuous bluffing and dexterous diversions to dissolve the ensuing escalation of increasingly difficult questions that I either did not feel qualified to answer or was reticent to answer. Particularly after the first time when I had tried to answer the questions and had subsequently been faced with a line of concerned parents eager to discuss with me what I was teaching their children at Sunday School.
But right now it was too late to stem the flow. Lucy was on a roll.
“My dad says that the reason we have Christmas is 'cause some people ages ago wanted to join in on a pagan fes’val even though they were Christ’ns. He says that we have all the lights ‘n’ stuff because pagans had it first.”
“Miss Martin?”
“Yes, Billy?”
“What’s a pagan?”
“Maybe we can talk about it later.” I suggested desperately.
But Lucy had already embarked on her explanation. “My dad says that a pagan is someone who prays to the sun and stars and idols and…”
“Yes, thank you, Lucy. Thank you for your ideas. But we are thinking about Christmas. Anyone else want to have a guess at Who is the reason for the season?”
“I know! I know!”
“Yes, Mark?”
“Santa.”
I groaned inwardly.
“It’s Santa ‘cause he brings presents, and we get to write to him what we want, and we leave milk and cookies out and in the morning it’s gone, and…”
“My dad says that Santa isn’t…”
“It is not your turn to speak, Lucy.” I interrupted quickly. “And thank you for your answer, Mark.”
I was beginning to feel a little frazzled and frustrated, feeling it was now time to just get to the point. “But there is Someone much more important Who is the reason that we celebrate Christmas every year. It is His birthday at Christmas. Whose birthday do we celebrate at Christmas time? Yes, Steven?”
“My sister’s birthday is at Christmas. My mum says …”
Oh dear. And I thought it was a safe question.
“Yes, but Who does your sister share a birthday with?” Without a pausing for an answer, I decided to avoid any further misunderstandings by providing an even less subtle hint. “Who was born in a manger on Christmas day?”
“What’s a manger?”
I displayed the nativity scene with a sigh of resignation.
“We celebrate Jesus’ birthday at Christmas!” I placed a lot of emphasis on “Jesus” just to make sure, pointing to the baby in the nativity scene. But somehow another question slipped out: “So Who is the reason for the season?” (Hadn’t I learnt my lesson yet?)
But, thankfully, with the hints of me mouthing of His name and pointing repeatedly to the baby in the nativity scene most children cried out “Jesus!” in compliant unison. Unfortunately in the background I also heard a squeakily piercing voice which emphasized the beginning of each of her sentences.
“My dad says that Jesus wasn’t act’ly born on Christmas Day. He says…”
Deflated, too mentally exhausted to tackle an intellectual argument in the presence of a gaggle of six year olds, and hoping against hope that this statement had not been absorbed by any other children, I pre-empted any tricky questioning by quickly beginning the Christmas story.
After all, that was what I had been trying to do all along.
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