Why I Will Keep Making my Kid's Childhood Magical (STFU HuffPost)

We've all seen the HuffPost post about how the Mom doesn't want to do Elf on the Shelf or the Leprechaun traps. I've seen a lot of people share it, often with the comment, "Yeah!! Enough, already!!" To you, I say, calm the F*&$k down. I know of some holiday Scrooges (and I love you dearly) and I would not dream of criticizing anyone's parenting style. But, no one at Huff asked me why my I like to make a big deal out of holidays some deem meaningless, they just seemed pissed.

I grew up poor. Like, sub poverty, poor. One Halloween, we had Macaroni Salad for dinner and I hoped we got chips and/or apples for Trick-or-Treat. We didn't have central heat or air, so it was a kerosene heater in the winter and a window unit a/c in the summer in the dining room with a sheet hanging in the hallway to keep the air in the living room. When I was little, I didn't know. When I was 12, I realized that my Mom had to work 2, sometimes 3, jobs and I knew it was bad. Just for some perspective, our rent was $400 a month and my Mom got evicted after 12 years--when I was in May term at Wesleyan.

I tell you that to tell you this. Holidays were awesome! Ever heard of Sweetest Day? We got stuffed animals and candy. Have you ever gotten a pair of shorts stuffed with Easter candy? How about Christmas stockings? Those were my favorite. We usually got a magazine and really cool little things that were specific to us. To this day, stockings are my favorite, I love filling them. In our house, Santa usually gets too much stuff and he needs to spread it out by the fireplace. We got sparklers on the Fourth of July, special Birthday Dinners, asparagus on Thanksgiving, sparkling cider on New Year's, candy on Valentine's. It's something to look forward to, it's something to get excited about. It wasn't about the stuff, it was the gesture. A $1 Whitman's heart shaped box of candy was so amazing to me and it is to my kids. It means someone was thinking of you, and it's about gratitude. We didn't do anything for St. Patrick's Day until the Kindy project Jake had when he built a Leprechaun trap. It's like a second April Fool's Day! Yeah, we do that too.

If you don't want to celebrate the holiday, don't. But don't blame me because I do. Be brave enough to tell your kid that you don't believe in Leprechauns or Santa or that you don't think Valentine's Day is a valid reason for candy. It's ok.

Jake just turned 9. His childhood is half over--holy shit! Wow, that's hard to write.



Gracie is 6, hers is a third over. Dammit!



I wanna keep them little forever. Why wouldn't I want to make their childhood magical?



STFU up, HuffPost.