Friday, December 7, 2007

Hard Times In the Holy Land


It’s almost Christmas now so we are kicking into high gear. Henry’s school is also revving it up as he goes to Catholic school so they are all over the Nativity. Last night Henry and I watched a Christmas video he got from the library that was about the birth story of Jesus. It was very strange in that Vincent Price was the voice of King Herod and I kept thinking about Michael Jackson’s Thriller – the best music video of all time. So we snuggled up on the couch and watched the wise men, the shepherds, the star etc. Henry had a running commentary throughout the whole video that was hilarious. In no particular order here are some things he said: “Jeez, you think the son of God would have been born somewhere better than a lousey barn.” “That Herod guy was so bad. I bet he got tons of time-outs as a kid.” “Imagine having to run away to Egypt so your baby wouldn’t be killed. I guess they lived in a pyramid till Herod died” My favourite line of all was, “Wow, poor Jesus had a tough life eh?”

Henry became very concerned about Jesus last Easter. When the class was told about the Passion he totally got into it. “Mom, can you believe that bad soldiers put a crown of thorns on Jesus’s head and then they LAUGHED at him?” He didn’t mind so much about the crucifixion as much as he did about the whole laughing thing. I guess as a Kindergartener, one of the worst things to happen is to be laughed at. This is closely followed by being called a “baby”. I also find it interesting how we don’t let him watch Power Rangers or Mutant Teenage Ninja Turtles yet his school is very down with the detailed blood and violence of the murder of our saviour. Good times!

Chloe was looking at our manger the other day and I thought I would get a head start on her religious instruction. She kept pointing to Jesus so I said, “Say baby!” She happily yelled “baaaabeee!” I said, “Say Jesus!” She yelled, “CHEEESE!” I said, “No, no, Baby Jesus.” She really got into it and kept yelling, “BABY CHEESE! BABY CHEESE!”

Dear god. Now Henry has decided that this is quite funny and is singing Christmas carols about the little lord Cheese asleep on the hay. Gah. Yesterday at breakfast I cut up some cheddar for Chloe and she muttered under her breath, “Yummy, yummy, Baby Cheese.”

Sorry Jesus – Hopefully things will be better next year.

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