Winter-y Bags - A JW Story

The Incriminating Stockings

I help a lot in the Kindergarten class... Yeah, my 5yo is a kindergartener, so why wouldn't I? So... yesterday was their holiday party, no "holiday" in particular, buy yeah... you all get the meaning, right? Christmas! Shhh! Don't say that too loud! We don't want to get in trouble for mixing Church and State/School/Government... whatever... but, there are those kids whose parents practice other religions. You know... like "JW" (Jehovah's Witness). And our class has two kids whose parents do...

And so... in all of the hustle and bustle of putting together the party, getting all the stuff together, stocking stockings, wrapping presents, etc., I kind of didn't even think about it. I know... very ignorant of me, but hey! I'm not perfect.

Paper stockings were made for the class (by some AWESOME parents - not me) and stuffed with lots of wondrous things, candy canes included.  The teacher's gifts to the children were wrapped in beautiful foil ornament paper. Um... yeah.

My Non-Holiday Solution

My solution? I quickly downloaded a picture of a snowman (with Christmas trees and stars and holly) in PhotoShop and ps-ed all of the symbolic stuff O.U.T.! (even the holly! because, well... if I look for the symbolism in almost everything, then I know someone else might, too!) Then I filled in the coloring, re-drew some lines, and came up with the above.

Still have to re-wrap the gifts, but ya know? I think this'll do... what d'ya think?

What it all comes down to is... I believe in the country I live in. I believe in the freedom of religion. I also believe that kids should be allowed to be kids and live as children, experiencing the "fun" of childhood. It only happens once. So... if I need to change a little bit the prep that I do to accommodate them and allow them to be allowed by their parents to enjoy the "other" things that other kids get to... I will. Enjoy all of the season and winter-y goodness.