The First Gift of Christmas

Yesterday I took Aedan out shopping with me. We found a Polar Express book/cd/tape giftset for $10 and it also included a little bell. Many of you may be familiar with the Polar Express story where a boy boards a train that takes him to the North Pole and Santa Claus chooses this boy as the recipient of the first gift of Christmas. The boy chooses a single bell from Santa's sleigh.

This time of year we see many Salvation Army people soliciting donations outside stores by standing outside in the cold by a donation stand while ringing a bell. I have always tried to make an effort to give a little, mostly just spare change as we don't have a lot to spare. I probably give for the wrong reason initially - I tend to feel sorry for people out in the freezing cold who have to listen to a bell for who knows how long all the while trying to look pleasant for the cause. Last year I started having Aedan hand over the money and I've been doing it again this year and he seems really excited about doing it. He even gets extra smiles from the people.

Well after finishing our shopping at a grocery store, we ended up filling one of those rewards punch cards from all our frequent shopping there and turns out our grand prize was $1. The lady handed it over to Aedan and he was thrilled that he won a dollar. On the way out of the store I was asking him what he wanted to do with his $1 and suggest we could by a treat, a toy, etc. He said to me, "I want to put it in the box with the girl" meaning he wanted to donate it to the Salvation Army lady standing outside.

I was on cloud nine. Mom-Of-The-Year, I could just see it now! He folded up his crisp dollar bill and shoved it into the bucket and he smiled. All the way home I was just glowing with mommy pride at the good things my little boy was learning.

We came home and opened up his Polar Express set and he went straight for the bell. After ringing it a few times, he stopped and looked up at me with those big brown eyes and said,

"Mom, give me some money now."

Bummer. I suppose he thinks they were street performers. Goodbye Mom-Of-the-Year award. Would it be frowned upon if we set him outside of a store with a bell and a donation cup to earn his college fund? :)