Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Jesus, Buddha and the Elf on the Shelf

Yesterday Sam asked a friend from school what his Elf on the Shelf was named. When his pal didn't know what the Elf on the Shelf was, Sam was left with a lot of questions.


(For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Elf on the Shelf is a little creature that lives in your house from Thanksgiving to Christmas and reports to Santa nightly, thus his daily resting spot changes. When he first comes to your home you must give him (or her) a name, as directed by the accompanying book. We were first visited by the elf last year, and while the tradition has been around for a while it's not entirely wide-spread.)

Since they recently talked about Hanukkah at school, and he recently asked why my parents had had a "Jesus with wings" on their christmas tree, I thought maybe this would be a good time for a Discussion with a capital D. But in a way that a 4 3/4 year old could understand. I explained that christmas was a religious holiday, and then tried to explain to him what religion was without being too cynical. How some people think that Allah is the best, while other people believe that Jesus or Yahweh or Buddha is #1. And that some people don't believe in any of those guys. And that while not one of them is wrong, none of them are entirely right, either. I told him that the most important thing was to be respectful of what people believe, and that we would always love him no matter what he believed. Then I asked him if he had any questions.

His reply?

"So if someone doesn't have an Elf on their Shelf, then they must be Jewish or Muslim or Hindu or something, right?"

*facepalm*

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2 comments:

Chrissie said...

hahhahah well put, by both of you. :)

Anonymous said...

So let me get this right...I've been out of the kiddie loop for a long time...this elf. Since the elf reports to Santa, is this like, a spy elf?

LOVED the pics of your dad and of Sam and of his list! One of those epic Christmasses for him!

Lots of hugs, Aunt Nee