We will never see holidays through a child's eyes

MissBehave

This is one of the things that saddens me greatly. Those of us who were raised as Witnesses missed out on all the magic associated with being a child experiencing a holiday. We will never know the great anticipation of Santa Claus, the wonder of having the Tooth Fairy visit us in the night, the excitement of hunting for Easter eggs, dressing up to Trick or Treat, etc. I celebrate all the holidays now, and like a poster just commented in another thread I too am like a big kid about it. But I'm sure it's not the same as seeing it through the eyes of a child. And that is something we will never be able to recapture. This saddens me greatly.

(For those of you with children I'm sure it's rewarding for you to watch your own children have these experiences? Do you find that you go overboard with your kids to compensate for what you missed out on?)

I didn't put a Christmas tree the whole time I was single after I faded. But after I got married and we bought our first house we put up a tree. I stood back and let my husband decorate it because I simply didn't know how, having had no experience in this area. I could hardly go to bed the first night it was up. I just sat on the floor in front of it and was mesmirized. It was so beautiful. So then he decided to put lights on the house. Every day he would call me at work and say "I'm going to Walmart for more lights". I'd think he was crazy but every day I would get home and the house would look even more like a winter wonderland. It was so magical. So ever since then I've been hooked. A couple years ago I started putting up two trees because one JUST. WASN'T. ENOUGH!!!

daystar

... ... ... ...

It's still difficult for me to "get into the spirit of things". I try to for my son's sake, and it's been a lot of fun. But it is still a conscious effort of my part.

But, yeah, that is one of the more depressing points of my childhood. Thanks for bringing it up. (I am just kidding. )

Lost Diamond

I was a JW from the time I was 7, then started fading out in 1998 when I filed for divorce....and I still can't get into the holidays. It all seems like a waste of money.....but, that's just me. My kids are 13 & 10, and they don't appear to be too thrilled about the holidays either. Maybe because their Dad is still a Witness...I don't know.

Gill

MissBehave!

You remind me of my husband, 'one Christmas tree isn't enough'!

He is constantly buying Christmas lights. I thought that I had missed and wanted Christmas as a child, but he really goes overboard, and loves it! Maybe, the excitement would have worn off by now if he had had Christmas as a child....now he can really enjoy it and enjoy christmas for the rest of his life. To me, that's another advantage, we both turn into a couple of kids at christmas. Can't wait till next Christmas!

Ellie

I can see what you are saying but I don't believe its true, not in my case anyway.

I was brought up as a witness, but these days I love Xmas and I enjoy the other holidays too but Xmas is just so special.

I feel the excitement just like a child, I have created childhood memories of Xmas for mself based on TV shows and books I read as a child, the wonderful experiences of sitting round a log fire eating mince pies and pulling crackers that I witnessed on TV as a child have become my own.

I do over compensate for my children, but I love it for myself too.

MissBehave

Ellie, oh believe me I'm like a kid at x-mas. I think it's magical and I act about six years old. I even left milk and cookies out for Santa a couple years ago and when I woke up in the morning they were gone!!!! Bless my husband's little heart, he really is good to me about it. He tries to make it extra special to make up for everything I missed out on as a kid.

In fact, just last year I officially began to believe in Santa Claus. LOL! I just wish I knew what it would have felt like to really believe in him.

Chimene

That is sad...... I did not grow up a JW. The best times of my life are remembering the hollidays as a child. Haloween, Christmas. My dad would play a game every christmas. He would put a note in a present. It would say something like, "i'm cold, please look for me in the kitchen" you would go to the fridge, find another note leading you to another and so on, until you found the present. It was alot of fun as a kid. We could never go to sleep at night, and was up at 3 every year from excitement.

Needless to say, in the past few months, I've done them all for the first time in 10 years and loved every minute!

blondie

There are worse things to have stolen from you than Christmas; what if you had been sexually molested by your father and your mother did not protect you? I find I can enjoy Christmas, but never really having parents...........

MissBehave

There are many worse things that happened to me as a JW child. But my purpose in starting this thread is because I was genuinely interested in the comments of the fine folks on this thread concerning just the holidays.

Frannie Banannie

MissBehave, we've gone overboard over Christmas celebration and decorations, too. The one thing that does bring a warm satisfaction about it now is that my g/children WILL and DO know that magical feeling that my children missed out on.......and so will my g/g/children.

We will never see holidays through a child's eyes

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