It appears that I was wrong, very wrong.
It seems that while I’d been busy concentrating on being kosher, on making sure our Mosques and Temples were covered, I’d left out a few minor details. It was information I was sure they knew, hadn’t we talked about it?
One of the great things about living in a Muslim country, is you can completely avoid all forms of commercialization in Christianity. No high pitched television commercials reminding you of limited shopping days and no Easter Eggs on the shelves in January.
Although, one of the tricky side effects, is that without the prompts, you have no idea when Easter actually is. Not you, or your children.
All four of The Little Travelers were with me in the car today when the first one asked “So, when’s Easter?”
“Yes” said number two excitedly, “when does the Easter Bunny come?”
It was the second question that raised me on to my parenting soapbox.
“You know, Easter isn’t all about chocolate and bunnies. I think its important we remember why we celebrate Easter” I said this earnestly, while thinking of Lindt Chocolate Balls and how we were going to keep the beagle away from the stash.
When your children range from four to ten in age, a few questions from Mum can turn in to a rabid and frenzied display of I know I know, which is exactly what happened when I asked the next question.
“Who knows what happened at Easter?”
“Jesus had a birthday!” screamed The Second Little Traveler.
I put it down to excitement. I tried an easier question.
“When is Jesus’ birthday”?
“On Christmas Eve?” asked the First Little Traveler.
“Well, close, but no.” I remained calm “While we’re talking about Christmas Eve though, it was on Christmas Eve that Jesus’ parents were told there was no room at the Inn. Can you remember his parent’s names?”
“YES!” screamed the eldest child.
“Lily and James”
Without wanting to humiliate and discourage, I raised an eyebrow and checked I’d heard what she’d said correctly.
“Lily and James, um, I’m not sure who they are?”
I saw a lightbulb, a glimmer of recognition in her face.
“Oops, she said, that was Harry Potter”.
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When Miss 8 was 2 we were at our playgroup, which was run by a church. They were explaining Christmas: “We celebrate Christmas because a special baby is born. Who knows the name of that special baby?”
My daughter raised her hand, and when she was selected to answer she blurted out “Caitlin!”
Haha – reminds me of when my daughter started school when we were overseas and was making Christmas cards for our friends back home… she drew baby Jesus on the cross! whoops.
Oh my, that is funny! I had to stop and think who Lily and James were though, as their names were so familiar!
So, I love that last line. And still giggling… all the best with that one! I’m sure they’ll get the facts right eventually! xx
Well, at least they were close(ish!) I might not know as much as I should, but those names are a staple of my childhood. My grandmother, in fits of despair, would often look to the heavens and exclaim, “Jesus, Mary & Joseph!”
So it could be worse.
Just sayin’… 😉
I love how only a child can get the story of Jesus mixed up with Harry Potter. That is priceless. I’m glad you wrote this conversation down for posterity.
That’s gorgeous. Can you even buy Easter bunnies and eggs there? Are there bunnies? Just interested!
My 4 yo sings a song she learnt at school that she insists is called Fishing For Cheeses. Jesus apparently is something else entirely.
Hilarious!
Of course, no such mix ups in this house. Catholic school. So if your kids need further info, you know where to find the 9yo & 7yo. 😉
Yeah, and that’s why when we travel to go back home we always arrive at the grandparents house on Monday and are sure to leave by Saturday 🙂
haha. harry potter, Jesus- same difference. kids are great. new follower. saw your blog listed at tai tai, found her through a blog boost….and that’s why they call it blog ‘hopping’. 😉 meagan (at) fairlyfabulousblog.com
just discovered your blog via another, very excited because I lived in Qatar for 8 years and had my two children there, now living in Spain and yes, just learned my new telephone number!!
Love it. Hope you have a happy Easter!
Oh gosh, this did make me laugh out loud! What a pearler! Glad you’ve marked that one down to recall to your eldest at a later date in their life.
Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂
Oh yes, Jesus Potter, the forgotten member of the wizard world. So funny. We’re not religious but most of my children’s friends are, & they pick up some off the Flanders family on the Simpsons (i know, Rod, Todd & God). My 4 asked about Easter & i said in my uneducated wisdom “it’s to do with moon cycles” & then my trusty high schooler looked it up in her on line diary. I’m at the poing where google can answer so many of life’s questions. Love Posie
Love Jesus Potter – I’m your newest follower too! When I was pregnant with my third, my son asked at Easter how the baby got in my tummy, and I punt kicked and said, “God put it there”, at which point my son looked at our pastor, preaching in all his well-meaning geekiness, and said, loudly and confused, “Pastor Frank put the baby in your tummy?” Um, NO.
That is great! The other day, a solicitor came to my door. As if that isn’t annoying enough, she saw my Easter decorations and said, When is Easter? I was like, I don’t know!
So I don’t feel so bad that my kiddo thought a painting of Jesus was Zeus 🙂 (Percy Jackon series) Very funny!
A friend told me that when her son learned the facts of life about Santa and the Easter Bunny, he promptly asked, “Did you lie to me about Jesus, too?” As a fairly new parent, that put a whole different perspective on things for me.
lol the same happened to me. When my 4yo son told me that Virgin Mary was a Disney Princess and the Archangel Michael was a Fairy I knew that was the time of start talking about our religion.