TV Christmas Shows

"This will be a great night!  I loved Christmas TV shows as a kid, I just know Christian will love them too!"
This ran through my head Tuesday evening when I found out Rudolph was on TV. Now it's been years since I've watched the show and I was sure I remembered it....until you know who came onto the screen.  Yes I am talking about the Abominible Snowmonster. 

Christian was enjoying the show, would shout out, "Mommy! Santa Claus!" every time he came onto the screen and asked question after question about the elves, of which some answers I had to make up on the spot.  It was going great and he was even annoyed when the commercials interrupted his first glimpse of the magic of Christmas.

The second I heard the monster's growl, it hit me!  Oh crap, this isn't going to be good.  Then the hairy sharp toothed guy climbed over the pointy mountains and Christian, who was sitting on my lap, instantly slammed back against my chest and said in a shaky voice, "Whoa!"  Then came the nervous stuttering incoherent words as he anxiously struggled to ask me what the heck that thing was.  I quickly started chuckling, pointed at the TV and said, "Oh look at that funny monster, his hair is sticking out all over." Hey, it was the first thing that popped into my head to try to steer his thoughts into another direction.  He bought it, at least for awhile, and I felt him relax when they escaped by floating away on the ice berg.

Soon after this, Christian's attention shifted to my Christmas pillows on the sofa. He decided he had to put them on the floor, cover them up with a blanket and fall on them, over and over and over.  It's funny how the simplest things can entertain sometimes. He chattered away about all sorts of things up until bedtime.  After we said his prayers and I was smoothing his blankets over him, he told me in a very adult like tone that it was time for me to go to bed too. I told him I had to finish the laundry first and he responed, no kidding, in an admonishing tone, to go to bed so I wouldn't be grumpy tomorrow.  BAM!  I busted out laughing, partly because he's just too adorable and because he's right, when I don't get enough sleep, I'm grumpy!

Last night we played and read books, didn't really talk about Christmas at all.  Then around 2:20 a.m. I hear him let out a scream!  I run into his room to see him restlessly moving about and just when I went to lean down closer to see if his eyes were open, he flung out his arms with a "NO!" like he was pushing someone away.  He was completely asleep!  I talked quietly to him, trying to soothe, knowing that if someone is having a nightmare and is still asleep, you do not wake them up.  After about a minute or so, he calmed, stopped moving around and his little snoring started up again. I stood by his bed a while longer, making sure he was asleep and not dreaming again and sent a prayer to God to let Christian sleep without any more bad dreams.
I felt so bad for him and wondered what the dream was about, knowing he probably wasn't going to remember.  During breakfast this morning, after chattering about whatever random thought that pops into his busy mind, he gave me a serious look and said, "No monster in our house."  Ugh!  It was the snowmonster.
I told him monsters weren't real, none were in our house and if there were, I would chase them out.  He seemed to like this answer and then launched into all the ways I would catch the monster and exactly how I would get them out of the house.  His imagination is so entertaining, I just love it!

So I add another thing to my, "Dumb Things Mommy Did" list, showing a 3 yr old a TV show with a larger than life, sharp pointy toothed monster in it, just minutes before bedtime.  In my defense I thought I was in the clear because nothing happened that night, however he had a delayed nightmare, the following night.  So we'll see if he sleeps well tonight, please God :)
~Amy