I’m trying to keep the “Real Meaning of Christmas” a priority in our household. So, every morning before school, I’ve been reading a bit of Luke II or whatever as part of our daily dose of Scripture Power. I expected this to keep the holiday Christ-centered, not as commercial, etc.
What I did not expect was the following conversation . . .
ME: ” . . . and the angel did speak unto the virgin Mary . . .”
JEFF: Mom, what’s a virgin?
ME: Erm.
ELEANOR: Yeah, Mom. What is it? They are always calling Mary that.
ME: [looks at watch; 10 minutes until school bell rings] It’s a . . . woman who is young and innocent?
JEFF: So that means you’re still a virgin, Mom?
ME: [nervous laughter] No, no, I’m not a virgin anymore. It’s . . . a woman who has never been married?
JEFF: [thinks]
JEFF: [thinks]
JEFF: So is that why people get divorced? Because they want to be a virgin again?
ME: No, that wouldn’t make you a virgin again. A virgin is a woman who has . . . never BEEN with a man [rolls eyes at herself] Or, a woman who has never had relations with a man [rolls eyes at bad Monica Lewinsky flashback] or, erm . . . erm . . . errrrururuuruuuummmmm . . .
And so on. I think I kept stumbling over myself for a few more seconds, and then declared that “this doesn’t have anything do to with Christmas, anyway,” smacked the Bible shut, and sent them off to school.
I friend suggested that I say a virgin is someone who is “pure,” but that’s not true. I’m not a virgin, and I consider myself to still be pure, honest, faithful person. All it really means is a person who has had sex, and the emphasis in the Nativity is about the miraculous aspect of Immaculate Conception, but that wasn’t something I wanted to get into right before school (geeez, who knows WHAT note Jeff’s teacher might send home) or in front of my four-year-old. Ack, ack, ack.
Thanks a LOT, St. Luke.
Casa Camisas 