Confession: I never believed in Santa Claus (Clause? Klaus? Seriously, the guy has like 600 names) as a child.
And, confession: I never felt like I missed out on anything by not believing in him.
We’ve chosen to take the same route with our children. In years past, Lily hasn’t really shown any curiosity so it was kind of a non-issue. But this year she’s been intrigued by all the pictures she sees of the “Grandpa” looking man in a red suit.
So this is what we tell her: Santa is a pretend character based on a real man who lived a long time ago. He doesn’t bring us presents or have reindeer or live on the North Pole. Those are just fun, made up stories. Some people dress up as Santa and you can go and see them in the store.
Someday, when she gets a little older, we will probably even share more about the real Saint Nicholas, who inspired all the pretend stories about our present day fictional Santa Claus. (Mark Driscoll has written an excellent article with some great information on this topic here).
For now, we just emphasize that Santa is pretend. Like the Berenstain Bears or Curious George or the Disney Princesses. Not necessarily wrong, but really completely separate from what the TRUE meaning of Christmas is.
Everybody learns the truth about Santa someday, and when they find out the truth, they get over it, but not without at least a teensy sense of betrayal and distrust. While it may not cause serious damage to my children’s “psyche” or ruin our relationship, I would hate to ever do anything that would cause them to believe that I am being dishonest with them.
After all, if I’ve lied to them about this one thing, what else have I told them that might not be true? What about all those stories we read from the Bible? Are they real or made up for entertainment, just like Santa?
So, what do WE do with Santa? We don’t ignore him…that would be next to impossible. We don’t demonize him. We don’t embrace him. We just tell the truth, and put him in his proper place.
We took the girls to see Santa on Saturday. But last night when I put Lily to bed and asked her what Christmas was all about, her eyes got big and she smiled and said, “It’s Jesus’ birthday!!!”
Oh, that someday she would truly understand the significance of what it means to have had God come in flesh form, that she will know not just about Jesus’ birthday, but also His death day. That what is now head knowledge will soon become heart worship! And that she will understand…really understand… why a jolly fat man with a bag full of toys could never hold a candle to a baby in a manger.
4 comments:
Amy I really love your approach. I haven't really heard of someone handling the Santa thing this way. I like it because it is honest and truthful but still allows your kiddos to have fun with the season. Thanks for sharing.
A friend of mine shared your blog on Facebook and I am so glad she did! We handle Santa the same way and I don't feel like our children are 'deprived' in any way. I have gotten quite a bit of grief from others about it over the years but after much prayer I am certain in the knowledge that this is the right way for our family. Thanks for sharing how you handle this issue.
Great post! I'm sharing this... :)
Amy - We do the same thing. We really strive to keep the focus on Christ. We're the only ones we know that don't do the whole Santa thing, so that can be hard at times, but our kids are fine with it. It doesn't bother them at all.
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