Santa?

It is important to raise our children up knowing the reason for this Christmas season.  I have struggled greatly in letting my children believe in Santa Clause.  It was not something that I believed in growing up, but my husband did and my nieces and nephews do too and I remember being the one at school who would always be the bearer of bad news.  So, how does one incorporate having a fictitious character involved in Christmas time while still keeping it all about Jesus?

The Bible obviously has nothing about Santa in it, and I am sure that it would not be looked kindly upon back in the Biblical days.  I know that some of my friends are going to have very specific thing to say about this and I don’t post this to start an all out war.  I am at peace with my decision and would appreciate your comments left to yourself if they are negative and berating.  I know that not all of you are going to agree with me and that is fine, as I have said before, this is just one person’s opinion.  I also know that some of my other friends are stuggeling with this idea.

Like I said, it has been really difficult for me to figure out how to incorporate Santa into Christmas without making him a “god” or something that the kids worship instead of Jesus or making the day about him instead of Jesus.  I didn’t want my kids growing up finding out that Santa is fake, these other things that we tell them are real are actually fake and thinking that Jesus is fake too.  Something that really helped me is the Veggie Tales movie about Saint Nicholas. 

Saint Nicholas was a real guy.  He was a kind man who often gave gifts in secret.  He was very generous and helped the poor.  He often came to the defense of people that were unable to hire lawyers or were falsely accused.  The reason that I have chosen today to write about this is because tomorrow is technically “Saint Nicholas Day”.  This is the day that kids would leave their stockings outside their doors and Saint Nicholas would put presents into them- usually fruits or nuts.  It was a time to be grateful for what you had and be generous giving to others.  The gifts were not to be hoarded, but instead to be shared.

America, along with many other cultures, has taken Christmas and made Santa, or Saint Nicholas’s celebration on that day too.  Saint Nicholas wasn’t about who got the most toys, he was about helping all the boys and girls and others around the world with generosity and compassion.  The reason that he helped them was not because he wanted to go down in history or have a day that he was celebrated- he gave because he wanted to share God’s love.  He wanted to share the love that God gave him when he gave the best gift, Jesus. 

The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:3 “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.”  So he would give in secret.  He would give to others in secret to ensure that the glory was given to God. 

So, how does that go with incorporating a fun, silly tradition into the celebration of God’s love?  This is how I will explain it to my children when they ask:

When they ask who gives us presents?  My response is – who do you think gives you presents?  If they answer with Santa, my response is, why does Santa give you presents?  And they usually respond with because he loves Jesus and wants to show us Jesus’ love.  Then I usually ask what Christmas is really about, and they respond with Jesus’ birthday. 

So whenever we decide to go and “celebrate” Santa, we are always going to bring it back to the fact that he loved Jesus and he was wanting to do his giving to show God’s love. 

And when they ask if Santa is real this is what they will be told:

Saint Nicholas was a real man, he was a kind man.  He loved the Lord and loved to help people.  He wanted to share God’s love with others, so, when he was alive, he would give in secret to others so that they would have something that they really needed or wanted.  He did this throughout the year, not just on Christmas.  We use this idea on Christmas to give gifts so that others don’t know what we are doing and they can be blessed by Jesus’ love and graciousness.  The whole idea of Santa and Saint Nicholas is to give to the poor and needy and not draw attention to ourselves because that isn’t what it is about.  It is about showing God’s love. 

The tradition of Santa Clause is a fun way that we celebrate not letting others know what we are giving them.  We have fun pretending that there is a jolly old man that comes down the chimney as a way to pretend that he is the one giving you toys so you didn’t know that it was mommy and daddy.  It is important to show God’s love to everyone all year round. 

Really, it is kind of a neat idea of celebrating giving to others.  We are also going to make sure that around Christmas time, we do give to others and ensure that we are sharing God’s love with everyone and not just ourselves.  It is so easy to get caught up in the gift buying and giving and forget the reason that we are giving the gifts.  Even if you don’t believe in Santa, most people exchange gifts on Christmas.

So this year, when exchanging presents, lets be sure to draw the parallel to why Saint Nicholas originally gave presents, or why we are giving presents.  It isn’t all about getting and giving presents this season, it is about celebrating the birth of our Savior.  It is about celebrating the love and the joy that Jesus brings to us and to our hearts.  It is about ensuring that the love of God is transferred not only to our friends and family, but also to those in need.  It is about celebrating the birth of the greatest gift the world has ever seen.  It is about celebrating the gift of Jesus.