image by patrick mahoney
with little kids in the house, we have debated back and forth about how to deal with santa and christmas. christmas is about Christ. we don't want our children to think otherwise. we also aren't keen on the idea of telling our children that santa slides down our chimney to bring them presents every year, only to find out later it was a lie... (no offense, if you do) it just doesn't sit well with me. in reality, st. nicholas was a faithful, giving servant of Christ. i want my children to know this. and to know that st. nick is a wonderful example for us.
mark driscoll, founding pastor of mars hill church, wrote an article for the washington post summing this up and outlined exactly how, kelly and i, as parents, are going to redeem santa in our household. driscoll explains:
"Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don't feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story. So, as the parents of five children, Grace and I have taken the third position to redeem Santa. We tell our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. .." click to continue reading.
what does your family do?
22 {comments}:
Thanks for posting this article! I'm definitely bookmarking it so my husband can read it, too. I posted about this recently and asked my readers the same thing because I *genuinely* did not know what do to. This make me feel like I have more direction with this issue.
What a great post and a great article girlie! I have always made sure since Kelcee was a baby that she knows that Christmas is about the birth of baby Jesus! Kelcee just turned four and for her surgery procedure she asked for the baby Jesus ornament from Hallmark that tells the story with the book I cried I was so warmed by that....she is precious so last week we were reading the book and pressing the buttons for the ornament and I asked Kelcee what Christmas was truly about and she started to cry and she said baby Jesus mommy and I am crying happy tears she said it was so precious!
We do the whole magic of Christmas as well but I just make sure she knows that Christmas is more than just presents, and Santa Claus it is about the birth of Jesus....
loves ya
Sums
Just make SURE to homeschool your kids so they don't tell mine there is no Santa! Just kidding. I will read the article a little later on today when I get a minute.
Thank you for posting this!
This has been a difficult one this year...because Santa is everywhere and my kids are at the age where they are inquiring about him. We've decided not to emphasize him in our house and focus on Jesus. We haven't told them there is no Santa because I'd hate to ruin it for other families that choose to tell their kids about him. We've just kind of taken the concept of not really talking about him and talking about Jesus when we talk about Christmas. I will say that my daughter just yesterday asked if she could write him a letter and while I allowed her to do that I also talked with her about how he's not the reason we celebrate Christmas and he's more just for fun, but the Jesus is the reason and blessing of Christmas. Thanks for sharing the article.
We tell them that Santa was St. Nick a giver etc... but do not go into the whole big story of him traveling the world on a sled. They know the truth and that's how I prefer it. We also tell them to keep quiet about it, so as not to ruin it for the other kids who do believe that way. Wouldn't that be an unpleasant phone call to receive...yikes!
wrote a post almost exactly like this a few weeks ago . . . so refreshing to know that other parents share the same view . . .http://www.thetharpesblog.com/2010/11/santa-isnt-real.html
thanks for sharing!
that's what we plan on doing too. :) My sister in law tells her kids the story of St Nick and all, but explains that he is no longer living and giving out gifts. So, a store clerk asked my 3 year old niece what Santa was bringing her this year and she said, "Santa is DEAD!!!" hahahahahaha I thought it was hysterical!!
thank you so much for posting this! we don't have kids yet but we have actually talked at some length about this because it's heavy on my heart. most people in our church do not 'celebrate' santa but most people in the world (including our families) do and we didn't know how to handle it either. we would never want to lie to our children but i had never thought about the point that mark makes about confusing them about christ & salvation & making them wonder if that too is a lie! wow! that just convicts me even more that i won't partake in the myth. i think this is a great balance though of letting your children have fun with it but making sure they know it's just a story. thanks!!!
Love this. Mark hits the nail on the head. It's an article that should be read by everyone. I think that if more of us gave a little more thought to what we're really telling our children, we might would have a change of heart. We have decided to NOT tell Lael (when she's old enough to understand) that Santa Claus comes to our house in a sleigh and gives her presents. I do appreciate the true story of St. Nicholas and will enjoying relaying that to her one day. Like you said, I don't ever want Santa to overshadow Jesus.
My mother-in-law was baffled (and sort of offended) when we shared that we weren't "doing santa", and one of her concerns was that Lael might tell her cousins that Santa isn't real. I understand that point completely, but that really isn't reason enough for me to blatantly lie to my daughter about something so insignificant. Don't even get me started on the fact that she told us that she used to "pray for Santa" with Trey and his brother and sister... WHAT??!! Talk about confusing a kid!
Like Mark said, I want her to always trust her parents to tell her the truth. I just can't for the life of me with good conscience tell her that a fat man with a beard flies through the air on a reindeer led sleigh and stops at EVERY house in the world in one night, slides down their chimneys and delivers to the children EXACTLY what they wanted, all the while stopping for a few minutes to eat some milk and cookies. At every house. Yep. I actually believed all of that for many years. :)
Thanks for this post. It's good for Christians to open their minds, and maybe consider not flowing with the culture concerning this topic.
I understand completely what you mean! :)
we do still do santa, but it is a background thing. we get the presents from him, but most of them are labeled 'from momma and daddy', instead of santa. most of my little sibs still beleive in santa, but i am glad to say that they focus more on Christ during chrsitmas. :)
Merry Christmas!
~bree
Hey! :)
I'm coming from a big family(we are 7girls and 1 boy), and my parents weren't rich, so they couldn't afford to buy presents every year for each one of us... I grew up knowing from the start that Santa was just a make up story so parents can leave their gifts under the tree in the Christmas night. I've never felt like I was missing on something, but rather, now, looking back, I'm happy I knew from the start how the story was. My mom used to tell us that Christmas Angel brought us some presents and not to forget that the real gift of Christmas was Jesus, not anything else. I like the way I grew up and I was never sorry I knew Santa was just a man like us and he's dead. And, I like that article, really :)... When I'll have kids, I'll read it again :)
Enjoy the peace of Christmas!
*I do not have children*
When my brother and step sisters and I were little (I am the middle of my mothers 3, second to last of 6 including step sisters) I was the last to believe in Santa. This was ruined the year I turned 5 (In october I turned). It was pretty dramatic. My step dad pretended to be Santa that year in the middle of the night. Looking back, we tell our children to be honest and not lie, but we build an entire holiday around it?
My aunt always used to make a birthday cake for Jesus though, and she joked with her kids how you "have to believe to recieve!" We joked with her until we were in our teens that we believed... we believed in St. Nick. We celebrated St. Nick's Feast day.
Before I bore you anymore with these memories... I think it's best to be honest and up front. Once kids are old enough to know not to tell, talk to them about it. But, again- in 1st grade my dreams were taken away from me, so who cares if they tell anyway? How long do people keep this lie up/
I grew up with Santa...Q did not. I remember it as being SO MAGICAL and for me it never took away from the joy of Jesus and His birth. Q grew up with "the truth." I never felt lied to, and it is REALLY fun to believe. BUT, we won't be celebrating Santa with out children. Q and I have decided as a couple to forgo the whole santa thing. Like the article said, you can't just pretend that santa doesn't exist because he does in our culture, but Christmas is about Christ!
Whew. Just one more thing to figure out upon having kiddos. This is one that my hubby and I have not really discussed much...but it is so worth figuring out. And such a tough one. Santa was the only imaginary figure that I really "bought into" as a little one (i.e. easter bunny was DUMB. and tooth fairy. really?!) ...but there was much more emphasis put on the real reason for the season...Jesus. However, the Santa thing was so much fun for us. I really am in limbo...I can see my in-laws FREAKING over this. Really, I would maybe be banned from the family as the evil daughter-in-law/sis-in-law. ha! This is something I am definitely going to be in prayer about. I know God convicts us all in different ways...so my prayer is that Justin and I will be open to God's conviction on our heart about this...whatever he convicts us to do. I love this post and am so thankful for awesome ladies of Christ like you in blog world that say it like it is! I'm sure you and your hubby are FABULOUS parents. What a blessing to your sweet kiddos.
I was just telling someone how even though I remember one Christmas believing in Santa, I loved Christmas regardless. We had so many other family traditions that the Santa thing took a big back seat to going to Church and singing carols and curling up with my parents reading a book or whatever. Kids only believe for so long anyways...focusing on Christ and making memories is all that matters!
We did not do the whole make believe story of Santa Claus but we still enjoyed the "fairy tale" side. That means the focus was on Christ but we still have always had a tree and bake cookies and even had pictures with the mall-claus. It has always been a time for giving to others and celebrating the birth of Jesus and the gift WE have received BECAUSE of His birth. We weren't ever hardcore about setting people (kids) straight BUT kids will be kids and they do talk amongst themselves. That being said there will be the crazy MOM... yes CRAZY, who will hold you AND your child accountable for NOT lying for them and/or not upholding THEIR lies to THEIR child.
I don't go around telling children that Santa Claus and the flying reindeer aren't real but if it my child ever let(s) the TRUTH out I sure the heck didn't ask MY child to LIE about what it really about.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Love that article! We have taken the same approach with our family - the kids know Santa isn't real, but also realise he was someone amazing who lived long ago (so we're not anti - but just don't make a massive deal about him). We celebrate Jesus birthday and they realise we give them gifts as part of that celebration.
Our kids also know to respect that some other children believe he is, and not to upset them by telling them he isn't. It's worked really well (despite some family members being upset that we were taking the 'magic out of Christmas' and our kids are just as excited as any other child about Christmas!
I love the fact our kids know they can trust us to be truthful, but still make Christmas exciting, fun and full or surprises!!
It sounds like you've got a good plan in place!
I am with you there. I have told the kids the real story of Santa Claus. They say he's " pretend". I don't want my children to lie so why should I? Anywhoo…We celebrate Jesus birth. We make a Jesus cake. It's fun!
Thanks for sharing!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!!!
~Dorcas
Right on! Growing up, I knew the real story about St. Nicholas and it only added to the celebration of Jesus' birth and the spirit of giving so that's what we tell our kids--the truth. And they love Christmas for what it is: Jesus' Birthday Party :)
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