So, yes, I was in fact "that kid." You know, the one who told her entire second grade class that Santa didn't exist and their parents were lying to them (yep threw that in, too). Then, I proceeded to argue with my teacher when I got in trouble, because after all, I had just been telling them the truth!
To be clear, as far as I know, my parents weren't "anti-Santa". In fact, I think my mom even put some presents under the tree from him -- albeit they showed up in early December in the same wrapping paper as the rest. See, I was the third child in a very pragmatic, some may say cynical family. Santa never had a chance.
Plus, unless I was just unaware at the time, Santa has definitely grown in popularity and power over the past few decades -- I mean even adults seem to revere him nowadays, and they must know, right -- unless of course their elderly parents sneak into their house on Christmas Eve a la that creepy I'll Love You Forever book...
Now, I am not anti-Santa. I think he's just as much fun as Frosty or the Grinch, but we don't promote him in our house. It has never been a particularly "religious" stand, but more from my realist background, a hesitancy to lie (however creatively) to Charlie, and an attempt decrease the importance of presents at Christmas.
Of course, I say that about presents, but yesterday afternoon Jason and I were practically giddy to learn that BaBa was able to order The Very Cranky Bear for Charlie for Christmas despite the fact that it is out of print -- the child LOVES that book and it's impossible to find!
But back to Santa. As I a said, we have nothing against him, we're just trying to steer Charlie's Christmas experience towards the life and purpose of Jesus Christ, rather than the jolly old elf. We decorate our tree and hang our stockings, but the most important decorations in our house are the nativities -- my "pretty" one and Charlie's "play" one share the spotlight in our living room. When choosing between Christmas events, we opt for the Living Nativity over Christmas lights (though we skipped everything this year, preferring quiet evenings at home).
Amazingly, Charlie really seemed to be on board with our Christmas. He begged us to turn off the old Santa Claus movie and turn on his Bible DVD (though to be fair, that old Santa Claus movie is BORING!) and he begs from dawn until dusk to add another character to his Nativity Advent. So, I thought we were on the right track...until this morning.
En route to school, Charlie said, "It's Christmastime."
I replied, "That's right! Who is Christmas all about?"
"Santa!"
"NO!" I shouted. "Buddy, Christmas is about God becoming man and coming to live with us here on earth."
"No, mommy. It's about Santa."
Clearly, I have not gotten my point across. Now, I know that Christmas isn't really God's holiday. It's not in the Bible and to most people it's a celebration of family and generosity and peace on earth, etc -- all good enough things. That said, when else can you hear the words "Jesus Lord at Thy birth" sung on primetime TV or see depictions of the miracle of God being born a man displayed throughout your neighborhood.
I see Christmas as a wonderful time to remind ourselves of the perfection of God's plan, the miracle of Jesus' birth, the mercy of His death and the hope of His resurrection -- and one of the few times that we can freely share those wonders with anyone and everyone through cards and songs and decorations, etc.
But now I'm wondering if Santa gets in the way of all of that. If my son, growing up in a Christ-centered home believes that Santa is the meaning of Christmas, now what?
At this point I don't have an answer. I don't want to become anti-Santa, because I think that will create walls between our family and others that we love, and those walls may in fact inhibit us from sharing the true meaning of Christmas (and life!). At the same time, though, I don't want Charlie to put his precious faith in a fictional character -- after all, faith is only as meaningful as it's object.
So for now Santa will remain on our tree, but he does not know if Charlie's being bad or good and his name won't appear on any gift tags. But is that enough -- or is my middle-of-the-road stand hypocritical enough to elicit this response from non-Christians?
I always thought it was strange how Christians will tell me they have this giant and awesome truth they know is true deep in their soul and want to share with me, but when 12/25 comes around they lie to their own progeny because, apparently, that giant, liberating, and awesomely simple truth is somehow just not enough. It may be a good narrative, but it needs a little something to give it some panache.
[Taken from Jen Hatmaker's very thought provoking and much more firmly rooted stand on this same subject: http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2011/11/29/the-christmas-conundrum#.Tt1R6unPWSQ.facebook]
I just don't know...can Jesus and Santa really share Christmas?
Thank you for sharing your very insightful ideas! To put it simply, Jesus is the reason for the season and it's up to us as parents to instill that idea in our children's very impressionable minds. You guys are doing a wonderful job of making sure Charlie knows that, so don't worry! Thank you for being such amazing parental role models... Reid thanks you too:)
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