a question for Christians concerning Santa Claus

[disykat]

We never said Santa was real, ds's decided that for themselves. When my oldest was two he became obsessed with Santa - he had a red and black sweatsuit and insisted "I'm not... I'm Danta!" every time he wore it - we bought him a book with Santa teaching the forrest animals about Jesus. I think it was called something like "Santa's Favorite Story".

 

[graygables]

I grew up in Germany and although we are American, my parents adopted their traditions. On December 6th, ST Nicholas Day, "Santa" would fill our shoes with candy and small toys. The Christ Child brought the gifts on Christmas Eve to remind us that He was the Ultimate Gift.

We also celebrated (and still do) Advent. Each of the 4 Sundays before Christmas, we light a candle on the wreath and talk about what it represents. Even at a young age, children can participate with coloring pages and whatnot. DH reads from the Bible and we talk about why it was important for the shepherds to come, etc. We try to incorporate an activity, but as DDs are getting older, we are having them choose readings to do each week. I also have Christmas music books that we pass out and everyone gets to choose 2 or 3 songs for us to sing. It is a quiet, recentering time for us in the midst of the chaos. Christ is the center of everything we do and DDs have grown up with that.

We also have the kneeling Santa that we use as the center of our nativity scene.

St. Nicholas still comes to our house on the 6th, but when I married DH, we agreed to let Santa come on Christmas. To us, he is the "spirit of giving personified" and we both believe in that spirit as well, so, to us, there is no "lying" involved. We don't have the whole public school thing to deal with, but when DDs have come home from somewhere with the "so-and-so doesn't believe in Santa!", we say, "How sad for them". Last year, DD said "That's like not believing in Tinker Bell!" Santa fills the stockings and brings one gift each. We had a don't ask, don't tell policy about Santa when I was a kid and I intend to keep that tradition for our family.

 

[SC Minnie]

We are Christians and Santa comes to visit. I have always told DD that she could only 'ask' Santa for 3 things and I had to approve those because we had to pay Santa for the stuff he brings. This helped explain why some kids got a lot of really nice expensive things and others didn't. The toys Santa brings aren't free.

DD is 11 and we haven't officially told her Santa is not real but she knows. The kids at school talk but we still pretend that Santa is real because it keeps the magic alive.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

when my oldest boys were small we really did the overspend commercial Christmas thing -- wayyyyy overboard. DS 15 and I were just recalling the other day the year I went absolutely nuts and actually allowed Santa to bring him the White Power Ranger Sword, which was confiscated for pretend stabbing his brother by lunchtime. and they year I spent over $100 on a stupid Furby off of EBAY because WE HAD TO HAVE IT!!!

After way too many years of this we (mostly me because DH always thought I went way overboard on Christmas anyway) as a family have calmed Christmas down quite a bit.

Christmas Eve we have dinner with the families and then we attend Midnight Services at Church that end with Communion, a Happy Birthday Jesus and the song Silent Night where the audience lights candles. It is very beautiful. That is really the highlight of our celebrations.

Christmas day we get up and open presents - Santa brings toys and gifts because he wants to help Earth celebrate the birth of the Savior. My toddler last year was almost 2 years old at Christmas. He could recognize Santa from books I had read with him, but I'm not sure how much of it he understood and anticipated. We'll see how it goes this year.

 

[minkydog]

We are Christians and we also love Santa. I have a wonderful book called "Cajun Night before Christmas", which is a take-off on Clement Moore's original. In the "Cajun NBC" Santa comes through the bayou in a flat-bottomed boat pulled by alligators. The family sleeps on the floor and the mom is baking yams in the wood stove for the next day's meal. Santa appears dressed in brown fur and all the alligators have French names("On Claude!On Gaston!On Jean-Pierre!")

My kids love reading this story and they know without a doubt that there are no flying alligators. It never confused them. We never made Santa central to Christmas, however. They each loved Santa until they were about 7yo. Only my DS19 had any problem with the "lying" issue--he felt he had been tricked and we spent some time researching teh origins of Santa, which satisfied his "need to know". DD12 just shrugged and asked if she would still get presents. And Santa still brings our stockings, even one for the gerbils(we'll need a bigger stocking for them this year--new babies )

 

[Buckalew11]

My niece was attending a private Christian school and the school informed all the kids in kindergarten that there was no Santa. My BIL and SIL were perfectly okay with it, but hubby and I were PO'd that the school took it upon themselves to do such a thing.

IMO, some things should just be left up to a parent to decide. My SIL told me that they had no prior knowledge that the school was going to do this. She was still okay with it. NOT ME THOUGH!!!

I totally agree with you! I'd be livid. My DD goes to private christian school but it must not be like many others. I've talked to people whose kids were told not to read Harry Potter and the like. Please don't tell my child what to watch, read, listen to or whether Santa is real or not.

Maybe I didn't run home an tell my mom what I learned in school that day for fear of not receiving presents anymore (?). But still the fact that it happened at school still shocks me now!

 

[diznygirl]

Thanks for the link to the story about the Kneeling Santa. It's a sweet story - and I think I'm going to buy copies for all my friends this Christmas!


I have a nice book, written by Lisa Whelchel, called The Adventure of Christmas. In it she explains ways to find Jesus in all our holiday traditions. It's very well written, and it helped clear things up for me.

My kids know that Santa is celebrating the birth of Jesus by giving presents - just like a real honest-to-goodness birthday party. And I do believe that Santa is in the wonderful feeling of sharing and love we are smitten with at Christmas-time!

 

[mickeyfan2]

On Christmas, God gave us a gift and he was his son Jesus. We use Santa as a way to show that gift in a way that small children can understand and enjoy the holiday until they reach an age where the full meaning of Christmas sinks in for them.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

When I had my DD I felt the same as you. My Dad is a Pastor. I got to grow up with Santa and I wanted my DD to grow up with that special part of Christmas too. I mostly want DD to understand what Christmas is all about though, Christ. Childhood is magical in its own way and it doesn't last very long. I found a book called "Santa are you for real?" It allows a Christian child to have the true foundation of Christmas while still getting to enjoy Santa or St. Nicholas That worked for us.

 

[Chicago526]

I wish my MIL had the attitdues I've seen here!

DH never got to believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, or celebrate Halloween because his mom felt that they were all "Pagan" and would lead to evil! He also couldn't watch Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, the Muppets or read Dr. Seuss because they were "an evil outside influence" (?????). Needless to say, MIL will have NO hand in raising any kids we may have, and we're having it writen into our wills that under NO circumstances is she to have custody of our kids should something happen to us. Not that she would want to raise them anyway, but you never know!

Anyway, I didn't know most of this last year, so last Easter I surprised DH with an Easter Basket that the "Easter Bunny" left for him. He said it was the first one he'd ever had! My jaw almost hit the floor!

I also had my mom make DH a stocking last year and on Christmas Eve, after he was asleep, I went and filled his stocking with a few of the little gifts he'd asked for. The next morning he was surprised to see his stocking full and kept thanking me, but I kept insisting that Santa brought the gifts!

 

[CEDmom]

I know what you mean about enjoying the whole Santa thing while still reflecting on the meaning of the holiday. One thing we do with our DD is bake a birthday cake for baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. We have this for dessert that night and even sing happy birthday to him. It's a fun way for us to reconnect with the real meaning of the holiday. We leave a piece of the cake out for Santa as a way to connect the two aspects of the holiday.

As far as when to explain Santa to a child heck, I still believe in the concept of Santa so I have no intention of telling our DD anything other than you just need to believe in things bigger than yourself.

 

[ead79]

When I was growing up, we did do the Santa thing. Basically, it was always kept pretty separate in my mind. We always attended the Christmas Eve candlelight service, which is a wonderful tradition. My parents reinforced that Jesus’ birth is the reason for Christmas. They also taught me that Jesus is God’s gift to us so we give gifts to others to celebrate God’s gift to us. My parents also taught me that Santa is a nice man who gives gifts to children in remembrance of the gift of Jesus. We also have an ornament of Santa bowing before Jesus in the manger. We also had an advent wreath and lit candles and read from the Bible each week before Christmas. Essentially, I was always taught that Santa is a man and Jesus is God’s Son. That is what kept Jesus real in my mind even when I learned the truth about Santa.

Also, my aunt gave me the neatest present that we still have. It’s a Christmas box with small trinkets in it that represent various things about Christ’s birth and the gift of salvation through Him. For instance, there is a light bulb, and when you pull it out of the box you read the verse about Jesus being the Light of the world. I’ll see if I can find it and share it here. I know my mom wants to make one for my little cousin as well. It’s a very nice illustration that will mean even more as the child grows.

 

[Barb D]

We say that Santa Claus is pretend, but that it's fun to pretend. When the kids are really small, the line between real and pretend is pretty blurry anyway. At this point, DD6 (my youngest) definitely gets it. She knows that Santa isn't real. Santa is a part of our Christmas the same way that My Little Pony is a part of her birthday party. The emphasis is not on Santa, but on Jesus, in the same way that the emphasis is not on My Little Pony, but on her.

We do do gifts "from Santa," but they know they're from us. (We do three gifts from Santa because of the three wise men.) We also do stockings "from Santa." We leave cookies and Diet Coke out, read the Night Before Christmas, etc.

BTW, I have told DD NOT to tell her friends that Santa is pretend.

I do have a problem with the whole omniscience thing about Santa (he knows when you've been bad or good), so we don't really discuss that aspect at all.

 

[beattyfamily]

in our house we have a kneeling santa

We also have the kneeling Santa ornament and statue in our house so we never forget. I love them!

 

[DoeWDW]

We're Christian and we've always had Santa as part of our Christmas tradition. When the kids were old enough to ask a direct question about it, they were also old enough to understand my explanation that selfless giving is very hard for a small child to comprehend so we create the persona of Santa to help make the idea real for them. I still believe in the spirit of Santa but I just think he's got LOTS of helpers, including me!

My kids really liked that explanation, because it didn't seem like we were 'lying' but more like we were trying to make a complicated concept real to them in a way they could understand at a small age.

 

[Saphire]

I like how everyone here has handled the santa issue in their own unique way. My kids enjoyed the story of santa and we would read 'The Night Before Christmas' every Christmas Eve. But they knew it was just pretend. We focus more on the birth of Jesus and how grateful we are that He gave us the gift of His son.

 

[MerryPoppins]

My kids had a soft nativity set to "play" with in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We also had a family nativity. We do nice things for each other. Each time we do an unselfish thing we add a piece of straw to the manger. On Christmas Eve we add Jesus to the scene. By the way, the three kings traveled through the house and arrived on Epiphany, too.

We baked muffins for breakfast on Christmas morning, complete with a candle to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before breakfast.

We explained to our kids that the reason Santa (the spirit of Christmas) gives gifts is because it is the birthday of Jesus. They always understood.

When my kids were old enough we started adopting poor families for Christmas. I told the kids that they were old enough to "be" Santa for someone else. That that is something Jesus would want them to do. They ate it up!

I don't believe the two have to be contradictory. I agree that "Santa" is very commercial, but he doesn't have to be in your family's understanding of him. Santa will always come to my house. I believe.

 

[laurajetter]

Again, thanks for all of your input. It's neat to see different traditions and you have given me so many good ideas.

Laura

 

[Gymbomom]

What an intresting thread.....

Well, I had the child who would ask tons of questions, and I always felt strongly that I would never lie to my child. So, when she was around 4 she asked, and I told her. We talked about that Christmas is Jesus birthday and Santa is the "fun" part of Christmas. same with the Easter Bunny. She was fine with that anwser, she was too young to be crushed by it, etc. Now, we still put out reindeer food, and Santa's cookies, we still talk about what Santa will bring...but she knows the truth.
Now my ds has never asked and when he does I will explain it to him. I just felt when they ask you that specific question, they are ready to know.

Also, another thing, I was almost glad when my dd asked. We struggled in the first of our marriage and I had to really bargin shop and we had to work hard to buy Christmas presents for family and for her. So, we would set everything out from Santa, not from us. The Christmas when she was three, she went through the list of everything Santa had gotten her, and she looked at me and said, "what did you and daddy get me"
I was so irked that Santa got all the credit for our sacrificing and hard work to provide her a Christmas. I maybe selfish, but I was really bummed that year when she said that.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Now my ds has never asked and when he does I will explain it to him. I just felt when they ask you that specific question, they are ready to know.

I absolutely agree with that! When my children ask me I plan to tell them the truth regardless of how old they are.