a question for Christians concerning Santa Claus

Well, in our house CHRISTmas is about Jesus. :sunny:
Santa comes into picture not with the gifts we give our children. He is a Contemporary representation of "Saint Nick", a nice man who used to deliver presents because he loved Jesus so much. (The figure of Santa kneeling to Jesus is what we use as the example for this part of our story)
We explain St Nick and his story and how he has evolved into our "Santa Claus"
Our children know that there is no real Santa Claus going around delivering the presents, but they do know that he used to exist Many years ago as Saint Nick.
We have read them the book "Sant are you for Real" many times.
Our children know that all of their gifts are from us...and they are all STILL a Surprise to them and then the joy on their face is soooo worth it to us.

Our oldest has never ever felt he has been slighted in any way. He enjoys the whole season, church, presents and all because it is all very Magical. :flower:
 
Thank you all for your wonderful ideas about this topic. I, too, came from a home where we celebrated Christ's birth and still believed in Santa. Now that I'm a parent, we do the same thing. On Christmas Eve, DH or grandpa reads the story of Christ's birth out of Luke. While he is reading, all the cousins act out the story. We have a trunk with basic costume pieces for them. They love taking turns being Mary or the Angel or even the Donkey. Looking back, those were some of the most spiritual times; there's nothing like seeing that story through the eyes of a child.

I also hang up a white stocking right by our Christmas tree. On the stocking is a picture of Christ. During the month of December everyone writes down a "gift" they want to give to Jesus. Things like obeying my mom, making my bed every day, being kind to little brother, etc. Then we put those pieces of paper in the white stocking. After dinner on Christmas Eve, before we start our annual family party, we sit in a circle by the tree, and read the gifts we've decided to give to Jesus. Then I put them away in a special box, and the next Christmas we read them to see how we did.

A friend of mine wrote a poem about this that really hit a deep chord with me. It's kind of long, but if anyone wants a copy I'd be happy to PM it or to post it. Just let me know. I read it every Christmas season and remember what is really important.
 
I just love our kneeling Santa. We have one of those fancy Nativity sets from Italy, we don't put the baby Jesus in the manger when we set it up. We have a fancy velvet box that we keep Jesus in until right before we go to bed on Christmas eve. The kids love to place him in the set, but we don't use the Jesus that came with the set that first night. We place our kneeling Santa with Jesus in the manger scene.

We also don't place a star on top of the tree. I found a crown that goes on the tree. There is a story about Jesus' crown with it, we read the story and one of the kids places it on top. ---from listing on Christianbook.com for the crown---The King's Crown. This crown is not a pretty sight/To mix with cheerful Christmas lights/Yet when sweet "Silent Night" is sung/And hallowed holy bells are rung---/Perhaps we'll take some extra time/And up toward our treetop climb---/To place this crown, for all to see/The kind of King that he would be./And in some way, this humble act,/Just might bring the meaning back---/To Christmas and the King of Kings/Whose crown declares the gift he brings.

We have a set of ornaments that look like the nails used to nail Jesus to the cross. There is a story with these too, and we take turns hanging up the nails in the tips of the branches so everyone can see them. ---item similar to what we use can be found at the Christianbook.com site---

On Christmas day no matter how crowded we are we always set a place of honor for Jesus at the head of the table. I have a plate from Pampered Chef that says It's My Special Day, he gets that plate, a pretty birthday candle, and we do sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

The kids all know that Santa is a nickname for SAINT Nicholas. We talk about how he is helping Jesus to remind us to be kind to others.

My personal favorite thing is when we go to Church on Christmas eve. Towards the end of the mass it is quiet, the kids are all tired and want to go home to wait for Santa. All of a sudden you can hear the jingling bells in the distance...the kids of course perk up at this. The bells grow closer and then the doors open. At this point the kids are just beside themselves...Santa pays no attention to any of the children. He walks in, takes his hat off and slowly and silently approaches the alter. Santa kneels down in silent prayer for a couple minutes, and then he gets up and slowly walks out. This always touches my heart so deeply...heck I am crying even now.

Hang in there, parenthood is full of trials, but this really doesn't have to be one of them. Merry CHRISTmas
 
We also have a Christmas Nail, but ours said to hang it near the trunk, near the inside of the tree so that it would not be there for 'show', but to remind *US* of His sacrifice and how we are to live our lives for Him even when no one is looking.
 

Glynis said:
I also hang up a white stocking right by our Christmas tree. On the stocking is a picture of Christ. During the month of December everyone writes down a "gift" they want to give to Jesus. Things like obeying my mom, making my bed every day, being kind to little brother, etc. Then we put those pieces of paper in the white stocking. After dinner on Christmas Eve, before we start our annual family party, we sit in a circle by the tree, and read the gifts we've decided to give to Jesus. Then I put them away in a special box, and the next Christmas we read them to see how we did.
I love this.

Glynis said:
A friend of mine wrote a poem about this that really hit a deep chord with me. It's kind of long, but if anyone wants a copy I'd be happy to PM it or to post it. Just let me know. I read it every Christmas season and remember what is really important.
I'd love to see the poem. Either PM me or post it here :)
 
lilallybean said:
My personal favorite thing is when we go to Church on Christmas eve. Towards the end of the mass it is quiet, the kids are all tired and want to go home to wait for Santa. All of a sudden you can hear the jingling bells in the distance...the kids of course perk up at this. The bells grow closer and then the doors open. At this point the kids are just beside themselves...Santa pays no attention to any of the children. He walks in, takes his hat off and slowly and silently approaches the alter. Santa kneels down in silent prayer for a couple minutes, and then he gets up and slowly walks out. This always touches my heart so deeply...heck I am crying even now.
What a fun tradition! A visible sign to the kids of Who is really important on Christmas! Must be a great parish.
 
N.Bailey said:
You do know Christ was not born on Christmas, right? Much evidence suggests he was born in the spring and no where in the Bible does it cover the date of his birth.

It is true that the Bible does not give much direct evidence as to the date of Christ's birth. I'd be interested in seeing the "much evidence" that would suggest Christ was born in the spring. I have read such suggestions before on the Disboards and wonder as to the source of such claims.

The Biblical scholars I've studied instead suggest that the common sense of understanding the context of Biblical references would tell us that Jesus was born in the late autumn, after the harvest and before the winter rains had set in.

The Bible tells us that the shepherds were in the fields with their flocks -- a reference to the practice of allowing the sheep to graze on the stubble of the fields after the harvest. Once the stubble had been eaten (with byproduct of the sheep remaining) the fields would be ploughed. After this and once the winter rains had set in, the shepherds would not be allowed into the fields.

As to the celebration of Christ's birth: We know that early Christians were doing just this as the Roman government of occupation was not slow in building a Roman temple on the Bethlehem site in order to discourage Christians from going there to worship Jesus. It only served to preserve the site for the time when Christianity was no longer outlawed. This is also how the site of the crucifixion and burial at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was preserved.

As to the Christmas celebrations in the Church -- I use the Playmobil manger scene with the Three Wisemen. The children love it -- they play with it -- and the adults seem to enjoy as we prepare our hearts and our Church during the season of Advent to celebrate Christ's birth at Christmas. The struggle is always with those in the Church who would prefer to decorate for Christmas as soon as December rolls around instead of waiting through Advent until a more appropriate time to decorate. The children's Christmas pageant will take place during our worship service on December 18th -- the tree, the poinsettias, and the decorations can go up the week before. We need to hold on to Advent -- we need to wait.
 
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