I read a convicting blog by a Christian mama many years ago (2014) that made me ponder Santa. Here’s the link if you are interested in reading it. It was the first time I heard someone justify why Santa is hard to explain when raising kids in the Lord. I was a new mom then and didn’t understand because I had a baby.
Fast Forward
A few years later, I remember my oldest waking up to many presents under the tree. She told me, ” I must have been good because Santa brought me a lot of presents.” I explained to her that Santa was forgiving and showered her with gifts because of grace. That needed to be a Jesus message, but here was Santa getting credit for it. I can tell you from experience that all my kids have no worries about being naughty or nice because no matter what, they get their presents every year.
If you ask my kids what makes Christmas special, they will tell you it is the presents under the tree. Does your child place their happiness on gifts too? There is absolutely nothing wrong with receiving presents, but I struggle most with the idea of focusing on oneself.
How can I teach my kids to love Christmas for what it is when Santa is around? This is my greatest dilemma, and here’s why. For one, there is a clear message of naughty and nice, which is contradicted by the gifts. Two, there is a disparity in how gifts are done in every person’s home, which creates different Santa experiences. Three, the lies we tell to make up for the Santa one are too many to keep track of. Four, it is hard for children to focus on Jesus when Santa has supernatural powers that allow him to travel the world in one night.
My story
When I was a child, I remember doing Santa one year. Our family lived in Europe, so Santa was everywhere. One night, we sat down to pray as a family, and before it was over, I remember hearing bells, so my sisters and I ran to the living room. The smoke from a blown-out candle was trailing, cotton was all over the floor, and presents were under the tree. That one experience blew my mind. For years together, I wondered how it all happened. Of course, my mom snuck out while we were praying to set the stage for a Santa appearance. It was brilliant. I’ll tell you what I did not remember that year – Jesus in the manger.
Once we returned to India, Christmas was different. No one was telling children that Santa was real. I loved Christmas because of church traditions. The church members went caroling to everyone’s home, sharing the word of God and praying over families; the Sunday school children put up the nativity play, the youth got to perform Christmas songs in December, the choir sang beautiful carols, and families got together to celebrate Christmas. We made many traditional Christmas goodies, which we distributed to the neighbors, family, and friends on Christmas day. Those are the experiences I want to create for my kids. We did not wake up to many presents under the tree. Every year for Christmas, it was tradition to get new clothes, and we expected nothing more.
Present Day
I have had a strong desire to move away from Santa to focus on Jesus, family, fellowship, and giving. So this year, I decided to let my kids learn about who Santa truly is. As we may all know, Santa is a manifestation of St Nicholas. While the stories of St. Nicholas are written in children’s books with an ounce of his life, he was a man who served God and others.
I had bought a few Children’s books about St Nicholas in anticipation of this day. My oldest read the books on her own. I read the book with my boys. We then talked about what they understood about Santa. The most important thing we discussed was that nothing changed about Christmas because Santa was not real.
Since then, I have been trying to prepare my kids to be satisfied with less. We want to change our practice of gift-giving so we can get them excited about all the other things we do on that day. This may be the hardest part for them, but I hope they will remember Christmas the way I do from my childhood days.
Final Thoughts
I hope you’ll feel a tug in your heart as you think about how you celebrate Christmas and what you’ll place in the center of it all. I hope this will be a blessed season for you and your family.
