I’m so excited to have a special post about celebrating Christmas with Santa as Christians, especially since we “do” Santa.
Guest post written by Desiré and Jen
Humans are pretty good at taking something and making it sinful.
Jokes: They can be corny and humorous or crude and vulgar.
Movies: They can be relaxing and educational or disrespectful and inappropriate.
And then there’s Santa: He can be a fun tradition and a PART of Christmas or the star of the show.
We know that opinions vary wildly on this jolly, old guy and we don’t claim to have the answers. But, just like everyone else, we have a few opinions and thoughts that inform the role he plays in our homes at Christmas.
We both grew up with Santa. We both had FUN growing up with Santa. We have great memories with our families surrounding this tradition. And we’ve both chosen to let him be a part of our families’ Christmas tradition.
For those of you who have chosen not to include Santa in your Christmas tradition, please hear us out. We totally understand why you have made that choice. We respect that choice. We are very aware that believers who have chosen to keep Santa out of the picture have made that choice out of a desire to honor the Lord and keep Christ central during this season. Please don’t think for a second that we think you’re wrong or crazy for making that decision. We both have friends who feel the same and we really do get where you’re coming from. We’re not trying to change your mind, but we ask that you would be respectful and try to understand our choice as well. 🙂
Here’s where our heart is on the issue:
1. We LOVE Christmas and all that it entails. We love to put lights on our houses. We love the songs Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls. We love the classic Christmas movies. We love decorating Christmas trees and hanging wreaths and stockings in our home. We love giving presents to those we love. We love Christmas parties with delicious food and good conversation. We love to wear red and green and even paint our toenails red to celebrate this time of year! None of these things are necessarily Christian parts of Christmas, but they can create fun family memories. We feel Santa falls into this part of Christmas for us. He’s part of the fun and the memories.
2. We know that our children will one day be adults. They will have lots of choices to make without Mommy and Daddy. Part of our job is to equip them to deal with the world before they are making those decisions on their own. We feel that it is important to give our kids plenty of opportunities to see how the things of the world can be dealt with in a God-honoring way. Instead of saying “No jokes” we will teach them (and SHOW them) that they should use their speech in a way that pleases the Lord. Instead of saying “No movies,” we will teach them (and SHOW them) that they should not allow their eyes to see and their minds to entertain things that are lewd, disrespectful and inappropriate. Instead of saying, “No Santa” we will teach them (and SHOW them) what a Christ-centered Christmas can look like with fun traditions as well. We are NOT saying you have to do Santa to give them this type of experience, but we feel like it’s another opportunity in our family to show them balance. We don’t celebrate Santa like most of the world does. Instead we have a fun tradition that we feel not only creates memories, but provides a teaching opportunity. We can show them that all of the traditions we mentioned above can be super fun, but that Christ reigns supreme in our Christmas!
3. We kind of think that gifts might actually be the bigger distraction from the true meaning of Christmas. It’s hard to help a young child focus on the true meaning of something when you’re dangling colorful, noisy, tangible electronic devices in their face. 🙂 Everywhere we turn during this season we see toys, toys and more toys. Santa or no Santa, this is a huge hurdle. It is our job as parents to help our children focus on the gift God gave us and to help make sure that greed doesn’t creep into their little hearts.
We do a few things in our families to help with this. Desiré’s family has a 3 gift tradition to help limit some of the temptation to give ridiculous amounts of gifts and as a reminder on Christmas morning of the 3 gifts the wise men brought to Jesus. Jen’s family participates in Operation Christmas Child to help teach the joy of giving and show their kids that it’s not “all about them” at Christmas time. Desiré’s family has their boys do “jobs” to earn some money throughout the season and then they take a trip to the local Dollar Tree to find gifts for loved ones. Jen’s family sits down after Christmas to write thank you notes to anyone who gave them gifts as a way to teach their children that gratitude and thankfulness are important even in a season when gifts and givers abound.
4. Christ should be central in our celebration. When and if he’s not, something needs to give. We know that if more of our traditions and “fun parts” of Christmas are focused on something other than God coming down to earth as a human, it’s time for us to reassess. If our child ever becomes so obsessed with Santa that they could care less about the story of the Nativity, it may be time for us to tell our child about the historical Santa and be done with the make believe aspect. Or even change some of our traditions to down play Santa’s role in our season.
One thing that is important to our families is that we don’t present Santa as a “god-like” figure (you better be good or he won’t bring you anything, he sees you when you’re sleeping, he can be everywhere at once to deliver all the presents on Christmas Eve). A fictional character who can do this and then brings a child their favorite toy could make it pretty difficult to make Jesus central. In our homes Santa isn’t the focus any more than Christmas trees or lights. He’s part of it, but we don’t make an extra effort to talk about him (and we definitely make an extra effort to talk about the birth of our Savior). We don’t ever use Santa and gifts as a way to threaten our kids to behave. We both have a few books about him that are fun to read, but we have a lot more Nativity books. He’s there, but in the grand scheme of things, he’s just a small part. As adults, we get more excited about the Christmas decorations, our kids get more excited about Santa… but those things aren’t what “make” Christmas for any of us.
Some families allow Santa. Some families allow the tradition but teach the historical Santa. (Ours will probably head this direction as our kids get older and start asking questions about if he’s “real”). Some leave him out completely. We believe that as long as God made flesh is the focus and not traditions or Santa or gifts or the many other things that pull for our attention during this time, all options can be good ones.
Need some more ideas on how this all plays out in real life? You can read some more of our thoughts on some fun Christ-centered traditions to do with kids in our “Making It Meaningful” Series here.
We hope this has helped you to think through things for your family as you process how to celebrate the this wondrous season!
About the Authors: Desire and Jen blog about ideas for teaching kids the Bible as well as some things they are learning on the journey of parenting at When You Rise.
Do you include Santa in your Christmas traditions? Why or why not?
About Rachel
My husband and I both grew up with Santa and we have incorporated him into our children’s Christmas mornings. However, we’ve never made him the big focus. Christ has always been the reason for Christmas; Santa was just a fun guy who brought a few items and put them under the tree.
We never gave Santa the authority on morals – by saying “he’s watching you”. To me, that is where it goes wrong.
We didn’t make it a big deal and he only brought one or two gifts; the rest were from us.
The results were that my kids didn’t put much weight into Santa, but have always known what Christmas was really about.
Point #3 is so true! And I’m glad you mentioned the part about making Santa “god-like” because to me that is the real crux of the issue.
This is such a well written post. We have decided to not “do” Santa, as we have enough to keep us busy than making sure we “play Santa” too. Neither of us appreciated “the lie” that was fed us as kids. 😉 I think you did a fabulous job of teaching to not tell our kids that “Santa’s watching you.” This makes me so very sad to hear. It’s just confusing to their little minds. Thanks for this honest post, your children are blessed!
This is a very good post. My belief exactly.
Thank you
I agree whole-heartedly with number 3. Whether santa is involved or not, gifts and presents can definitely take over the true meaning of the season – the birth of our Savior!
This is great. Perfect timing. I just posted on this the other day. http://yourthrivingfamily.blogspot.com/2011/12/mama-i-know-santa-isnt-real.html
We are still at the figuring out what we want to do stage. But I think teaching the historical of all holidays is a good choice.
Beautiful! What a great way to include the fun and joy of Santa in a God-honoring way!
We don’t “do Santa” at our home….but I love your post. You’ve really hit the nail on the head with point #3. Toys, toys, toys….it’s enough to make anyone’s head spin.
Great approach and fabulous post. 🙂
Thank you for your input and encouragement, ladies! It’s so nice to hear others’ perspectives and know that we’re all seeking to glorify God first and foremost in this season no matter what traditions we choose to include! 🙂
We allow our children to have fun with Santa. We see him in the mall…in a round about way. =P We have him on our tree. We sing the songs and watch the tv shows, but our kids understand that he’s just like Cinderella or Bat Man. He’s lots of fun, but he’s fiction. We do the 3 gift thing too. Everyone gets 3 gifts and sometimes we get everyone a bigger gift to share.
I have 2 reasons for not teaching that Santa is real. 1) I’d hate to admit to my child in a few years that I’ve been lying to him…and 2) I’d be afraid that they’d always wonder if they could believe what I was saying after that. I’ve heard stories of children who wondered if God was even true after they found out that Santa wasn’t…I don’t want my children to doubt God because of something I said or did. They’ll face enough in life without my adding to it. =)
I have friends that this whole Santa thing to the extreme. Both extremes. This is just my opinion. =)
What a well-written post! Our family approaches Santa in a similar way. Our kids know the historical Santa, and we follow the fun tradition. It is still magical even though they know the truth.
I teach “Saint Nicholas” in my home and how his spirit of giving lives on today through the “red suits” called “Santa” living everywhere. I really LOVE The Polar Express movie, it gives the GREATEST way to teach “Santa” is Jesus. And I have my son write letters to Jesus – as the Bible says, “Ask and you shall receive”.
~Bekah @SonshineTotSchool.blogspot.com