I started working on this post a few weeks ago, and even though Christmas has come (and gone!) I still want to post it. I often get asked, and ask others about their beliefs around Santa - as in, who is he to your family, do you incorporate him into your celebrations, and if so, how? Some of my friends celebrate the Christian Christmas, and some celebrate Christmas as a time to spend with friends and family, and give to others. Santa brings one of my friend's kids only handmade toys (wooden toys, puzzles, handmade clothes, a la elf workshop stuff!), another friend only gets family toys from Santa (board games, or movies for them to watch together).
For my family, we're still working on the balance between Santa and Jesus, and I know I've mentioned it before, but I love the book Santa's Favorite Story for that. For us, it's not either Santa or Jesus, but we're trying to find how Santa can compliment the spiritual meaning of the holiday. We definitely "do" Santa in this house - I love the mystery and fun of it. Santa has his own wrapping paper, special tags, and hand-writing. And with the added fun of Emma this year, there is NO doubt in Princess's mind that he's real. And I love that. I have always had a big imagination and I loved playing pretend growing up (I still daydream all. the. time... Ask my husband) and I love playing into my kids' imaginations now.
Obviously in all this we try to not put focus on the materialism the season can bring - we definitely can get overboard on the gifts, but we also give to charity and donate items as well, and talk to the kids about how lucky we are to have so much, and how some kids don't have all that we do. We're big on the family time, and gifts we can all enjoy together - this year Santa got Princess and Tobes one toy each, and then a couple of joint gifts (a shopping cart from Melissa and Doug, and walkie-talkies!) and then the family got a couple of board games. I also don't really like the "naughty or nice" about Santa. I don't think a gift should be based on behavior. Obviously I want my children to behave well and be polite, but if I want to give someone a gift, it's because I love them, not because of anything they've done to deserve it. Rewards are for behavior, gifts are for relationships. God didn't give us Jesus because we were super-awesome, it was because He loves us. We love our children, and so we want to give them gifts, so it's kind of weird to think of a man my children meet once a year (for photo opportunity) getting all the credit for all the gifts on Christmas morning. I'd rather them think that I'm the incredible mastermind behind the perfect present ;)
Those are my thoughts on the man in red, and now I pose the question to you - how does your family handle Santa?
I like how you explained "Santa" in your household. It's always a tough question for Christians but I think we're gonna handle it the way my parents did. In our house the number one rule was honesty. There was no more serious offence in our house than lying. As such my parents made it very clear that they would ALWAYS be honest with us. That doesn't mean they told us EVERYTHING (lots of stuff kids don't need to be burdened with). It means they told us the truth in an age appropriate way. As a result we had no Santa, no Tooth Fairy, no Easter Bunny. We knew about them. We knew the stories behind them. We were respectful of others believing in them. But my parents number one concern was that we know everything they ever told us was true. They figured, if they lied about one "little" thing then what guarantee did we as kids have they didn't lie about the "big" things. I really respect that. At this time Nato & I want to approach it the same way. I totally respect each family's choice to handle it in different ways and it's always an interesting thing to discuss. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Amanda! I love hearing other people's views on this, especially other Christians (simply because it really can be a tough question for us). I have heard that no-Santa notion before, but never explained by someone who actually lived it out as a child - it's usually a hypothetical idea. I have to ask - was there ever a time when you questioned the non-existence of Santa? As in, did your parents discuss to you about whether or not other kids believed in him, or how did you feel when other kids talked about him in school (ditto Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy)?
ReplyDeleteIt's funny - we have books on every aspect of parenting, but I have yet to find a "What's the Deal With the Tooth Fairy?" one *lol* ;)