The Land of Ozz

We are surrounded by Santa no matter where we go these days. Santa is in parades, sitting in the malls, standing on the street corner, popping in at various Christmas parties, inflated standing fifteen feet tall on the neighbor’s lawn, and zooming across the weatherman’s radar screen delivering gifts on Christmas Eve.

Parents go to great lengths to explain this mysterious man to their children. Children are told to be good so that Santa will bring them lots of stuff in return for their good behaviour. They are told how Santa will come down the chimney and leave presents under the Christmas tree after the children are asleep on Christmas Eve. Then the children start to grow and learn how difficult it would be for one man to visit billions of homes in one night. The parents then become more creative in their explanation of how Santa gets things done. Some children like those who live in mobile homes start to wonder how Santa will get into their house since their home has no chimney. The parents then may hang an old skeleton key outside and tell the children that this is for Santa.

All of these things are done in fun. Parents and children alike enjoy these times. Then one day a child comes home with that question, “Is Santa Claus real? Susie told me that Santa’s not real.” Some parents come clean at that point while others find a way to extend the fun for just one or two more years by further exaggerating the story.

What’s wrong with having a little fun with your children at Christmas time by pretending there is a Santa? It’s just innocent fun, right? My wife and I felt that it was okay for the first two years that we celebrated Christmas as parents. Then my wife came home one night about a month ago from her book club meeting and said, “I am not sure how you feel about this, but I would like for us to reconsider how we celebrate Christmas.” We went on to discuss a scenario similar to the one mentioned in the email that we received from a Christian friend this morning:

“It was a decision my husband and I made after hearing what happened to a friend of ours. She sat and was having “that talk” with her son. Not the talk you’re thinking- but the Christmas talk. She was about to tell him there was no Santa. At 8 years old she and her husband felt it was time. She told me how he looked up at her with tears in his eyes and replied, “Mommy, does that mean you lied to me about Jesus too?” Heartbroken, she tried to explain to her son why she and his daddy had purposely lied to him all through the years. Of course the child eventually got over it as he is now a fully functioning adult- but why do we put up such charades for our children? We work hard building bonds with them so they trust us. Santa Clause, I guess, is considered a “white lie.” One that isn’t so bad? Is there such a thing?

So, our struggle begins. Coming from a family steeped in tradition, how on earth was I going to lovingly convey to my oh so loving- if not a bit overbearing- family not to make such a big deal about the “white- bearded man?” We obviously can’t ignore the secularism of the season. Where do we draw the line? We decided our goal was to teach our children “to be in the world but not of it” as Paul describes.

Before you think I’m trying to rain on your parade- those of you who don’t share my convictions- let me say we have no stones to throw. We don’t care what you teach your children. BUT, I have been shown this web site that may help keep the focus in a practical way. I hope you can take time to read it- especially you with younger children. Now is the time.

We love you all and hope you have an awesome CHRISTmas!”

http://www.deerlakemail.com/teach/

My wife and I have come to a similar conclusion. We have asked our family members not to make such a big deal over Santa. We are still faced with the situations like the one Riley and I faced yesterday. A lady in the checkout line of a store asked Riley, “are you ready for Santa?” Then there was the question he got asked a few weeks ago while he was wait for his turn to get a haircut, “what’s Santa going to bring you?”

There’s no way to avoid these types of situations, but what you have planted in your child’s heart will shine through. My oldest son at a tender age of three is already responding frequently with, “we celebrate Jesus’ birthday for Christmas at our house.” You would be absolutely amazed at the smiles that response brings to so many adults. You see, we are to teaching our children that Santa is not real, but rather we are teaching our children that Christmas is a day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We give gifts to others to show our love for them.

I want to share a couple of resources to help you celebrate Christmas in a Christian home. I hope these resources will help you have fun and avoid telling lies that you will later have to explain. There will be more to come in the future. My wife has worked hard to find books for our family that help us share some true stories related to Christmas traditions.

The Adventure of Christmas : Helping Children Find Jesus in Our Holiday Traditions (Hardcover)

Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend (Board book)

Ordinary Baby, Extraordinary Gift (Hardcover)

The Crippled Lamb (Audio CD)

The Story of Christmas (Hardcover) – Special order and may be hard to get.

Oddly enough I found some of the most relative information concerning this story on the Atheism section of About.com. The article is titled Santa Claus: Should Parents Perpetuate the Santa Claus Myth? and it is packed full of great explanations on why, in my opinion, the “little white lie” is not a healthy practice.

Merry Christmas to you and The Uncooperative Blogger who so graciously linked to this post!!!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2005 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Faith, Family, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.