To Santa or Not to Santa?

I have been seeing a lot of these posts around the blog world lately and for obvious reasons....it is Christmas time. Nonetheless, this is something that has been on our minds and a recent post by a friend of mine on her blog sparked me to write my own post.

We are choosing not to "do" Santa in our home. We "did" Santa for the first two years of Sophie's life, not that she will really remember that, but once Neal and I started to root ourselves deeper in our faith we began to realize that maybe this was not the route we wanted to take with her and any other children we may have. Since then we haven't really had to field many questions about Santa Claus, until recently. Sophie is a very smart girl, constantly asking questions and almost always remembering the answers. She pays attention, very close attention in Sunday school and preschool where she learns Bible verses, sings songs about God and attends chapel with her class. All in all the girl is surrounded by the word of God and can tell you about several people and their stories in the Bible. This is definitely not something I was able to do as a child. Sometimes I am convinced that she might know more about the Bible than me! Anyhow, the question came up in October sometime (she had been rehearsing Christmas songs in school since September for her Christmas program so the topic was fresh in her mind) "Mommy, what does Santa have to do with baby Jesus?" I was silent for a minute thinking carefully about my response, but I could tell that the wheels were already turning in her head about the truth and reality of the fat man in the red suit who magically brings presents. I proceeded with my answer, "Well nothing really, he is more like a symbol reminding us to show kindness and love to one another just like Jesus shows all of us". That answer was enough for her at the time and she remembered it when we had our more recent conversation where I went into more detail about how Santa Claus is a character based on the real Saint Nicholas, who she knows about from the VeggieTales movie, but I refreshed her memory with the story anyway. We talked more about Jesus for a while, giving to others in need and she proceeded to tell me how Jesus is real and not a character, but Santa is a character like Dora or Mickey Mouse. I ended the conversation by telling her that Santa Claus gives us gifts and it reminds us of the gift that Jesus gave us which was.......and she finished my sentence by smiling and saying, "HIM!!!!" Siiiiiigh my mommy heart jumped for joy, she gets it and she is joyful about it!

Now, we are most certainly not banning Santa. I would be quite the hypocrite if I did, telling my children that he is a make believe character who needs to be banished and forgotten and then hauling my whole family off to Disney World (which we do, often), a theme park built around a fictional little mouse! We simply want our children to focus on the real reason of the Christmas season, the birth of Jesus Christ. Focus on the true joy that comes from giving and not simply get excited about the prospect of receiving presents. To give not only material gifts to those we love and those in need, but gifts of the heart.