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It’s that time of year again. It’s just barely past Halloween, still more than two weeks before Thanksgiving and yet Christmas is already everywhere we look. Decorations have been up in some stores for weeks now, more catalogs are coming in the mail daily and we’re even beginning to hear some Christmas songs on the radio. I could actually get on a soapbox and rant all day on how I feel that Christmas has become too commercialized and how ridiculous I find it that decorations and such are already up, but that is not the point of today’s blog entry. I can hear the collective sigh of relief already. 😉 Today’s topic is about how torn I am on this Santa thing. It’s really weighing on my mind today and I wanted to get out some thoughts and hopefully get some feedback too.  So, stick with me here, please and feel free to leave comments. I’m very interested in what others think and have to say.

As I mentioned above,  I am really REALLY torn on this Santa Claus issue.  On one hand, I think it’s fun to get into the whole Santa system. I mean, it’s a little bit of “magic” (please note that I use that word innocently) that kids get to think about, or believe in, for a month and a half out of every year. (We all know they forget about all that “He’s watching, be good” stuff as soon as they see the gifts around the tree. That is shot for another eleven months.) In our house we leave out cookies and Mountain Dew each Christmas Eve because Santa needs a caffeine jolt by the time he finally gets to Georgia. We also leave carrots and water for the reindeer.  The anticipation and excitement of it all is fun. It really is a great time. But, it feels weird to me this year for some reason. Even though I know it’s all in fun, I feel like I’m lying to my kids about a person that doesn’t exist. I feel that I’m misleading them and potentially setting them up to get their hearts broken when they find out the truth. And, what if this causes them to question if Jesus is real too?! This is the dilemma on my heart today. Of all days, why today? I  have no idea, but it’s there.  This burden is on my heart and I can’t seem to make much of it on my own right now.

I should clarify that we most certainly teach our girls first and foremost that Christmas is about celebrating Jesus’ birth. They know that much. We keep Christ in Christmas because, well, that’s what it’s all about. The whole Santa thing is far secondary to Jesus, of course.  Macey even likes to help me bake a birthday cake for Jesus and we love to sing the Christmas songs that celebrate His birth. That element is present in our home and in our celebrations. That’s where we try to keep our main focus. But, kids are kids and since the whole Santa bit gets told in school and even in church they can’t help but to hear it and be excited by it. It’s been impossible to fully shield our children from knowing about Santa in our society. They know about the big guy in the red and white suit and, trust me, they are genuinely intrigued by it all. What worries me is setting them up to learn that he’s not really real and what that might do to their trust in us and in the Christian values we are helping to establish in them. We have a friend who told us the story of his daughter finding out about Santa and it devastated her because she then wanted to know if they made up the story of Jesus too. That really hit my heart. The last thing I ever want for these girls is to think that any element of our Christian faith is just made up or even untrue. So, the question plaguing me today is wondering if it’s truly possible to intermingle a little bit of Santa lore while keeping the the focus on Jesus? I tend to think so. I want to think so, but my mind is going a hundred miles per hour on that one today.

I would love to hear from other Christians about how you and your family celebrate Christmas. What do you all do? Especially if your child or children are like ours and can’t help but know about Santa from their various surroundings. How do you handle it?

I’m wondering if it’s time to talk to Macey and explain that Santa isn’t real, but it’s fun to think about there being such a kind and generous person in the world. I wonder if she’d get that? I don’t want to ruin any fun for her. She definitely knows what the true meaning of Christmas is – she’s got Jesus in her heart and she knows it’s about Him. Mariana is still a bit young, but she is learning too.

So, let me hear from you. How were things in your home growing up? How are they now? How is Santa handled in your house? Let me hear it. I’m eager to discuss. This is not a one time blog post. This is something that I want to explore and find my way to peace about this season.