Advent Day 3: Jesus vs. Santa
I never believed in Santa growing up.
I know what you're thinking. This man had a terrible and imagination-less childhood! Did he live in a bubble?
Although I was a strange kid growing up...and now, I assure you it was far from being without imagination. My parents just never made a big deal about Santa. My mom would always decorate our house beautifully every year. It really was the best our house looked year round. There were a lot of nativity scenes, a lot of wintery themed colors and decorations, there were lights and ornaments on trees, but there just wasn't any Santa Claus. Don't misunderstand me, we weren't a crazy hyper-spiritual family who burned Santas in effigy at the mall. It just wasn't part of our tradition.
Because of this, I've always thought it was weird growing up that other people believed in Santa Claus. I may or may not have been that kid at school who shattered the dreams of his peers by pointing out the ridiculousness of Santa and immaturity it would take to believe it's true. Furthermore, as I got older, I found it even more strange the lengths that parents would go to in order to lie to their children about Santa.
But now that I have a son I'm having to think through my views on Santa again. Is it okay for Kyler to believe in Santa? Is it okay in general for Christian children to believe in Santa Claus? What should we as parents do about Santa and our children? Before answering these consider this.
When scrolling through a list of new movies and holiday shows on television, Santa is inescapable. However, it is difficult to find Jesus. The Santa genre has been beaten to a pulp, but the movies highlighting Christ are almost non-existent.
Don't worry, I don't think we should all be Scrooges and not allow our kids to believe in Santa. So to answer my question, I don't think its wrong for kids to believe in Santa and if Kyler believes in Santa, I'm not going to ruin it for him.
On the other hand, it is wrong for us to stress Santa Claus at the expense of making much of Christ during Christmas. Kids have imaginations and there is nothing wrong with allowing kids to make believe. But if we don't make it a point at Christmas to tell our children about the birth of Christ and the significance of it, we are missing an incredible opportunity to tell our kids about Jesus.
So whether or not you tell your kids about Santa, please tell them about Christ.
What are some creative ways that you have highlighted the birth of Christ or how have you balanced between Santa and Jesus in your own family?