There’s a couple hot buttons in the blogosphere (more than a couple, I’m sure). Among them, I think, are homeschooling (I don’t), fundraising (yup, do a lot of that), and Santa. And, well, you all know about my Santa views now.
I wasn’t quite prepared for the response to that one. Lots of pats on the backs and lots of shoulder shrugs and “ugh”s.
At the end of the blogging day, I was pretty pumped from all the discussion and appreciated the opportunity to see things myself in a new way. My friend Gina commented:
We are full-on Santa lovers in our family. To me Santa IS all about generosity and sacrifice. Santa works all year to give to others. Santa wants to see all children with smiles on their faces. As children get older, they begin to understand that Santa is a metaphor for how we all should act. WE all should be like Santa. We all should work to put smiles on others’ faces. We learn that Christmas is more fun in the giving than the receiving.
I had never really thought of Santa being a model of sacrifice. But, you know, there’s really something to that.
And, from Bridget:
In our home, Santa loves Jesus so much that he wants to share that love by bringing happiness and joy to the children of the world. While Santa helps us celebrate with gifts, we are honoring the birth of Jesus.
Pretty neat.
Another friend, Cindy, told me how much she appreciated my post and understood how we got there and that she has arrived at a different way of doing things for her family. So, I invited her to share it with all of you. Check it out.
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With Christmas coming and my kids getting older, I’ve been asked several times when I plan on telling my kids that Santa isn’t real. I always respond to questions like that the same way: I never, ever plan on telling my kids that Santa isn’t real, and I really hope no one else does either. Because to us, he is as real as the day is long.
I know there are children who celebrate without Santa who have just as lovely a Christmas as those of us who do. Jesus’s birthday is cause for plenty of celebration with or without the jolly guy in red having a part in it. And other religions that don’t celebrate Christmas at all get along just fine without even thinking of Mr. Claus. Hey, Santa’s not for everyone.
The thing is, we LOVE Santa here at our house. No, I’ve never actually seen the guy. I don’t know if he actually lives at the North Pole and has reindeer that fly. No, I don’t think he actually travels across the world dropping gifts to everyone in one single night. But I do think he’s there. Somewhere.
When I was a kid, besides Santa there was also this little nameless elf that would visit us each morning for the full week before Christmas. Starting December 19th, my sister and I would wake up to a little treat next to our pillows. It was never anything huge… just a roll of Lifesavers or maybe a pack of Scratch n’ Sniff stickers. But that little trinket always gave us such a thrill – like an appetizer for the big day. I never saw that mysterious elf either. I just always hoped and had faith that he (or she) would show up, just like the big man on Christmas.
I don’t know. . . I can’t explain it completely. To my kids and me, Santa is the personification of that unexplainable feeling. That magical, mystical feeling that goes beyond Jesus’s birthday celebration. The one that feels like sparkles and smells like peppermint, wood-burning fireplaces and vanilla cookies. Taking all that magic, stuffing it into a red suit and giving it name like Santa Claus helps make that feeling concrete.
Santa gives me a happy feeling that I always hope my children feel as well. Maybe it’s just the tradition of it all that works for us. Or maybe I’m just the crazy woman that lives next door. Either way, I love keeping the spirit of Santa Claus alive and well and hope that everyone can respect our choice to do so.
Cindy Dudas is a work-at-home mom who started blogging as a way to get her feelings out there. She is a freelance writer/blogger currently writing for the Parental Guidance section of NJ.com and her own blog Whatever Works.
Kelly, I just saw this today and it made me think about Santa in a different way:
http://www.cozi.com/live-simply/truth-about-santa
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Santa and I am the daughter of a jewish mother and catholic father. I will Never ever ever tell my children there is no Santa and if they insist on saying there isn’t on then they won’t get presents!
LOVE THIS!!! THANK YOU!!!
While the thoughts or sentiments about Santa and sacrifice may have a certain charm or appeal, there is a problem if we we want our kids to have a strong worldview outside of themselves.
Let’s think about the ‘sacrificing’ and/or ‘loving’ Santa. It seems to me that Santa’s giving and sacrifice are only to children of families that already have the means to give to their children. Santa’s sacrifices are to children of privilege.
How come Santa doesn’t ‘love’ the child in Mumbai? What about the child in Philadelphia whose has a father in jail, a mother who is a night-shift waitress, and has never seen a package from Santa on Christmas?
How do you explain that Santa to your child? Are those kids bad?
Sorry, I’m not trying to be a wet blanket. We put up Santa decorations, get pictures taken with Santa and our grandchildren, etc. It’s part of Americana. But to make much of a fictional character and picture him as sacrificial and loving when these attributes are only experienced by children of privilege seems to be misleading, and certainly not a reflection of the ultimate loving, sacrificial lamb of God.
I remember about 15 years ago when I went on a Santa rant, a Mom of six down the street said, “Well, Santa comes on the Holiness night of the year!” Perspective. Thanks for the follow up post.
We fall somewhere in between both ends of this spectrum…
While we don’t make Santa the central figure of any of our celebrations, there is indeed a lot of talk about the big guy with all the age ranges we have here. We do talk each year about the real man that was the beginning of the myth and his great love for Jesus, the children, and the community. And we talk about how his loving nature was so BIG and generous that it was a beautiful “word picture” for generations of folks to remember.
As with most holiday discussions here, we’re big on traditions and legacy so that tends to be the bent when having the serious discussions surrounding the issue of Santa. For our home, we tend to use him to point us to Jesus. And to practically tangibly loving others.
It’s a balance we continually seek to hold as we are surrounded by others in both sides of the family who do it very differently from our home AND with very different hearts and intentions in the carry-out. As they do with the other hot button topics of Easter, Halloween, and the Tooth Fairy. Which could be another whole set of posts if you are coming up dry for topics :)