Santa vs. Jesus

So here’s the deal. We’re not doing Santa. Sorry Mom! ;)

My family always did the whole Santa Claus deal and I totally believed in Santa until some point in elementary school. I don’t really remember when I realized that it wasn’t real, I don’t remember feeling disappointed, or lied to, or any of those things. David’s family never did Santa. Micah’s still too young for any of this, but we’ve had lots of conversations recently about Christmas and how we want to “do” Christmas in our home. I had just always assumed that we would do the whole Santa bit because it’s fun and well, I don’t think it caused me any harm. But lately, I’ve been rethinking that more and more. Recently, I read two great blog posts, this one on Santa and this one on Christmas in general. They both really resonated with me. As our little family grows and as our extended family grows (by leaps and bounds, it seems!) I’ve definitely been rethinking the whole Christmas thing (as in stressing out about getting so many gifts, spending x amount of money, etc.), but really that’s probably a whole other blog post.

Anyways, David and I have both decided that we like the idea of not completely eliminating Santa, but instead to just tell Micah exactly who he is, a fictional character based on a person. She’s still going to see Santa all around, I’m sure and I’m totally fine if she just thinks that Santa is a fun story from books and movies.

• Let’s face it y’all. When it comes down to it, if a child is given the choice between Santa, an awesome, magical jolly man who flies around with reindeer and elves giving great presents to all the good boys and girls, and a baby named Jesus who was born in a manger, Santa wins every time. What kid wouldn’t choose Santa? And I want our family to focus on Jesus and giving during this season, not Santa and all the stuff that we don’t need!

• Secondly, I don’t want Micah to think that she’s getting gifts because she’s been a good little girl. Jesus gave us the ultimate gift, not because we were good or earned it, but because He loves us. I want our daughter to know that kind of grace, and not to think that there’s somebody up there tallying up points for good and bad things that she does. That’s not love, and it’s definitely not the Father’s love.

• I want to teach our children gratitude. If they think that these awesome presents come from some magical man in the sky, that doesn’t really teach them how to be thankful. I want our kids to know that we work hard to earn money and that we put special thought and time into finding gifts for them and it may sound selfish, but I want them to be thankful to us, not Santa! I also want them to know that there are limits, that gifts and money are not endless and I think that’s probably easier to understand when it’s not a magical man who can bring you any gift you want.

• I also want to teach our kids about giving. As David puts it, he wants to convince Micah (and future kiddos) that Christmas is a time where you give other people stuff for as long as possible. I think that as our kids get older we will probably do a gift where we give them a set amount of money and they choose how to give it away and who to give it away to, whether it’s a ministry, charity, a friend or family member in need. I want them to get excited about giving.

I’m sure we will tweak and retweak all of this as our kids get older and as our family changes and grows, but that’s where we are for now. Micah won’t really know or get any of this this Christmas but next year she will be old enough to understand some of this.