Comments on: How Do You Explain Santa Claus?

By: Joshua Kelly

Joshua Kelly — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:49:34 +0000

I am so torn and dissapointed! My wife agreed to raise a “christian family” before we said “I Do”. But the “christian-family” she was thinking of is the americanified lukewarm and comfortable so-called christianity. My thinking was a life lived out by every bibles verse we read! To imitate Christ, and live holy seperate lives. _______________ Now, it is such a battle just to even play along with this crud (being very nice and conservitave here!) even with christian family who feel it’s ok to let the jolly man be the focus of Christmas. So, I am married. I have a 3 almost 4 year old daughter. And I am one of the loneliest men on earth in consideration to my life being a life of biblical standards, and standing on that come hell AND persecution from so called brothers and sisters and even more from the world. I don’t give up. I continue to tell my daughter Santa is just a man (a fun part of christmas) but he too will die and go to heaven or eternal punishment. My wife needs to completely divorce this world. But I know this is only done by a leading of the Holy Spirit, and me showing love-not the angry man inside being robbed of a time when Jesus could be shared so much easier and recieved. I also don’t care. I tell my daughter Santa’ “Does not see you when your sleeping” nor does he know you like the lies say! I tell her “If Santa is not a believer, even He wont go to heaven”. Let me tell you’ I catch so much flack from (so-called christains) poo-hooing and calling all things of the world ok! They can keep their lies and luke warmness! I will be the “bad-guy” who does not have the blood of my child on his hands when I appear before Christ on how I parented His creation!… I will be lonely, grieved, spoke against, left out, called a Jesus Freak (Which I love/because I am), and suffer through this world trying (With God’s Love) to win people over to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! …… PS. I so love your opening statement of “Christmas is about Jesus. Period. No pleasantly plump man with rosy cheeks and a white beard ever hung on a cross for my sins. Super spiritual? Maybe. I don’t care. America has made Christmas about Santa and the presents he brings.”….. Continue your fight against worldly ways and carnal-minded christians! In His Love and Mercy….

By: Samantha

Samantha — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:31:59 +0000

I just wanted to say thank you all for writing. My husband and I have two daughters (3 and 5 months) and thought we would not do “Santa”. We both grew up with believing in Santa and are believers and followers of Christ. As my daughter gets older and attends preschool 2 days a week I am seeing how Santa is EVERYWHERE. I am having second thoughts about no doing Santa b/c of our society. Anyway, I have printed off these responses and am going to read and pray. Again thank you all! Merry Christmas – Sam

By: CEB

CEB — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:20:21 +0000

By: Amanda Ratcliff

Amanda Ratcliff — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:01:51 +0000

You know Meg, I think it’s very funny that you’ve posted something on this topic. This year, I had already started entertaining the idea of Santa Claus with Abby and Deke was too… but then my mom and I were talking about it, and she said something like, why are you doing that with her? (as you can tell by that remark, we definately weren’t taught about Santa when we were growing up) And I told her that I didn’t really see much harm in it, besides a little let down when she found out it wasn’t true, and that I also thought that sparking imagination in children was very important to their development! She agreed with me on the imagination thing, but not on the rest.

So I asked Mom, why infact did they never really “do Santa,” and she replied, #1 – “Dad and I just didn’t feel right that it would be right to lie to you children… ya’ll might have been really upset with us and that could hinder our relationship with you kids.” #2 – “When I was growing up and believning in Santa Claus, I remember this HUGE disappointment and anger when I found out… I was angry with my parents and truly hurt. I just didn’t want you kids to feel this pain or let down like I did.” And point #3 – the answer that changed my mind the most – “Who’s to say that when Abby {my daughter} finds out that Santa wasn’t really real, and that you and Deke were lying this whole time, that she won’t automatically say, Ok then, if Santa’s not real, then Jesus is not real. I mean they can both do great things and I’ve never even seen them.”

I told Mom, that I wouldn’t have thought that growing up, but she also said that you never know what your children are thinking… some kids are different. Abby is a little thinker, that’s for sure… so I don’t want her to ever doubt that our father is REAL and He is ALIVE! Needless to say, we’re still going to go thru with the Santa thing this year (allowing her to believe for now but not pushing it down her throat) since we’ve already chalked him up to be so cool and real and since she’s so excited about Santa this year… and then next year, we’re going to moreless shift focus… zoning in more on the REAL reason for the season, which is celebrating Jesus’ birth. We’ve been sure to tell her and teach her about Jesus’ birth this year as well, but next year it’s ONLY HIM!

Sorry for the book…

Much love,

Amanda

By: Terri

Terri — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:33:11 +0000

You are a brave lady! Thanks for bringing up the touchy subject:) We are going on 13 years of “No Santa” in our home. We had the same convictions as you mentioned and wanted to glorify God in the Holiday, rather than glorify Walmart or Santa. This has been a hard road with family members that do celebrate Santa style, but one that we hold on to. Rather than trying to convince our children that there is no Santa, we simply celebrate Christ at this time of year. We do still give gifts, and have a Christmas tree, but focus on the birth of Christ. One year we celebrated Franklin Graham style and gave our children a shoebox full of gifts. We attend a church service in celebration, and focus on the birth of Christ. This becomes another worldly issue for me, as we grew up believing in Santa and the whole magical holiday. I sometimes feel like I am denying my children that special time of childhood, but in reality I have given them truth instead, and the truth of a Savior more importantly. As in other things, we simply explained to our children what the holiday is about, how the world celebrates, and have shown them the wisdom in celebrating it to glorify God. After all, it is really all about Him!

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:05:08 +0000

Guess I’m the first to say that we do the Santa thing. I grew up doing the Santa thing with my family and my parents still write “From Santa” on my husband’s and I’s gifts. What we attempt to do each year is pull all the magic of the season together. Santa always leaves 3 gifts for the kids because they shouldn’t recieve more than the King did. He also leaves a letter letting them know how proud he is of how they kept Jesus in their heart all year long and how much they gave to others. As we open gifts, we talk about Jesus and His birth and what it means for us today. I know soon we’ll be facing the “questions” about Santa and I have no problem with letting Santa go…until then we’ll cherish every excited moment while still remembering why we celebrate this glorious day.

By: wolfshowl

wolfshowl — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:14:06 +0000

Even though I’m not a Christian and am very secular, I don’t plan on ever lying to my future kids (at least not on purpose), so I won’t be telling them that Santa is real. I’ll tell them he’s a myth, and there’s lots of myths out there.

Plus I think it’s better for kids to see Christmas as a time of people giving to other people. I want them to know the presents came from people who had to spend money or work hard to make them. I want their focus to be on showering love on others and not on pleasing a mythological man in the north.

By: anna

anna — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:22:47 +0000

We also don’t “do santa”! Our daughter is almost 4 and hasn’t really asked a lot of questions yet. We do have the book “Santa are you for real” but she’s not into it yet. We just tell her that Santa is a fun story just like The Little Mermaid (which she loves right now). We talk about the historical St Nick and how he did give presents etc, but that he was a man and he doesn’t live forever and that he’s in heaven with Jesus now. I purposefully don’t say that santa’s “not real” b/c I don’t want her repeating that! I say things like “santa WAS real”. Anyway, good question, I look forward to seeing what others say!

By: tonja

tonja — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:36:12 +0000

we’ve never played Santa. We’ve taught our kids that it’s a game the world plays, and we’ve decided not to play the game because we want to focus on Jesus, instead. Our girls have never had a hard time with friends who believe in Santa and “play the game.” They know not to spoil their game…and I don’t think they’ve ever been upset that they don’t get to play. When they realize that someone believes in Santa, they just go with it or change the subject We’ve also emphasized that just b/c someone plays the Santa game does not mean that they are not Christians.

We’ve always read the story of St. Nicholas to them, and explained where the game started. We also taught them that sometimes we can be a St. Nick to another family at Christmas time, secretly bringing gifts to people who may not get any gifts otherwise. That’s always fun (b/c it’s so much fun to give) and a learning experience (b/c they have to learn that they can give to others without receiving a thank you).

We’ve always started Christmas morning off with a birthday breakfast for Jesus…remembering Him first, then receiving presents. The girls get 3 gifts, just like Jesus did. And throughout the holiday, we give Jesus gifts by meeting the needs of others less fortunate than us, giving gifts to family, friends & neighbors, etc.

here are a couple of really great books that we’ve read year after year:
Santa Are you for Real? by Harold Myra
and
Mommy, Was Santa Claus Born on Christmas too? by Barbar Knoll (her whole “Mommy, Why?” series is good)

Merry Christmas to you! Hope it’s filled with HIS presence

By: abby

abby — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:52:07 +0000

We don’t “do Santa” either. Pretty much for the exact same reasons you stated. We do however celebrate St. Nicholas day (I can get behind a holiday honoring a man who tried to help those less fortunate without anyone knowing what he was doing.)

Anyway, our daughter is almost 4. I figure by next year she will start asking the “who is Santa” questions. We’ve decided to tell her that Santa is a tradition lots of people have. He’s pretend but it’s fun to pretend so it’s okay if her friends pretend that. And she should be nice and let them pretend at Christmas time.

I figure as long as we emphasize the pretend part we aren’t lying to her and she will have LOTS of friends who believe in Santa and while we don’t “do Santa” I really don’t want my kid being the one who ruins it for her entire kindergarten class.