Christianity and Santa

The issue of Christianity and Santa doesn't have to be a problem as long as both parents are in agreement as to how they will share this mythical being and other holiday characters.

While it's important that Christian parents teach their children that Jesus Christ is the center of our Christmas celebration, we still have this friendly tradition of the man who works all year long to make every child's dreams come true for that one special day of the year.  

The question is, as Christian parents do we tell our children that Santa is a hoax and to look to Christ only or do we find a place where our kids can share with others the anticipation of Christmas morning while keeping the true meaning of Christmas?  Well I can't answer that question for any parent.  All I can do is share how I figured this all out for my children. 

As you can tell by my Salt Dough Santa project and some of my other Christmas creations, I made the decision to accept Santa Clause rather than abandon Him as a foe to Christianity.  How do I justify my decision? To many Christians it might seem as if there is no place for Santa.  

However, Christianity and Santa can exist in a Christian home that makes clear the Christian message and that does not focus on Santa first for the meaning of Christmas.  

At first I didn't see it that way when our children were very small.  I had thought long and hard about Santa and then announced to my husband that I was going to tell them the truth about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the the evils of Halloween.  But something he said changed my mind.

He reminded me how our children would not only be separated from all the other kids celebrating these seasonal times, but he gave me a glimpse of our children ruining the fun that all the other kids were anticipating by telling them it was all a big lie and then telling them about how evil they were.  That got me thinking even more on the subject of Christmas and Santa.

We had never cared about our children doing what all the other kids were doing if we felt something wasn't in their best interest, so that wasn't the issue.  What we wanted was to help them understand the true meaning of Christmas and other holidays while not giving them a feeling of sever isolation from the world.  

While Christians are not a part of the world, we must still live in it and make it a better place through Christ.  So after studying the most important Christian celebrations that the world also celebrates, I had to agree with him that there was a place for the truth about Christ and the fun of Christmas and Easter.   

I also remembered an experience with children of very strict Christian parents telling me that I was evil for having two diet cokes in one day.  I felt it a horrible Christian testimony to produce children who looked for evil in everyone and then called them out on it.  I wanted my children to share the love of Christ with others, not give harsh judgements of people's faults.  

I wanted my children to be a better testimony for Christ than believing they had to separate themselves from the world rather than sharing Christ, or turning people away from Christ by telling others they were evil instead of offering God's compassion, grace and forgiveness.  

And as far as Halloween was concerned, I decided that it didn't have to be a pagan celebration if we informed our children that it was just a time of dressing up in fun costumes and getting candy. There are many costumes that don't represent evil characters or symbols of evil they could wear, so that didn't have to be a problem either.  Also they can dress in costumes from the Bible.  

Concerning Christianity and Santa and other celebrations, it's all about how we present what our children are doing and how we keep Christ alive in our homes. You may not agree with me, so if you have a point of view, let me know about it.  

                                                             

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