Santa.

Disclaimer:
I think most people [well at least I hope so] decide to do or not do certain things for specific reasons. I’m not saying that I have all the answers or am right or that you are a bad parent or person for choosing to do things differently. However, I do the things I do for specific reasons that I feel right; otherwise I wouldn’t be doing them and I am secure and confident in our choices to do them. I trust and hope it’s the same for you as well. I don’t think the “minor” things are deal breakers with the Kingdom of God, they feel a lot bigger when you have a stance on them, but honestly there is no chapter in the bible that specifically covers Santa. With our children I think that’s part of the responsibility and privilege that comes with the territory. With each step of the way we have sought the Lord, prayed, sought wise counsel, and talk with each other on what we feel the Lord is saying and calling us to do for ourselves and our children. We all are not going to fully see eye to eye on all things. I get that. I respect that. At the end of it all we will have to agree to disagree.

First off, I just want to explain what we DO do {“Friends” lovers please insert chuckle here} When Gavin was born we decided to ask the Lord what He wanted for our family for traditions and etc. A couple things. The Lord emphasized birthdays… they’re BIG. He showed us He wanted us to take one day a year and lavishly pour out our praise and excitement for the person He created. He wanted us to extravagantly emphasize that we were made for a reason and a purpose and He celebrates us. And we get to celebrate that He created us! That to me was exciting. When it came to Christmas He put that same emphasis on the fact this is the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth. As a result each year Jesus is our main focus, we throw Him a birthday party to the best of our ability. We put up the birthday sign. We make a cake. And we pray and ask Him what He wants for His birthday.

This segways into reason #2 to steal a quote from my dear sister friend Jen Chaput, “our King came down from His throne to be with us and make a way for us to be with Him forever. now that's an event worth celebrating” His sacrifice. He gave up everything to be with us. What a sacrifice He made. So, each year we try to model that sacrifice and as a result we don’t exchange gifts [which I have many reasons why I don’t particularly care for gifts on Christmas, but that’s not for now] We take what we might have spent on each other and give to someone who needs it more. In hopes of spreading the joy and the gift we receive in Jesus and praying that get to know Jesus a little more by our sacrifice. This year we donated through Gospel for Asia: a cow, some chickens, some rabbits, and a water purifier. You can ask our family if they like their gifts or not ha! But that’s what we gave them.

With all of that. Now for how we feel about Santa. In all honesty, I don’t even know how Santa became such a huge part of our tradition for Christmas as Christians. Even the man of Nicolas who, yes lived long ago, loved the Lord fiercely, and did mighty and awesome things in His name… I mean did he give gifts during Christmas? I don’t know why his gifts are elevated higher than our Lord’s gift of His son??? Why Santa gets paired up with Christmas I think is more due to Hallmark, Coca-Cola, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade [which started to set off the Christmas shopping season with a big glorious bang encouraging people to get out there and get those gifts]. I mean the whole story of Rudolph was created to sell more during Christmas, same with our cultural representation of the jolly Santa in the red and white [coca-cola colors] suit. St. Nicolas real. The man we call Santa, not so much. Research it. It’s true. And wildly disheartening, how much our cultural traditions of Christmas revolve around consumerism.

I think a lot of people get upset when I said the Santa lie. Would you prefer I use less harsh words: deception, fib, exaggeration??? (All of which can be found under the definition of a lie.) Whether or not you want to say that, because it sounds harsh, going and buying gifts then telling your kids that they came from a person that is LOOSELY based upon a real man, is not the truth. Maybe a half truth? But isn’t that still a lie. I’m just calling it as I see it. Now, I know the magic Santa holds. I was raised with it. I know the allure; I know the temptation to share that with your children. I also know that there are lots of things I would like to embark upon that I feel don’t glorify the Lord in its fullest so refrain from doing. For the record I would also like to state, I think there is quite a bit a difference between letting my son be a kid. Imagining his toys come to life or that his stuffed animals talk to him or that Disney characters are real. He comes to those conclusions on his own. I don’t tell him they are real, and if he asked me if they were real I would tell him the truth. I let my son be a kid, I let him use his imagination. I don’t feel I squash it in anyway, and trust in five to ten years he can tell you that himself. However, I also let him know what is real and what isn’t. I have some friends who work out the Santa thing in one of the most admirable ways I could think of [shout out to MO BREDEN] but even still I don’t agree with Santa. I don’t there is no way around it. I think he pulls from the true reason for the season, and I think my Jesus is enough. I don’t like to share Him with anyone or thing on His birthday. Just Him.

Yes, I feel strongly about all of this. Just like I’m sure you feel strongly about the other side of the fence. Please note my disclaimer above and also this is coming from the person who: won’t read or watch Twilight, Harry Potter, the Golden Compass, The Princess and the Frog, we don’t celebrate Halloween [we dressed up once and I was convicted] we pass out candy with evangelism tracts on how to know Jesus, we don’t do the Easter Bunny [a whole other tangent], and we don’t give gifts at Christmas. I know we are in the minority. I know that people may not like what I have to say or feel about these things, and I’m okay with it. I’m okay that people choose to do things different. But yes I do feel strongly about the things and know the Lord has led us to these conclusions, otherwise we wouldn’t be doing them.