Thursday, December 19, 2013

My Thoughts on the Santa Claus Thing *Age Restricted to Unbelieving Adults*

I'm writing this post with the knowledge that this is every individual's choice to make, and it's none of my business what you decided to do with your Christmas holiday.  

Having said that, I love the tradition of Santa Claus.  More and more of my peers nowadays are deciding not to have Santa Claus as a tradition in their homes.  One particular person I know has decided not to because they don't want to lie to their kids, so they have told them from the get go that Santa Claus doesn't come visit them on Christmas Eve.

Personally, I can understand, but I don't fully agree.  Again, it is every parent's choice, but I loved Santa Claus when I was a kid!  I loved the excitement and magic Christmas morning when presents appeared and it was fun to pretend that a big man in a red suit had brought them to our house.

I believed in Santa until I was eleven.  I'm sure there were kids at school who told me he wasn't real, but I didn't care.  I didn't really believe he came down the chimney, but I had a personal theory that he was like a catalog.  The parents ordered what they wanted from him, and Christmas Eve he drove around and brought the presents to all the houses, delivering them via the front door.  My Santa was unconventional and somewhat practical, but I still loved him.

When I was eleven, my parents pulled me into their room and told me that he didn't exist.

I cried.  I really did.

And then I got over it.  I enjoyed helping my parents stuff stockings for the younger kids after that and helping to make it magical for them.  The excitement of BEING Santa replaced the excitement of BELIEVING in Santa.  That kept him alive for me.

I love pretending, and in that sense, Santa is real. Santa is the joy of surprising your children and increasing anticipation.  It is the fun of imagination and trying to figure out a holiday tradition. Santa was a real person.  He once existed and the tradition of giving makes him very much alive in our homes today.  Santa definitely shouldn't replace Christ, but as a fun Christmas tradition, I don't have a problem with him.  

Finding out that Santa didn't really come to our house on Christmas didn't cause me to question everything else my parents had ever taught me.  Instead, it simply turned into a fun Christmas tradition for me.  It reemphasized the point that Christmas was about the REAL Savior, not a man from the North Pole.

For me personally, it was just a lot of fun.

However, I understand that for others, the realization that Santa wasn't real had a different impact on them, and I understand that.  Due to that, many parents have decided that they're not going to lie and pretend to their children.  They are going to be honest with them and tell them straight. 

However, before you tell your children that Santa isn't real, remember one thing.  There are a lot of other children that your child is going to make cry.  They may not do it on purpose, but a lot of other children out there are going to be believing in Santa, and your child is going to tell them that he is not real.  They will probably argue about it and it will probably cause a lot of hurt feelings.  Your child may also be hurt because their peers don't believe what they know to be true.  Other children will be hurt because it is fun to believe in Santa, and your child is removing some of the magic from their childhood.

I don't know what the right answer is.  Again, it's a very personal decision.  All I know is that what you decide does affect other children besides your own. Personally, I want my kids to enjoy Santa, at least for as long as they can. That's part of what made Christmas magical for me when I was a kid, and I want my kids to enjoy that too.  Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it up to me and Grig to decide what we want for our children?  Just like it's up to you?

Do what you think is right for your family.

Merry Christmas to all those who decide to be Santa and for those who decide not to be.  Either way, it doesn't change the magic of the season.  As we celebrate and remember the Christ child, there is a magic to that to, and it is a magic that never goes away.

In fact, it only increases as you get older.

2 comments:

  1. I agree that Santa is a fun tradition and I think it's great for kids to have that magic in their lives, but I don't think you should base your decision on whether to teach your kids about Santa on what they might tell other kids. Some of my friends used to tell me that the Tooth Fairy and Easter Bunny weren't real, too, and I believed in them anyway until I got too old for them. But, like you said, it is a personal decision and requires you to think about what's best for your family.

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    1. I agree you shouldn't base your decision on that! Thank you for pointing that out. It is important to remember that every decision we make affects those around us as well. Regardless of what you decide, that will occur. Thank you for commenting!

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