Friday, December 16, 2011

Santa or Not??

Mark and I have been wrestling with the decision as to whether to do the Santa thing with Anna or not. One on hand, we don't want her to miss out on the magic and joy of believing in Santa. On the other hand, we don't want to lie to her or be deceptive in such a way that causes her to think that if we lied about Santa what other things have we lied about. We haven't made any decisions about this yet because or Anna's age and understanding of the whole Santa concept.

However, Anna may have made the decision for us. Santa visited her Preschool Holiday Program this past weekend and this was her reaction:

I chuckle everytime I see this picture.

What are your thoughts on Santa or not?

4 comments:

  1. We've taken our children to see Santa. Likewise, the "Easter Bunny" brings them an Easter Basket on Easter and the Tooth Fairy leaves them a dollar after they've lost a tooth. Why? More so because both Laura and I grew up with the same traditions. Laura is has a stronger desire to carry on family traditions, where I am more prone to reevaluate. But in the end, we still carry on these activities with our children.

    However, there is a part of me that wonders how will we teach them to believe in Jesus when we've let them believe in at least three other entities, knowing those entities are only imaginary, only to tell them eventually that such entities are make-believe. What's to say, they won't think that Jesus is just another make believe, imaginary entity? But then I am remember, while we may speak about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy on a few occasions throughout the year, we do not live our lives for either. On the other hand, we are striving to live our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ and I hope that that example will help explain to them why we do believe in Jesus.

    I hope that helps. These are issues that we Christian parents need to think about.

    Grace and Peace,

    K. Rex Butts

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  2. As a non-parent, I don't know if my opinion counts, but here it is anyway. Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are all harmless traditions. I know I believed in them as a kid and when I found out they were fictional, I didn't hold a long-term grudge against my parents. I don't know of a single child who did. They are all traditions that make kids feel special, they get something they enjoy (gifts, candy or money), and they are pretty much a communal deception for all children. I think not going along with the flow deprives a child of a very special part of growing up. It is a good deception.

    I have no doubt that Anna knows that Jesus is the reason for both Christmas and Easter, so they can just be seen as something that takes place at the same time of year. Jesus is clearly a known entity to her year-round.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Mark Ladd

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  3. No Santa in our house! I agree that it is harmless, if you want to pursue it. However, the amount of time invested by parents to invent in creating the hype and understanding was more than we felt like expending on that, as we would rather expend the time, money, and energy on something that we consider more meaningful. I know most families do pursue Santa for their families, and I hold no ill will; I also teach my kids to be respectful and not be the one to break it to another kid.

    One criticism of my position I frequently hear is that Santa provides some "magic" to the season that is really fun for kids. While I don't doubt that, I want to reassure you that my kids experience great excitement and joy still at the season-- just in diffent ways.

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  4. We never did Santa at our house, and I don't think my kids missed out in any way. I don't have a problem with it, but we didn't have any trouble finding other ways to make Christmas really special: live crèches, advent candles, lots of great Christmas stories, and we made a big deal of making a birthday cake for Jesus every year. Fun! (only thing you have to watch out for is that your kid isn't the one who tells everyone else that Santa isn't real- makes the other mommies really mad!)

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