Thoughts on Christmas

Let's talk about Christmas.
Christmas is such a magical time, it seems to bring out the best in most people. I am so excited to see my kids' expressions Christmas morning and then some as we go from grandparents house to grandparents house.

I also am enjoying the build to Christmas morning. We have been doing fun things like Izzy the Elf {on a shelf}, the hay in the manger, the advent calendar and tomorrow we go and visit Santa.
The other day I read a well written blog post on why they don't do Santa as believers in Christ. I thought her points were well stated and not offensive to those of us Christians that choose to do the whole Santa thing. It got me thinking about why we do choose to do Santa. I am not sure I have ever read the other side of the "argument" in the past, so I thought self, why not write one if for no other reason than for your kids to know where you came from.

So here it goes:
I grew up in a very legalistic Christian bubble--due to my HS not my parents and Santa was always a taboo subject. Most often the bullet point I would hear the most was it is a LIE.
Yes, it is.
But flip the script from the point of view of the child from to the point of view of the parent. You the parent are in control of the "lie." You KNOW Santa isn't real you are "In" on the secret. And that is what it is--a secret, more-so than a lie. The truth always always comes out around age 9ish.
Riddle me this; as a parent you have never "lied" to your kids about anything?!

Mom, can we go to Chick Fil A?
No.
Why?
Because they are closed. {It isn't Sunday; they aren't closed.}

Mom, can I have another cookie?
No.
Why?
Because you already had one.
I want another one...pALEASE {rinse and repeat at least 6x}
Ok fine, oops sorry honey they are all gone. ;)

Please I can not be the only parent that has these conversations with my kids? Right?!
So I look at the Santa "lie" the same way. I am creating a memory and magic for Christmas.
Also, because I am in control of the lie, I decide what information to disseminate. For instance most of what your kids learn about Santa, the elves and the reindeer is from 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and Ruldolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer movie. I know I did. My mom didn't tell me stories of Santa, she let me "lie" to myself about the whole thing. She just nodded and smiled. I even remember asking if Santa were real and she said
"Well, baby what do you think? If you believe he is real well then he must be." 
Talk about psychology 101. Get the questioner to answer their own question. You just neither confirm or deny and boom once again they talked themselves into it. So the way I see it I was never lied to. When I was 10ish I finally asked my mom point blank and she knew it was time to actually answer the question and she did in a loving way. I never felt jipped, betrayed, or lied to. It all made sense. Shoot she even pointed out that all the songs gave me the truth, but I couldn't handle the truth {name that movie}. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause...duh because it's daddy. "He knows if you been bad or good" and "sees me when I am sleeping?!" OBVIOUSLY, because mommy and daddy check on me at night. Geez ::insert smack my head::
You see I choose what I wanted to believe. It had nothing to do with my parents bold face lying to me. All they did was say  "this gift is from Santa" and away I went with the idea.

A sub point of the "lie" bullet point is this blurs the line between fact {Jesus and all the Bible stories are real} vs. Fiction {Santa and the elves aren't real and don't even get me started on flying reindeer thing}. My only real thought is really?! Again, are your children watching television or reading books? Unless it is solely documentaries and biographies pretty sure some fantasy sneaked in there, just saying. And let's not forget pretend play that all kids do. So I really feel like this one is splitting hairs a bit. The Bible is proven and authenticated for anyone who wants to actually do research on it, so I am not worried that my kids can't comprehend the difference there.


Another big bullet point is the true meaning of Christmas...is lost.
Who can compete with the big man in the red suit that gives out presents?!
Actually Jesus can.
Now when I was growing up I will be honest I knew Christmas was about Jesus' Birthday, but it wasn't overly drilled into my head. Nor was the whole Santa thing. Honestly, growing up Christmas meant one thing to me---PRESENTS!!! Now, unless you get rid of the whole gift giving thing at Christmas you are still working hard to teach your kids the true meaning of Christmas with or without Santa. Kids love gifts period. Even after I got in on the secret of Santa, still only cared about the gifts and time off school. Santa didn't effect that.
Now that I am a mom, things are different. It took me a long time to see the value of a relationship with Christ and to honor, cherish and respect what took place on that first Christmas morning and that dark Good Friday and the awesomeness of the Resurrection and what that truly meant. Chad and I both pray and hope that our kids get there faster, but sometimes it is just a journey. With all that said we do want to, for lack of a better word, drill into their heads the importance of what Christmas is and means.  We have chosen to incorporate other traditions on top of Santa to bring Christmas full circle.

An example is the Hay in the Manger. A close friend of mine shared this idea with me and I have loved it ever since. We made a manger and it sits on the fireplace. Next to it is a bag of "straw." Whenever our kids display kindness, a servants heart, patience or any other fruit of the spirit-esque behavior they are rewarded by putting a bit of straw into the manger. The "goal" if you will is to acquire enough straw/hay for baby Jesus to arrive on Christmas morning. {He always arrives}.

I have made it very clear to my kids that mommy and daddy put baby Jesus in that manger. Jesus isn't "magical" but this is a moment to reflect on Jesus' birth and the mission he came to do. We also write gifts to give Jesus over the next year, like praying more, being more of a servant etc, and then lay those on the manger on Christmas Eve.
Then on Christmas morning BEFORE any Santa shenanigans or gifts we all gather around the manger which is in the center of the room and sing Happy Birthday Jesus. We thank him for coming, living and ultimately dying for us-for being the ULTIMATE gift, so we can one day join Him in Heaven. It has become a very special tradition for us and my kids love seeing baby Jesus and kissing Him and rocking Him in the morning. Sometimes they ignore their gifts completely just to play Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus.

And that right there let's me know I did it right. It always makes me think of my mom's creche where she has a kneeling Santa. EVEN Santa knows that this holiday is about the birth of our Lord and Savior, even Santa stops to kneel before the babe and maybe that is why I think we can handle both.

We also read the Nativity story as we set up the Manger scene, we do a manger scene advent calendar and we fight over who gets to put up the baby Jesus at the end. My kids love Jesus so much. I wish I could take most of the credit for that, and I don't know maybe I should, but our church has done a fantastic job of getting the message across to our kids and giving us parents the tools to help re-iterate it at home.

Even with Izzy the Elf {on a shelf} he incorporates into his shenanigans times with Jesus. He rocks baby Jesus, or sits in the manger scene reading the Christmas story and Izzy always makes a cake/cookie for Jesus' Birthday on his last day.

They are also asked all through out the year really, what is Christmas/or Easter? Why do we celebrate these times? And even at the tender ages of 3 and 5 they get it, sometimes probably better than me and definitely way better than I did at those ages.

So there you have it. I think it is very possible to incorporate both into this Christmas season. I don't think any of us are any worse for the wear one way or the other. Christmas is a magical time no matter how you choose to celebrate it.