Thread: Why My Kids Never Believed in Santa

-I'm not a killjoy. If you love Santa, believe in Santa, and want to perpetuate the myth that a jolly fat man dressed in red comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve to leave presents (at every house in the world, all at the same time) I am not here to take all that away from you. I promise.

It's just that sometimes I meet young Christian parents who aren't sure about it all. Should we tell our kids that Santa isn't real, and ruin all the fun? Or should we just go along with it, following the traditions that many of us grew up with. I mean, what does it hurt, right?

If you're a die-hard Santa fan, you can stop reading right now and go read a story about him to your kids– it's okay, really. We're still friends, and I love you.

But if you've wavered or wondered about this particular topic, I have some thoughts to share with you.

Let me start by saying that the premise of Santa Claus started with a real man. You probably know that he was a historic 4th-century Christian known as Nikolaos of Myra -- or St. Nicholas. He was Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), a man of God, and many miracles were attributed to him. He also had a reputation for secret gift-giving, which is where it all started.

Jesus Is Not a Myth

When my sons were little, we told them about St. Nicholas. We even had a great story book about him (there are lots available, here's one http://goo.gl/qxf0Wc ). We told them that the idea of Santa Claus came from this good, Christian man, but had changed some over the years, leaving God out of the picture (and actually, sort of making Santa Claus himself into a supernatural being with god-like qualities).

The reason their father and I decided to do this was two-fold. First, it seemed like lying. If we told them Santa was real, then later said, "Just kidding! He's a myth," what might happen if we told them Jesus was real? Would they later wonder if we were just kidding about Him, too? That thought horrifies me to this day. It seemed like we'd be setting them up to doubt everything that's really true about Jesus. But He is not a myth!

I once read in a book, "People seem to be split into two camps at Christmas time – those who believe in the myth of Santa, the other who believe in the myth of Jesus." Wow. There's just no way I wanted to lead my kids into that trap. We wanted to be very clear about what is myth and what is truth.

The second reason we told them Santa was a myth is that whole naughty-nice, gift-giving thing. We believe in God's grace (Ephesians 2:8) – that we didn't get saved by earning and deserving, God doesn't love us based on what we do but rather who we are (unconditional love), and it's the same with mom and dad. We don't love you more because you were nice and not naughty. We taught our kids that Christians obey and be nice to please God, not to get presents.

I could go on and on about this, but that's another blog. You get the point.

Santa is not Satan Spelled Sideways!

Now let me add that all this talk about St. Nicholas and Santa and Jesus was very low-key at our house. We didn't get out our Bibles and thump them, declaring loudly that Santa was a plot of the devil and anyone who had figurines of him, hung him on the tree, or even spoke his name was a blasphemer...

http://karenjensen.org/index.php/med...ieved-in-santa

What?!!!! Santa is a MYTH?

Good article actually..

We did basically the same thing with our girls.

We started out letting them know Santa was a LOT of fun, but definitely play-pretend.

We handled it very much the same as this.

We never taught our two sons about a Santa. My husband said he was not going to tell them a lie that a big fat man in a red suit brought them toys. He wanted them to know that we got the gifts. It was not always easy to have a good Christmas but they always got a lot. God supplied our wants to be able to give to them.

Santa Claus racists...

Originally Posted by wheeze

Santa Claus racists...

We need to ban this thread for HATE SPEECH!!!

I didn't want my kids thinking that if Santa (or the Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy) wasn't real, then maybe I also lied about God and His Son Jesus being real.