It’s that time of year again! Time for candy canes, Christmas trees, sugar cookies and the hotly contested debate about whether Christian families should observe the Santa Clause tradition.
This is not really an issue for families with older kids, but as a Father of young kids, it’s something we’ve had to discuss. My wife and I are on the same page, and we have been since the beginning., we will not observe the Santa tradition with our kids. We have opted to be open and transparent with our children. We have shared the real story of Saint Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and distinguished that historical figure from the fictitious Santa Clause of today.
I’ve heard others say, “Why not let the kids believe? Let them be kids!” I find this a bit curious because we allow our children to enjoy other fictitious stories and characters and never reason that they must actually believe they are real in order to “just be kids.” I’ve never heard a criticism of a child pretending to be Batman not enjoying their childhood because they don’t actually believe they are Batman. No one has told me, “Alin, don’t tell your kid Batman is a pretend story, let him just be a kid.” But when it comes to Santa, we are stealing their childhood by not going along with the lie. Interesting…
But I digress. Most people who read this will agree with me, Christmas is about the true story of Christ’s birth, and wasting time trying to ensure our children believe in the fictitious story of Santa seems like a poor use of valuable teaching time with our children. But the temptation is to completely ignore Santa. Don’t do that either.
The Santa Clause lie is the perfect opportunity to teach your kids a valuable lesson that will play out over and over again in their lives; how to live out the truth in a world that believes a lie. For a little child the Santa conspiracy goes deep. Their parents are in on it, the TV is in on it, the mall is in on it, the schools and teachers are in on it, they have no reason to believe Santa is not real. To be a child who knows the truth, is to be the odd one out. You may even be ostracized for “ruining” the lie with the truth. I know this seems trivial, because for an adult it is trivial, but for a child it’s their whole life. How do we help our children navigate this? The reality is, when they grow up they will encounter the same situation. Ostracized for telling and believing the truth in a world that loves the lie. Jesus said,
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12
As an adult, the Santa conspiracy just changes form. We stand on the truth of God’s word, but the rest of the world around us believes it to be rubbish. The anti-Christ conspiracy goes deep. The TV is in on it, the universities are in on it, the corporations are in on it, the world is filled with anti-Christ sentiment. Part of living as a Christian in this culture, is being counterculture and standing on the truth, even when everyone around you believes a lie. I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, “What, you don’t believe in evolution? You don’t think men should marry men? You don’t believe a woman should have the right to do what she wants with her own body? So you think everyone is in on some big anti-God conspiracy?” It’s the Santa lie all over again, but the stakes are higher. Surely the academic institutions and news media and government and corporations and everyone we trust can’t be wrong! No, we are the crazy ones for believing the Bible!
Don’t ignore Santa, use Santa to teach your children how to discern truth and lies. Use this time of year to demonstrate the truth of Christ’s birth and the lies and distractions of the world to try to crowd out that message. Choose to focus on the truth of Christmas and disciple your children to sift through the lies of the world. What a great opportunity we have during this season. A full month where we can intentionally bless our children and point them to the Savior. Why waste it on propagating a lie when we can point them to THE Truth?
Merry Christmas!!!
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