Believe it or not, it’s a few days before Christmas, and I’m struggling with the Santa Claus issue. As a Christian, is it right to teach my child to believe in Santa Claus? I just don’t know. Santa Claus came to my three-year-old’s daycare this morning and gave the kids gifts. I took pictures. When I picked up my son at the end of the day, he was anxious to take his gift home and open it. He said, “I want to open the gift that Santa Claus gave me.”
As you might be able to tell, I’m not the most holiday-spirited person. I grew up not believing in Santa Claus, and I’ve never purchased a Christmas tree. My hubby and I usually exchange gifts with one another for Christmas, but, now that we have a child, Christmas celebrations may be taken up a notch or two! For the last few years, our child wasn’t really vocal about celebrating the holiday. However, this year, he notices the Christmas lights and he’ll say, “Mommy. Look at the lights! Are they out here because it’s Christmas!”
We don’t have a tree this year, but we’ve got lots of great Christmas cards decorating the mantle over our fireplace! Our son has never asked for a tree, but I feel that next year will be the year when we’ll buy him a Christmas tree.
I’ve purchased a ton of gifts for our son. I’ve been wrapping them while he’s in bed. I’ve hidden the gifts in the closet in my office. I’m not sure what I’ll say when he sees the pile of gifts at the appointed time. If he says, “Mommy, did Santa Claus bring the gifts?” What’ll I say…Yes?? or, No…??
I guess, as of right now, he’ll just awaken to the pile of presents, and I’ll say, “Open your gifts!” I won’t mention Santa unless he does, and then I’ll play it by ear, decide on what to say!
My question to readers is: What would you do if you were me?
I wish my mom was still here to remind me how they handled this – I know that they never lead me to believe in Santa, but they never discouraged it either since they knew that was what I heard at school.
This was a decision I had to make too when I had my first child. My husband doesn’t celebrate Christmas and I did. We decided to tell our daughter the gifts came from us and not even do the Santa.
It worked out because we didn’t have to worry about someone telling her there wasn’t a Santa Claus. There is always some kid trying to tell another kid the truth.
Be honest, most kids understand. We don’t do the tree or decorate. It was harder for me because I grew up doing this, but I realized a tree or decoration isn’t what Christmas is about.
To me its spending time with my family and sharing the spirit of giving.
Make your own traditions with your son.
I will share how I handled this with my two kids. Saint Nicholas was a real man who actually gave gifts to children. So I saw no reason for them to know about the real Saint Nicholas and the gift of giving to others. I would put their stocking up at first of December and little things would be added to them all month long. They knew they came from me and relatives but they never felt left out. We put up Santa pictures and such but didn’t say any gifts came from Santa. They never ruined it for other kids who believed either because they knew Saint Nicholas was real. I have taught my girls to give to the point this year my youngest is busy buying gifts to give to two kids who are torn because of their Mom up on burglary charges and they want to live with their daddy – my daughter’s boyfriend. My youngest has spent the years buying stuff for children and outfitting so many children in this community because she learned to be a giver.
We used to buy children’s clothes at yard sales and give them to those we saw in need until she moved out.
I hope this helps.
We’ve never had a problem with Santa, in part because as Cheryl said, St. Nick was real. I understand all of the issues re: Santa but this was a very enjoyable part of my childhood and I didn’t see any reason to take that away from my children.
I think children need to believe in fantasy to some degree. Do you tell them that their favorite Disney or movie characters aren’t real? When they grow up, they obviously learn that these characters aren’t but you probably don’t feel the need to burst their bubble any earlier than they naturally come to this understanding on their own. That’s how I am about Santa.
With my oldest, he always had gifts from Santa and from us, so there was never any mistake about whether Mommy and Daddy gave him presents too. The ratio gradually changed as his understanding began to give way. When he no longer believed in Santa, that was that. The only thing I’ve told him is that he must allow his younger brothers to come to their own understanding in their own time, just as he had the space and freedom to do.
Naturally, we’ve also taught them the story of the birth of Christ from the very beginning so our children are just as excited about celebrating Jesus’s birthday as they are about Santa coming.
How well I remember this dilemma. I always kept in mind the fact that one day my daughter was going to realize Santa wasn’t real. For that reason, I explained to her the whole Santa thing and how parents often do it as part of tradition, but that honesty and building my child’s trust in me was more important than tradition.
That said, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the birth of Christ without Santa being involved. Start traditions of your own. Bake cookies together. Make homemade candy. Build a gingerbread house (AC Moore has kits!)–that’s one of our favorites. What children really want and need is to feel close to their parents. Building a tradition of your own gives them the greatest present of all–Undivided attention from you.
Have a happy holiday season, Cecilia! And give your little one a big hug for me. I’m sure he’s a doll.
This is something each family has to prayerfully answer. I found out from an older friend that Santa wasn’t real and it really hurt me that my parents had lied about it, so I never taught my own 3 kids about Santa. They got presents under the tree on Christmas morning but they knew they were from us. We also baked a small cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus in front of the tree which I think is a great tradition. I did emphasize to our kids not to tell other kids, but to let their parents tell them. Hope this helps.
With my kids, Santa was from the land of make believe. That worked great. The most difficult thing with Christmas was explaining to them that December 25 was not the actual day of the Lord’s birth. We celebrate Christmas as a day to remember He came into the world and the importance of love and family.
That is a tough decision, but I say a little Santa never hurt a little one. Merry Christmas!
The truth! I grew up knowing the truth and my children know the history of Saint Nick, but that Santa is a man dressed up and it is mom and dad who gives presents.