his post represents one mom’s opinion and view on the topic of Santa. We all have different backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs. Here at #MidMiMB, we encourage that! We welcome your view on the topic via a post or in the comments below. We just ask that you please comment respectfully. Everyone remembers where they were when they found out Santa wasn’t real.
For me, it was a Saturday morning in December when I was about seven-years-old. I was sitting in a pew by my Sunday School friend Sarah, waiting to practice singing for our upcoming Christmas Eve church service. Like every child, I was dreaming of Christmas and tearing open stockings and gifts on Christmas morning, when she casually leaned over and said, “You know Santa isn’t real, right? It’s just your parents. They buy you all those presents.” I remember bravely nodding, trying to look cool, but inside my heart was breaking. How could Santa not be real?!
I do not blame my parents for telling me the “Santa Claus lie“; it is so hard not to! That big red guy is everywhere. Last year I was looking for Christmas pajamas for my kids, and I had to really hunt to find some that didn’t have a Santa hat or allusion to “naughty or nice” on them. This year I have a three-year-old daughter, and the pressure is real! Santa comes up everywhere – local festivals, story time, TV shows and movies. It is so tempting to tell her the tale that Santa is real just so I can watch her eyes grow wide with wonder when she sees presents under the tree on Christmas morning. Plus, it could be great leverage to get her to behave during the hectic holiday season. However – it’s not going to happen.
Here are four reasons why our Christmas celebration is Santa-free:
1.I never want to lie to my kids: I hated the feeling of learning that Santa wasn’t real. It was such a punch in the gut as a child. If I tell my kids the “Santa Claus lie”, then someday I will either have to admit my lie to them or they will have the same devastating experience that I did. Neither one of those options sounds good to me. Plus, once my kids find out it was a lie, they might wonder, “What else has my mom lied to me about?” I want my children to trust me, no matter what. In my opinion, me telling them that Santa is real when he is not, undermines the credibility that I work hard to build with my kids. I won’t lie to my kids, about Santa Claus or anything else.
2. YOU deserve the credit: Christmas is stressful. Every year, expectations for gifts get higher and higher, and scouring the Internet for deals, purchasing {or making!}, and wrapping presents is a ton of work {not to mention getting out a Christmas card, attending events, baking cookies, cleaning, decorating and entertaining!}. Who does the brunt of the Christmas gifting burden fall on? MOMS. If you have worked to earn the money, thoughtfully shop and carefully wrap beautiful gifts for your children, they should know it was you. In my opinion, saying that Santa Claus brought them all for my kids robs them of the chance to be thankful for me, and enjoy the gifts that I gave out of love for them.
3.Santa and the #MeToo generation: Santa culture says that he is everywhere, he sees you all the time, and he knows if you have been good or bad. He is a mysterious old man that we don’t know well. Santa sneaks into your house once a year, whether you want him to or not – granted, to give you toys, but it’s still kind of creepy. Additionally, many kids every year go to meet Santa at events and sit on his lap, even if they don’t want to. In this increasingly dark world, I strive to teach my daughter body safety and hope that I raise her to know that it’s never okay for someone to touch her if she doesn’t want them to. She doesn’t have to hug anyone she doesn’t want to, and I definitely don’t want to force her to sit on an old man’s lap, especially if it’s just a random old guy that none of us knows.
4. I don’t want Christmas to be about presents: We are spending a LOT on Christmas presents as a nation for our kids. When I was a small child, that is definitely what I was focused on when it came to Christmas. But, like the Grinch movie says, “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.” As a Christian, it is my belief that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus’ birthday, when Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin and later grew up to die on a cross and rise again to save mankind from their sins so we can go to heaven when we die. If I am raising my daughter to have faith in Jesus, telling her to also have faith in Santa Claus is terribly confusing. Christmas is also about showing our families that we love them, about spending time together and being kind to others! It is a time to be grateful for our many blessings, to reflect on the past year, look forward to the year ahead, and to experience the joy of giving to others. When the focus is instead on Santa, I believe it robs our kids of the richness of the holiday season.
Although sometimes I feel a bit like a buzzkill or like the mom in Miracle on 34th street who adamantly tells her daughter that Santa isn’t real, I will keep on striving to keep Christmas for my kids Santa-free – because Christmas is so much more than Santa!
How do you handle Santa in your household?
