Santa Claus

[Ceris]

I hate to go against the grain here, but allow me to tell you of my experience with this. As a little kid, I was told by my parents that Santa Claus existed and I believed them. In fact, I believed them for the longest time. How long? Until I was almost 13. Yes that's right, I believed in Santa Claus untill I was almost done with 7th grade. That hurt me. After confirming it from my parents, I cried for over an hour. I didn't cry because Santa wasn't real, I cried because I found out that my parents had lied to me. At the time I felt betrayed.

This is not meant to judge what actions you take, but when I have kids I will not do that to them. I will not lie to my children.

 

[mojorising]

My family never really celebrated Christmas. I remember one year my dad dressed up like Santa Claus as a joke, but nobody thought it was funny but him. I think the best way is just to let them know he's not real and leave it at that.

I think it was a sweet gesture from your dad. Mine would have never done that...and just to be nice. SOOO many dads just don't get involved.

I hate to go against the grain here, but allow me to tell you of my experience with this. As a little kid, I was told by my parents that Santa Claus existed and I believed them. In fact, I believed them for the longest time. How long? Until I was almost 13. Yes that's right, I believed in Santa Claus untill I was almost done with 7th grade. That hurt me. After confirming it from my parents, I cried for over an hour. I didn't cry because Santa wasn't real, I cried because I found out that my parents had lied to me. At the time I felt betrayed.

This is not meant to judge what actions you take, but when I have kids I will not do that to them. I will not lie to my children.

Sorry Ceris... I never considered how long kids might go with out finding out. I'll have to remember that.

mojo

 

[Ceris]

Fortunatley at that age I was not one to hold a grudge, so I did not hold it against my parents for more than a few hours, but it still had a decent impact upon me.

 

[mojorising]

Fortunatley at that age I was not one to hold a grudge, so I did not hold it against my parents for more than a few hours, but it still had a decent impact upon me.

That is a bummer, and something I will keeep in mind, Ceris.

mojo

 

[Torah]

2 tim 4: 3-4
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Myths- (tradition often founded on some fact of nature or an event in the early history of a people and some religious belief of that people. Beliefs concerning their origin, gods, heroes. [Holt Dictionary].)

Christmas-(birth of the sun-god mithra, on Dec 25) Christmas tree-(Jer 10: 3-4 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. )
Santy Claus-( elves/elf wore green & red, long white beard with magical powers}.

G-d does not want his people to mix pagan worship with the worship offered to Him.
Deu 12: 31
“ You must not worship the LORD your God in their way,”(Way- Customary manner, habit. Holt Dictionary)

I would say NO!

 

[sammipher]

I want teach our children about santa claus....I mean if they ask they will be told they are like storybook chracters...not real...just imagination. We get alot of grief from both sides of our family about this...yes I grew up believing in santa...but, I just don't want my child raised that way...I mean...really think of how things are today...The Lord is getting taken out of everything...I find it hard to believe that no one else thinks it is strange that on major religious holidays the Lord is taken out and some fictional chracter is replaced in his place..example...christmas...santa claus...easter...the easter bunny...There are alot of these threads on this site...and everyone disagrees about this topic.. and lets face it raising a child today is hard enough without having to worry about "if it was right or wrong to teach your child about santa"...But, I think we all can agree that christmas is a joyous time for one reason...Jesus was born...I think if you get so wrapped up in decorations, lights, and presents...those are all material...worldly things..things that I might add you cant take with you when your gone..however salvation you can...God gave us a gift that didnt cost money and still brightens are lives to this very day and its not just for one month a year.

 

[jenelis]

We also tell them (since our 6 year old has now figured it out) that Santa isn't really a person, but he represents the spirit of giving.

LOVE IT! Nicely said.

 

[okiemommy26]

When I was little Santa Claus existed to me, but when I turned 9 I knew he wasn't real because I found out for myself but I didn't resent my parents for not telling me, I kinda just grew out of it, but I had to keep quiet because of my little brother. Which i loved to see his face on Christmas morning seeing what Santa brought him. My daughter knows the true meaning of Christmas but she does believe in Santa cause i let her. She only gets one gift from Santa and she knows the rest comes for us. I think as long as your kids know the true meaning for Christmas and why we celebrate it I dont see anything wrong with Santa.

 

[jenelis]

I'll probably get blasted for this, but I feel an absolute need to give my child the traditional Christmas experience. That means Santa, christ's birth, the whole nine yards.

I don't plan on lying to her when confronted with the "Is Santa real?" question, but I'm not going to deprive her of the magic of Cristmas either!

Isn't life full of enough depressing reality? Can't we just let them enjoy the mystery and magic until it becomes reasonable for them to question it? I can't imagine what a child who never believed in Santa grows up to be like. Sorry-- I know that's offensive to some. I just can't imagine it. I would guess an extremely serious, technical, rigid adult.

Please explain to me if you think I'm totally off base.

 

[andiesmama]

We do what Okiemommy does....one "big" gift from Santa (plus some little stocking stuffer things)...the rest are from family. But Andie knows Christmas is all about Jesus's birthday, we have the nativity scene set up so she's learning Mary, Joseph, 3 Wise Men, etc. as well. If/when the question comes as to whether Santa is real, I'll just answer like my parents did...Santa is as real as you want him to be, he is the spirit of Christmas!

 

[sammipher]

I'll probably get blasted for this, but I feel an absolute need to give my child the traditional Christmas experience. That means Santa, christ's birth, the whole nine yards.

I don't plan on lying to her when confronted with the "Is Santa real?" question, but I'm not going to deprive her of the magic of Cristmas either!

Isn't life full of enough depressing reality? Can't we just let them enjoy the mystery and magic until it becomes reasonable for them to question it? I can't imagine what a child who never believed in Santa grows up to be like. Sorry-- I know that's offensive to some. I just can't imagine it. I would guess an extremely serious, technical, rigid adult.

Please explain to me if you think I'm totally off base.

I know alot of people that are grown and are well rounded adults that have a excellent sense of humor and great compassion for others...that were raised not believing in santa.. and I myself was raised to believe in santa and turned out just fine....**so this is just my view on this topic**...I dont think a child will grow up "extremely serious, technical, rigid adult" just because you didnt teach them about santa...thats like me telling you that your child will grow up to be this awful person because you did teach them about santa(**note**this is not how I feel this is an example**)...so why guess what their child might turn out like when I have no clue, why hurt someone elses feelings on their parenting skills when I do not know them?..as we all know judging is not very christian...I dont think I will be depriving my child of anything...the "magic" of christmas is jesus' birth...there is no mystery of christmas it is to celebrate jesus' birth...so what exactly will I be depriving my child of...someone who they are told can see them when they are naughty, nice, sleeping...doesnt the Lord do that already? Im not saying anyone on here is a bad parent for teaching their child about santa and I am not saying that the children of the parents in this forum that will be teaching about santa are gonna be these awful, non God believing people because they were taught about santa(**note**this is not how I feel this is n example!**)...because if you really think about it we love and raise our children and teach them the values that we want them to have...but, in the end like all on this earth they have free will...so we never know exactly how our children will turn out until they are an adult..and hopefully everything that we taught them and our love...and our teachings of the Lord will help them to be a loving and compassionate people that make a difference in their generation....all I am saying is...is that I want be teaching my children about santa and I dont see anything wrong with that...just like you dont see anything wrong with teaching them about santa....so I disagree with your post as you probably disagree with my post...I just think the "extremely serious, technical, rigid adult" remark was uncalled for....no one knows what a child will become..but, the Lord....we only know what we hope a child will become.
***please read all this post***

 

[Kelly]

This thread appears every year here, and I'm sure there are others out there in other subforums. It's nice to see a majority of us here don't mind a bit of childhood fantasy in our homes. Last year someone said something about Santa being a scramble of the word Satan...um...it means "Saint"..helloooo.... Sigh...

 

[Andy Broadley]

Major, Major dispute the other day between my 6 and 7 year old. The 6 yr old very passionately insisted that Santa lived at the North Pole, the 7 yr old (who is going through his smart alec phase) insisted it was Lapland. Had to physically seperate them in the end!!

Spirit of Christmas? `Yes please, with a little ice if you wouldn't mind!!

 

[andiesmama]

Spirit of Christmas? `Yes please, with a little ice if you wouldn't mind!!

 

[Stringaling]

Major, Major dispute the other day between my 6 and 7 year old. The 6 yr old very passionately insisted that Santa lived at the North Pole, the 7 yr old (who is going through his smart alec phase) insisted it was Lapland. Had to physically seperate them in the end!!

Spirit of Christmas? `Yes please, with a little ice if you wouldn't mind!!

That's Great!!! I love it! kids are so funny!

 

[isaiah5213]

hmmm... i guess i am different... as i got older, it became important to me to see presents from my mother... (i gave up trying to see if i would get a present from my dad years and years before..)

after awhile, i noticed, and finally said something, my 12th birthday--that was that there were no presents from my mother...


see, since i had been 6 or so, i knew that my Santa Claus was my grandma...my mom was a single mom, see. those were really happy days for me..

today, my 2 oldest females, know there is no santa.. but from the time they have been 8/9 till 13/14, they both had a secret Santa. not kidding. to this day, i have no idea who left presents in my car at church, at the door of my house, at friends' homes--it was like that till i got married 2 years ago... and they were presents that came straight from an unseen Christmas list, too.. sigh...

they were disappointed the first year i was married, but they are used to it now...

 

[jenelis]

I know alot of people that are grown and are well rounded adults that have a excellent sense of humor and great compassion for others...that were raised not believing in santa.. ***

in the interest of brevity, I cut a bunch...

I'm not really trying to argue. Maybe I should have stated differently, not sure.

It's relieving to hear that you know of "normal" (by whatever definition) people that grew up without Santa claus. I honestly can't recall a single child growing up that didn't believe. So I guess my vision of a santa-less child whose grown into an adult is just out of my realm.

But in many, many ways as I read your post I find myself saying, "Ya Sister!"

For me in my siutation in life, I want my daughter experiencing the magic of Christmas. And, at the risk of sounding narrow minded, I hope that even those with negative childhood santa experiences could rewrite the experience to be a positive one for their children as opposed to just not participating in the whole Santa experience.


And on another note, I've started teaching my daughter that Santa represents the spirit of giving per someone else's posts here in this thread.

 

[New Creation]

Yes- for our children there is a Santa Claus. I don't see anything wrong with it. To see their eyes and hear their excitement on Christmas morning when they come down the steps and see the tree with all the presents and check to see if Santa ate his cookies and diet coke and to see if the reindeers ate their carrots is priceless.


The thing is we don't let Santa become the entire focus of Christmas. The kids know the true meaning of Christmas and that is what we place an emphasis on. They make Jesus a birthday cake and Christmas morning is the one day of the year they can eat cake for breakfast. We attend church as a family. On Christmas Eve we go to a live nativity. They don't get a ton of gifts, just a few for each of them - because I don't want to focus to turn from Christ to what am I getting.

Just my 2 cents

I love the idea of making a birthday cake for Jesus and letting them have cake for breakfast for one day of the year. That really makes it memorable and that's what I want to do for my kids (when I have them), make them remember Jesus.

posted by mbams:

No, I will not tell my kids there is a Santa Clause, because it is not true.

My parents taught me that Santa, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy etc. were are all fictional. But my parents taught me that even though we know they are fabrications, we can play fantasy with them for fun. So I did get presents under the tree from “Santa”, and had fun watching Santa movies etc., but I always knew it was imaginary. It was still a magical time. I just knew the difference between reality and fantasy in the matter.

I just think that as Christian parents trying to teach kids from a young age to discern truth from deceit and wrongfulness, my husband and I should try to be consistent in all areas. How can we teach our kids to discern the truth when we are willingly hiding it from them and deceiving them?

These are all great points and I feel similarly.

posted by Torah:

2 tim 4: 3-4
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Myths- (tradition often founded on some fact of nature or an event in the early history of a people and some religious belief of that people. Beliefs concerning their origin, gods, heroes. [Holt Dictionary].)

Christmas-(birth of the sun-god mithra, on Dec 25) Christmas tree-(Jer 10: 3-4 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. )
Santy Claus-( elves/elf wore green & red, long white beard with magical powers}.

G-d does not want his people to mix pagan worship with the worship offered to Him.
Deu 12: 31
“ You must not worship the LORD your God in their way,”(Way- Customary manner, habit. Holt Dictionary)

I would say NO!

Even better points since they are straight from the SOURCE!

As for keeping the mystery and "magic" of Christmas, well, I think a virgin birth and angels coming to shepherds and kings following a freak star to find the Messiah is pretty mysterious and magical as it is!!!!

This is a tough call for me since my husband to be wants to do the Santa thing.

 

[jenelis]

New Creation brings some great points.

Just still resistant on depriving of the "magic" although you certainly provided some food for thought.

 

[Melbelle]

I will tell Seth when he is old enough to understand. I think it is good for his imagnation and I believe that it is fine to believe. I got the joy and excitment growing up as a child that a wonderful man was gonna bring me a gift just as Jesus brought us a gift. I will also teach my son the true meaning of Christmas but also let him enjoy the fake part of christmas too or the "Make believe part". I want to get one of them manger sense with Santa kneeling before baby Jesus..