Illustration from Name Portraits
I’m writing this for a few specific reasons. One, and mostly, is for my own clarification. I’m an outward processor, and writing helps me do that. I’m also visual, so it helps me to see my thoughts. Secondly, a few people asked my position on Santa because of this Q&A post on my other blog, Simple Mom. It’s no secret, so I thought I would publish it. Thirdly - and this reason trails the other two by quite a bit - is because there’s not a ton out there that clearly expresses my views. I don’t have hard-and-fast dogma on The Man in Red, but it is searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack to find an already-published article that I could point to with all conviction, and say THIS - this is what I believe.
There’s my preface. Here’s the rest of my thoughts - feel free to assume the title, “I believe in Santa - or, ‘Yes, I’m a Christian, and so was St. Nick.”
I love Christmas. Always have - I’m pretty Rockwellian on the subject. But Christmas is a cultural rite, a ritual that’s seeped far more in anthropology than in theology. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that - I love fireworks on the fourth of July, and I love hearing the Texas Fight song on UT-A&M game day. All American, cultural rituals.
I believe Christmas is a Christian tradition, a holiday, a celebration. But it’s not a biblical mandate. It’s seeped in Christian history, and to celebrate it means to purposely set aside time to reflect on God’s supernatural gift to the world, Jesus Christ. But to celebrate Christmas is not a commandment. Nowhere in the Bible do I see a specific command telling followers of Jesus to celebrate His birthday on a particular day of the year.
I see Deuteronomy 6, where we are admonished to talk about the Lord all the time, as we walk, talk, work, and eat. We are to talk about Him to our children, to our families, all the time. Christmas definitely falls under this category. We are to spread the great news that Jesus lived on Earth, died, and rose again, and because of this, the price has been paid for our sin. Christmas, again, brings the Gospel to the surface of conversation, and thus, is a great thing to celebrate as believers.
But truly, celebrating Christmas is not a command. There’s tons of history that points to Christmas not being part of being a Christian until just a few hundred years ago. And furthermore, celebrating Christmas in a certain WAY is not a command either. Christmas tree or none, stockings over the chimney or on the staircase, colored lights or white - and Santa or no Santa - are all simply choices we are all free to make. Grace is really, really big when it comes to how we celebrate Christmas in each of our families. There are very little choices to be made over the holidays that are black-and-white moral issues. I believe Santa is one of these.
This has been made clearer to me since we moved overseas. Christmas is not part of the culture at all there, and it’s not a really huge deal for the believers. Living there is a rather candid reminder to me of how much celebrating Christmas is a cultural thing, not a biblical command.
The only real problem that I can see stemming from Santa is making him into a deity. St. Nicholas is a saint in Christian history, a person for whom we could easily stand to emulate. He serves as a model for us, and to incorporate him into the Christian season, for me, enhances my reflection on the gift of Christ all the more. Just as St. Nicholas gave gifts to the destitute in the name of Jesus, we, too, are reminded to be the hands and feet of Christ to our world, especially those that suffer.
To me, Santa points to Jesus, he doesn’t replace Him. Year-round, in our family, we speak of Jesus so much more than of Santa. Christ is set apart as Lord and Savior. We don’t worship Santa. We simply make him part of our celebration of the gift of Christ to the world.
But what about lying to my kids?
If my kids were to ask me, point-blank, if Santa was real, I wouldn’t lie. I’d tell them the truth - that St. Nick was a real man that lived a long time ago, and that he loved Jesus. He gave gifts to poor children in the name of Jesus, and by pretending that he comes to our home with gifts, we are remembering the best gift in all the world.
My kids are not quite 4 and not quite 1, so we haven’t bit slammed with that question. And thankfully, no other child has hit them with “Santa’s not real, you know” yet. When that time comes, we’ll decide then how to best handle Santa in our home.
I love how imaginative my older one is right now - she is at the height of her creativity, her make-believing, and her unabashed innocence. To pretend that Santa comes to our home does not come close to watering down our emphasis of Christ in our family. Imagination is good for kids. Though I don’t agree with quite a bit of what he says, I like that James Dobson’s Focus on the Family thinks believing in Santa is a good thing for kids during their innocent years. There’s so much garbage out there, and years of reality ahead of them - let them enjoy the magic of Santa while they can.
Gladys Hunt, author of Honey For a Child’s Heart (highly recommended, by the way), says Santa was in their home when her kids were younger. When her 10-year-old was asked if that ever confused him as a kid, or whether he felt like he was lied to, he said some part of him, deep down, knew Santa was pretend. But it enhanced his imagination, and made his memories of childhood all the sweeter. He loved that his parents gave him the freedom to imagine, to pretend, as much as he wanted to.
What We Do
In the meantime, St. Nicholas is welcome through our doors, to help us celebrate the birth of Christ. We take care, since we live in a culture that doesn’t have Christmas, to not really have a lot of Santa in our home, so that people don’t mistakenly think we worship the man in red. But he is a part of our Christian heritage, one of the brighter points. He is no more biblical - or unbiblical - than the Christmas tree, stockings, or even the Jesse Tree. To me, these can all be tools that point to the significance of the life of Christ.
This will change from year to year, I’m sure, as our kids grow. But right now, Santa comes and leaves gifts in our stockings. The gifts under the tree are from Mom and Dad and from others. We leave cookies and milk out for Santa, per our daughter’s request. The guys at the mall are just people who like to dress up like Santa, so that people can take pictures (much like the Mickey Mouses at Disney Land).
I LOVE one idea from one of the comments - they keep Jesus out of their nativity scene all throughout December, and on Christmas morning, they have to find the hidden Jesus in their home before they go see what Santa brought. I’m really mulling over incorporating this into our family tradition. There’s lots of other good ideas in the comments section, so I’m looking forward to perusing them some more.
Santa comes, as just one more part of our celebration of Jesus being sent to Earth. We also decorate a tree, hang lights, bake cookies, give gifts to each other, sing Christmas carols, and watch Christmas movies. None of these are in the Bible. But none of them are explicitly forbidden, either. And well, Christmas isn’t in the Bible at all.
What Do I Think of Families That Don’t “Do” Santa?
No problem. Every family does their own thing, and that’s fine. Parents should listen to the Holy Spirit, and follow as such.
But please, if your kids are told that Santa is pretend from the get-go, also explain to them that many families pretend that Santa comes on Christmas Eve, as part of their Christmas celebration. There’s no need to tell kids that Santa is pretend. Thank you.
So, To Sum Up
• Christmas is not biblical, but it is part of our Christian heritage.
• St. Nicholas is part of our Christian heritage as well.
• I think that pretending that Santa is real can be part of celebrating a brighter point in our Christian history. Done correctly, it can point very clearly to the best gift ever given, Jesus.
• I don’t plan on lying to my kids. But I do like playing with them, and together, we can play like Santa comes to our home for as long as they want to (and is reasonable).
• This is not a black-and-white, moral issue, so there’s no reason to stand firm on your Santa position as though it is. There’s also no reason to tell other families what to do or not to do, nor to make them feel guilty or silly for doing what they do. It is showing Christ’s love to each other to give each other the grace we were first given.
I’m not opening comments for this post, because I don’t see any further need to defend or clarify my position. If you want to write me with your thoughts, feel free to do so using this contact form.
Merry Christmas! I hope you enjoy celebrating the season!
