Reclaiming Santa

Yesterday, I posted about why I don't like the whole Santa thing.

But contrary to popular belief, not everyone who decides to not participate in society's story of Santa calls him Satan Claus.

I actually have had some great interactions with my kids about what Christian giving is about.  So, here I offer my top 4 ways to reclaim St. Nick. 

1.  Uh... tell the story of St. Nick.

See, yesterday's post was completely and totally (as in 100%) about Santa Claus.  The one from the "A Visit from St. Nicholas" poem by my relative Clement Moore.  Or that one in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."  (A catchy song that will easily stay in your head for days.)

But this isn't the real story.  And even though we may not have all the details of the real story, we do know that he was a real person or people that gave to those in need in secret.  This, my friends, is an inspiring story.

But our kids won't know this story from looking at our culture.  It's up to us to teach it.


2.  Tell the story of Jesus.

As we're telling our kids about St. Nick, let's help them understand that his actions were an appropriate and natural response to worshiping a God like Jesus.  We give gifts because Jesus gave Himself as a gift to us.  Not because we earned it.  Not because we're good enough, but exactly because we're not good enough.

Something we try to be intentional about is helping our kids see the difference between earning God's love and acting out of God's love.  St. Nick did good deeds, not to fix his relationship with God, but because God already fixed the relationship.  It is only Christ in us that can make lasting work.   While anyone can give material gifts, it is only Christ that can give eternal gifts. 


3.  Go follow the example of St. Nick, who was following the example of Jesus.

Scripture tells us in many instances (not the least of which is Philippians 3:17) to look to others who have trusted Christ for an example of what our lives might look like when we walk by the Spirit.  It's this awesome and humbling concept that Christ speaks to his church through his church.

So, as we approach Christmas, maybe we could find people to whom we can give anonymously in the name of Christ.  If one was so prompted, I might not even have a big problem with saying the gift was from St. Nick (although I would probably give a small write up of who that was, in order to avoid confusion between St. Nick and modern-day Santa.)

But see, yesterday, I mentioned about how talk of Santa is typically focused on what we are getting this year.  The giving of St. Nick and of Jesus was focused on what someone else is getting, often to the point of us sacrificing for it.  So, we reclaim St. Nick when we direct our kids to thinking of others and providing for their needs.

4.  Have fun celebrating a real hero.

This is all fun for me and my kids - without the culture's definition of Santa, without a false character that we tell children is real.  This is what we do with St. Nick at our home and we have a blast at Christmastime.

We can still do fun things like the advent calendar and opening presents.  We participate in Christmas parties and my kids dance in Christmas recitals and entertain crowds with community theater.  There are so many aspects to Christmas that we can celebrate, and as part of that we prefer to have fun celebrating St. Nick as a real person.

Hate to Burst your Bubble Kids, but Santa's not Real

I've tried to think of how to start this post, which I'm sure is bound to offend some.  But I can't really come up with a clever way to do that, so I'mma just cut to the chase.

Can we please stop with all the Santa stuff?

Here are my top 4 reasons Santa should be nixed:

1.  It's a big fat lie, and kids need to be able to trust their parents.

I have this burden for my kids.  I want them to know that they can count on me to be truthful.  And it seems brutal to me to build up Santa knowing that one day, you will have to sit that child down and tell her that it was all made up.

It was all an elaborate scheme to have fun.  All a big, dishonest production to build up love and trust in someone that isn't real. 

I guess I just don't get it.  How is it fun to watch our children trust us while all the while we do everything we can to deceive them?

And why do need to lie to have fun?

2.  It's all about getting. 

Now, I'm not a grinch.  I love Christmas.  I love presents.  One of the highlights of my year is sitting down and ordering presents each Christmas. 

But I feel like most of the time Santa is just about the gimmes.  No one ever asks my kids what Santa will be giving to someone else.  They never ask my kids how they will bless someone else.  No. It's always the same question, "What's Santa going to bring you?"


3.  The ubiquitous - it takes the focus off of Jesus.

I was helping set-up a party today where kids in need will come tomorrow to pick up presents that local church-goers have purchased for them.  As I looked at the packages, some of the tags really annoyed me.   They said, "From Santa." 

What is the purpose of this?  I happen to know some of the kids that are getting these presents, and my husband works closely with a handful of them.  Some of these kids have never heard the story of Jesus' birth before last Wednesday.  And now, 5 days later, they are being redirected to a totally fake thing that has nothing whatsoever to do with what Christmas is about. 

4. He sets up a works-based acceptance plan where everyone earns their way in.

Santa actually is antithetical to what Christmas is about.   Christmas is all about God reaching down and fixing a broken relationship completely out of His own grace.  It's a reminder that we are a sinful people and we are powerless to overcome that.  Yet the story of Santa says that not only are we supposed to earn it, we are also all good enough to earn it.

Did you know that 9 out of 10 adults think they would be on Santa's good list, assuming he was real?  (There was an actual survey done that I heard about just this week, but I can't find a link.  So... you can decide whether you want to believe me or not.)  We ought to be teaching our kids that they can never get on the good list by their own merit, but "lucky" for them... they don't have to.... because of Jesus.

Rambled Grieving

It's too soon, really.  We don't even know who this guy was... what he stood for... whether he was making a statement or acting from illness.  Assuming that a person who shoots up a school full of mere children can be anything but ill.

But we all have our reactions.  I have many, myself.

My first reaction... that one that is unfiltered, that comes without thought.  Perhaps what people would say is my true reaction, but what I would say is simply my unexamined reaction.  It's not like acting spontaneously is more authentic than putting thought into what you believe, after all.

My first reaction was this:  Really?  Another school shooting?  Not in disbelief, but perhaps in that "oh, please... this is getting old" sense.  As in, this is becoming so freaking commonplace that it barely makes the radar of things that catch my interest.

But I didn't stop there because these are real people involved, and fortunately, I have many facebook friends that are more quickly compassionate than I am.  And they reminded me of that.  Real people.  Real children gone.  Real parents who will never see their child graduate, get married, have children.  Real friends who survived and will feel guilty for it.

And my heart began to break. 

But still I didn't stop.  I began to wonder about this country of ours... one that is intent on protecting the world with military force.  To remove dictators from power because of the oppression caused.  Yet that is filled with other forms of oppression itself.  Does our government harm us?  No.  Do I fear that my child will step on an abandoned landmine and lose his legs to an old war?  No.

In fact, I don't have much to fear in my daily life.  But what I do see that concerns me is this level of anger - and beneath that, hurt - that seems so commonplace.  And I wonder what people are holding onto so tightly that they decide the solution could ever be to murder young children en masse.

And I think about this country of ours that presidential candidates call the greatest country on earth, and I wonder why we continue to delude ourselves.  Because I am a patriot, but because I love my country, I admit that it is clearly, horribly flawed.

There is something deep within us that is causing school shootings to be something unsurprising.  It is something that politics can't change.  It is a need that is never met through material means.  It is something only relationships can save.

I am grieving... grieving because we are too independent for our own good, and we as a culture have allowed personal responsibility to grow into the monster of lonliness.  And the only solution on the table is political handouts.  It's not about politics.  It's about relationships.  It's not about gun control, it's about love.

There are children today who live no more.  And there are children today who will grow up with the anger inside them to pull the trigger on another generation.

And what are we doing to stop that? 

On Being Gone and Being Back

So this whole blog thing... ha!  It's been a little while, and I can throw that one in the uninspired pile of excuses. 

But lucky me, I decided that I don't owe anyone anything on this blog, so I don't even have to feel guilty about not posting for a few weeks. 

The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of states of health... as in... I have been sick more this year than the last several that I can remember.  In the last 5 weeks, I've been sick for 3 of it, and the other 2 weeks, I feel like I've been moving non-stop.

It occurred to me yesterday that perhaps I have a small form of mono and that my other sickness (2 colds and a stomach virus) were the result of a lowered immune system because of mono.  But you know what?  I will probably never know.  Because I simply detest doctors.

The last several times I've visited the doctor, I've be sent away with not much more than an "everything looks good!  But here's a sleeping pill, just in case you want it."  Never mind that there were symptoms out the wazoo.  (Which apparently is how you spell that because I didn't get that annoying red squiggly under "wazoo.")  Never mind that there is obviously some sort of internal problem with my sleeping among other things that were reoccurring, which frankly, are none of your business what they were.  I'm fairly certain that last sentence's verb tenses and moods are totally out of whack.

Anyway... so here I am, with another cold, self medicating with carrot juice, airborne and NyQuil.  Oh, and breathe right strips, too.  Those things are the holy grail of breathing.  Even still, I find myself asking... just how much mucous can one head create? 

And really, what better way to end a post than with that question?

Comment fodder:  just how much mucous can one head create?