I've never been a proponent of Santa. I'm always afraid that it'll take away from the meaning of Christmas. So last year and the year before, I've told the kids that Santa isn't real. We'd still read some Christmas stories that included him, etc. This year Caden seems to have discarded the little fact that Santa is imaginary. We saw Santa (quite by accident) at Walmart, and so the kids sat on his lap, and got a candy cane.
So since then, Caden has been talking about him, and asking questions. Somehow Caden heard that Santa knows if he is 'bad or good'. So in the car the other night, he asked if Santa can see him.
Eeek! I draw the line at this. I'm not into assigning supernatural qualities to him! I told him that only God can see us, and knows what we're thinking, etc. Next he said, "So does God see us, and then tell Santa?" At this question, Shann and I looked at each other, stumped.
I don't want to be a kill joy, but I REALLY don't want to drown the birth of Christ in other meaningless fluff.
Thoughts?
4 comments:
Clearly you didn't check wikipedia... :)
I would give this explanation to Reid.
Saint Nicholas of Myra is the primary inspiration for the Christian figure of Santa Claus. He was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra in Lycia, a province of the Byzantine Anatolia, now in Turkey. Nicholas was famous for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In Europe (more precisely the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany) he is still portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. In 1087, the Italian city of Bari, wanting to enter the profitable pilgrimage industry of the times, mounted an expedition to locate the tomb of the Christian Saint and procure the remains. The reliquary of St. Nicholas was desecrated by Italian sailors and the spoils, including his relics, taken to Bari [8] [9] where they are kept to this day. A basilica was constructed the same year to store the loot and the area became a pilgrimage site for the devout, thus justifying the economic cost of the expedition. Saint Nicholas became claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers and children to pawnbrokers.[10] He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow.[11]
Since I am not cathlic, I have never associated Santa with the "saint " part. The way I have generally explain it, and my kids do believe in Santa, is that Santa gives gifts to children to remind us of the ultimate gift God gave us of his only son Jesus. Santa is honoring Jesus and reminding us of God's generosity, though we do not deserve it. Santa also has also been given the gift of salvation, if you will, and is expressing thanksgiving by his generosity, a small reflection of a gift God has done for us. That is about as far as we take it. Not sure if this helps or not, but that is what we have done so far. Good luck. It is a tough one.
C.
I would say that Santa is fun to pretend about. He was a real man, but he died and we think he went to heaven. You can tell him some of Uncle Ryan's facts about St. Nicholas! Maybe see if there is a library book that explains the real story about St. Nicholas? In the mean time, read lots of books and sing lots of songs about the true meaning of Christmas. Skip the songs, books and Christmas specials about Santa until you think he has a better understanding about Jesus being what Christmas is all about. That's my two cents. Let me know how it goes!
I like Lynne's answer... Maybe you could tell him that Santa is sort of like a character just like Batman and Superman, and that sometimes people dress up like those characters. And while it's fun to pretend sometimes that the character is real, they're actually just real people like us who are pretending to be that character, which means that they don't really have super powers, even though some kids like to pretend that they do. That way you're showing that Santa isn't "bad", he just isn't real and because of that, we shouldn't believe in him in the same way that we believe in God. Just my idea... Good luck :)
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