Our thoughts on Jolly ole' St. Nick

disclaimer: I fully expect this little ditty to be pure randomness as I am working thru a foggy brain this morning. Because I've found myself in several conversations lately regarding Santa, this is an attempt to gather some of my thoughts on this jolly fella!

Yes, we are those people. Let's see - I've heard "fundamentalists," "scrooges," "Christmas wreckers," and I'm sure some things under muffled breaths that I care not to repeat.

Our girls have always known that Santa is not real.

It's really not that big of a deal around here. We are not Santa-Haters! As a matter of fact, you'll find Santa in our house...



On the girl's clothes...


And with the girls in pictures...




When family and friends (and strangers in the stores!) ask the girls what they want Santa to bring them, I don't jump in with haughty pride and say, "We don't believe in Santa." The girls don't say that either. They simply tell everyone what they want!

Here's how it works around here...

We treat Santa just like we treat Frosty, Barney, Dora or any other character! The girls still get presents on Christmas morning and we even leave out cookies and milk on Christmas Eve. They think it's fun to go along with the idea of Santa, the difference is that they quietly thank Daddy and Mommy for the gifts they got.

I don't know that I can give you a hard and fast reason why we chose to go this route. When Addie's first Christmas was approaching, we talked about it and this is where we landed...we're not banning Santa, but we're going to treat him like a character, not a real person.

Now to answer the question I always get - No, I don't think anyone is wrong at all if they choose to treat Santa like real person who really comes down the chimney during the night and really lives at the North Pole. Lee and I both grew up that way and we turned out just fine. Or at least I think we did! :) Not that we are experts on anything, but we don't think there is any harm in allowing your child to think that way, nor does that make you a bad parent. However - we also don't feel that there is any harm in allowing your children to know that he's not real, nor do we feel that we are bad parents because of that either. It's our personal decision and we don't expect everyone to follow suite.

The most challenging part is explaining to the girls that it is not their duty to let all the kiddos in the world in on their secret information! We have told them over and over again that this issue is between kids and parents and that they are not the ones to inform all the others. I wish I could say that they always heeded my instructions, but I don't think that's always the case! So far, I've not had any parents slash my tires because of this, but we'll see!

Our desire is simply that Jesus will be the focus and center of our Christmas - and our lives for that matter!

PS - I would love to hear any thoughts and ideas on this issue!