Maybe I just have a twisted mind, but have you ever considered how strange it is for kids raised out in the country (and I really mean out in the country, not the suburbs, not an apartment overlooking central park) to believe in Santa Claus? Don't you think it would make more sense for them to say something like, "I know Santa's not real, cause if his fat butt ever dropped down our chimney, my daddy would'a shot him dead on the spot!" Honestly, can't you just see it? If Santa ever ventured into the backwoods, down home, country, good ole boy parts of this land, his Reindeer would be mounted on some Hillbillies wall. I'm not insulting country folk here, it's simply true.
More seriously though, I never really understood what all the fuss was about when it came to Santa Claus. Perhaps because I was never raised to believe in him myself, and so, always thought it silly that anyone could buy into such a fanciful idea, especially for those who then turned around and didn't believe in God. My dad told me once that it was his opinion that if he had lied to me about Santa Claus, why should I believe anything else he told me? And besides, I guess he had heard or read somewhere that kids who firmly believed in Santa, then finding out the truth, generally had a harder time believing in God, after all, wouldn't they one day learn that He wasn't real either? Look at the similarities, someone who sees everything you do, and knows if you're bad or good, and will hold you accountable for it, but you can never see him, and no one can ever find where he lives, even though they "know" where it is (be it the North Pole, or Heaven.)
I'm not condemning anyone who does teach their children that Santa is real, but I do find it exasperating when they get all worked up because the kid finds out the truth, like it's some great sad day when the kid finally realizes that it's all a giant hoax, the worlds most acceptable lie. I mean, how terrible it must be that the kid now knows the truth of the matter. And the lengths that some people will go to in order to perpetuate the lie to their children is utterly staggering to me. It can be fun when the kids are little, but when they learn the truth, why sweat it?
Personally, my wife was very upset with me because I took the same stance as my parents and told our daughter the truth from day one. She "ordered" me not to do the same with our son, but hey, what can I say, the kid is smart, and, at 4 years old, already knows that there is no Santa, he told me so just the other day. He also knows that there's not Easter Bunny, but he's a little unsure about the Tooth Fairy... but I think his sister spilled that one to him too. But he does believe in Jesus with all his heart, and all the way to the very limit of his understanding, which, I think, is the best that can be said of any of us.
I'm reminded of a story my dad always told (I was a little young to remember it first-hand) of a trip to the supermarket around Easter time when my brother and I were very young. The cashier asked my brother (who was probably 4 or 5 at the time) if the Easter Bunny was coming to his house, and he says, "No." She, of course, wanted to know why not. He told her that there was no Easter Bunny. She wanted to know what he meant, there was no Easter Bunny??? He looked right at her and said, "Because, Santa Claus ate him for Thanksgiving." I don't think Dad could have gotten a much dirtier look if my brother had used a 4 letter word, but hey, our family is getting good laughs out of that to this day, so, why not?
Anyway, it's just something I was thinking about, and like I said, I'm not trying to call anyone a bad person, or bad parent, or anything else for playing along with the Santa myth, but please, when the kid learns the truth, let the thing die it's natural death, will ya?
Merry Christmas, and God Bless!
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2 comments:
Hi Matt,
The Santa Claus story is one that can be difficult to deal with; especially when it comes time to tell our children the truth about the matter.
Back in 1992, I cut out an article that I found quite useful when my husband and I decided it was time to let the kids know (even if they already secretly did know) how the presents really get under the Christmas tree.
I'm sure that if anyone did a search they could find a similar article or explanation.
I might do a post about the entire article. For now, I will share a part of it and how I used it to tell my children about the history of the original Santa.
Santa's chief ancestor was St. Nicolas.
[quote] Legends of gift-giving and care for the young and poor by St. Nicholas, the fourth-century boy bishop of Myra, in Asia Minor, have new meaning today.
"We know Santa Claus but forget why and where he came from," says Pokojni. "St. Nicholas lived around 340 A.D., was a bishop and helped the poor.
"There is a story about three girls who were about to be sold into slavery, as they lacked dowries to win husbands. Three bags of gold were thrown through their windows so they could get married.
"That and other stories of gifts received on the sly founded the idea of children's gifts today. The Dutch, who adopted St. Nicholas (Sint Nikolaas, then Santa Klaus) put out their shoes the night before, and the good got candy, the bad coal in their shoes. [end quote]
Perhaps this is where the "coal in the stocking" idea came from. I wonder if anyone still uses that expression to get their kids to behave!
The article goes on to describe how important it is to help the poor and children; to be protective of our children, and to reflect on St. Nicholas' devotion to children. This presents an opportunity to give to others and help the innocents of the world.
The Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches often taught children in Sunday School about giving to the poor and that St. Nicholas is [more specifically, was] the "patron saint of children".
With this in mind, I told my two children (about at ages 6-8) to realize that there was on original Santa Claus (St. Nick) but since he lived hundreds of years ago in 340 A.D., he needed people to take over his duties. So, the tradition came that parents would take his place and put gifts "on the sly" under the Christmas tree for their children.
One reason that I wanted to make the revelation about Santa a positive thing was because I didn't want my children to think that we entirely lied to them. Bending the truth a bit? Yes. Outright lying? Not in my opinion. Why? Because the truth of the matter is that such a person (St. Nick) did exist at one time.
Many may disagree. So be it. But I thought that it was a good way to ease them from the fun of the fantasy into the reality of what Christmas really is, genuinely, all about.
The second reason was because I didn't want them to mix up the truth in the Bible regarding the reality of the Person, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ with the tradition and legend of Santa Claus.
Christine,
I would have to say, very good comment, I think you handled the Santa Claus issue very appropriately, better than I did in fact. Thank you for the input.
When my daugther asked my where the idea of Santa Claus came from, I did tell her breifly about St. Nicolas, though I see that I should have gone deeper than I did.
Sadly, I think that the marvelous way you handled this is very rare indeed. I would be thrilled if this were the approach that more people would take. However, that not being the case, and most people never bothering to explain to their children the truth behind the modern mythos of Santa, I'm still going to stand by my statement that Santa Claus is the most acceptable lie in the world (though others are now vying for that top spot) but I'll gladly add that there are exceptions.
Thank you again,
God Bless,
Matt W.
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