What Should Christians Do With Santa?
Addressing the Reindeer in the Room: How Christian Families Approach Santa Claus
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was about nine years old when I discovered all the Christmas gifts in my parents’ closet. “Wait,” I thought. “Why is all the stuff from my Christmas list in here? Why isn’t it at the North Pole with Santa?” And that’s when it dawned on me. Santa was not real. He was a fairy tale, a make believe character, just like the Power Rangers I had asked for that year—and knew I was getting because I could see them sitting in a bag in that closet. It was a strange and surreal day for me. So many mixed emotions . . . Why did my parents lie? Did they keep up the Santa ruse for this long so they could threaten lumps of coal if I didn’t behave—by the way, who came up with that whopper of a trauma inducer?
I never told my parents about my discovery. In fact, I then admittedly kept the deception going by pretending to still believe. I think I did that for a few more years. In my mind, had they known I knew the truth, it may have affected my gift haul on Christmas day. I can’t help but wonder why my parents—as well as pretty much everyone else’s parents—didn’t just tell me the truth. Were they afraid Christmas would lose its magic? Were they afraid I’d tell other kids and then their parents would get mad at us? Did they just do it because seemingly everyone else was?
I think back in the 80s and early 90s when I was growing up, parents—even parents in the Church—were more inclined to let their kids believe Santa was real. Today, though, the world is different. With the Internet at their fingertips, and kids as young as two using their parent’s phones, it’s almost impossible to keep up the deception for too long.
And so today, I find myself in the same shoes my parents once were . . . trying to decide how to talk to my kids about Santa Claus. It’s what I will call for the purpose of this festive article, the reindeer in the room!
Now, as believers, we know that the true reason for Christmas isn’t Santa or the gifts; it’s the coming of the promised Messiah. Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus, Immanuel, “God with us.” He is THE gift, the salvation, the redemption, the forgiveness, the restoration, and the hope for all mankind. And we know that Christ needs to be the emphasis of Christmas . . . but how do we address the Santa issue? Do we tackle it head on? Do we sit our kids down and have “the talk” with them? Do we just not make a big deal out of it? Do we not talk about it and let them figure it all out on their own? What do we do?
So, I decided to ask some of our pastors and leaders. And here are their responses!
Pastor Doug Rasku said:
Personally, we didn’t make a big deal about Santa when our kids were younger, but we didn’t demonize him, either. We always emphasized the real meaning of Christmas as the gift of Jesus and explained that the reason we give is because God gives. To this day, we read the Christmas story together as a family before opening presents. The kids loved the different Christmas movies that have Santa in them, and they enjoyed seeing him in the mall. But we just treated him similarly to a Disney character . . . fun, but not the focus. I can’t remember when they found out he wasn’t real. We just let them figure it out. Overall, Jesus has always been the reason for the season in our house, and Santa was a fun character that was just part of the Christmas spirit.Pastor Dan Hickling said:
As a father of two children (now 12 and 15 years old), I approached the Santa issue the same way my own parents did when I was young. My father and mother didn’t really talk about Santa during Christmas time, but talked an awful lot about Jesus. From my earliest memories, I never knew a time when I didn’t know the true meaning of Christmas. It was about God loving the world so much that He sent His own Son to be born, love, and ultimately die for our sins. I’ve always associated that message with Christmas. Do you know what? I never felt cheated or slighted in the least when it came to the tradition of Santa Claus. The gospel is the greatest gift the world ever has or will know, and all the traditions regarding Santa can’t compare to its wonder. And I’m grateful to my parents for setting me on this foundation from my earliest days. Let me make it clear, they were never anti-Santa. They didn’t demean those friends and their families who were all in with Santa Claus. They were just so pro-Jesus that it was a nonissue for me as a kid. When the time came to raise my own kids, I couldn’t think of a better example than the one I grew up under. So in the Hickling household, Jesus has always been the center of everything during Christmas, and hopefully during the rest of the year, too. Again, we never saw it as a matter of being anti-Santa, but pro-Jesus. The eternal gospel has a way of naturally displacing the things that are temporal, and that’s what I have found to be true in my own life when it comes to this issue.Groups Director Jimmy Purchase said:
In our home, the incarnation (the birth of Jesus) isn’t a December only subject. We talk about it often as a key part of the gospel. I believe this frees us from having to protect the incarnation from potential rivals, like Santa Clause and Christmas trees for example. When it comes to Santa, we tell our kids that Saint Nicholas was a real person who did great things for the early church. His passionate defense of the trinity at the Council of Nicaea led to a famous fight with Arius! But more importantly, his generosity was legendary and spurred others to live a generous life. And while we all know that stories tend to evolve over time, some of his story has been sensationalized.
We encourage our kids to have an imagination and desire they keep that child-like wonder as long as possible. When my son met Peter Pan for the first time, I didn’t pull him aside and say, “Well son, just so you know, that’s not the real Peter Pan. That’s just a cast member who dresses like up like Peter Pan.” If they believe Santa is real, we don’t correct them. They usually age out of that belief around 7 or 8. It’s pretty obvious when most of our gifts are addressed “From Mom and Dad.” But every now and then I’ll throw in a gift “From Santa”, just to keep my kids on their toes! Christmas is meant to be fun, after all.