It's that time of year when kids' eyes are gleaming with joy and excitement. Their Christmas lists are made and many line up to see the big guy in red. However, our family does not do Santa. I know...you can't believe it!!! You may even be thinking what is wrong with us. You might even be thinking we could be the meanest parents EVER!!! I just wanted to share with you all our stance on doing Santa because so many ask. Joey and I in no way disagree with Santa. Both of us grew up with doing Santa and we both see nothing wrong with it. We just personally feel convicted about it and so we choose not to do it. Again, for my friends and family who do Santa, that is awesome and I love seeing all of the cute things you do. I totally support that and see no problem...I just want to explain our little story.
Two Christmases ago, Joey and I decided not to do Santa. It was a long discussion full of disagreements. We could not see eye to eye on how we wanted to handle the situation. If you know me, I love doing fun and cute things and the thought of not doing Santa broke my little past-Kindergarten teacher heart. But Joey felt convicted about it and after much tears and late night talks, we decided to not do Santa anymore. At first, I was upset even though I completely understood where Joey was coming from. We both believe that families can do Santa and incorporate Christ into Christmas!! But Joey felt that at Christmas time Santa would always overshadow Christ at Christmas. As a child, who would you be more interested in? A super cool, magical guy who brings you goodies and presents that rides on a sleigh with reindeer or a baby who saves us from our sins? Hands down to a kid....the cool, magical guy will totally win!
Another thing that we both have a hard time with is lying to our kids. A lie is a lie whether it is for fun or not. We so strongly want our children to understand the importance of honesty and what we say we mean and is true. With Santa, we feel like it doesn't just stop at lying and saying he is real. You have to lie about the elves and how he delivers all the presents and much more. I am not at all saying anyone that does this is horrible, we just feel strongly about the kids understanding that we are honest with them and that lying is never okay.
The last thing that led us to not do Santa is his characteristics. He knows when you are sleeping, he knows if you are bad and good....and all that....God is omniscient....not Santa. We feel that they bear some of the same characteristics and when kids stop believing in Santa, they may question God's existence. When I found out Santa wasn't real, I still believed in God but I feel that this can be confusing for kids.
Santa is still a character in our home. We watch Santa movies and make Santa shaped cookies but the kids know he is a fictional character just like the Disney characters we saw at Disneyworld this summer. We are not anti Santa or against anyone who does it. I absolutely love seeing my friends' Elf on the Shelf pictures and all of the cute stuff they do. But for our family, this works. I won't lie, there were times I had doubts about our choice to do this but a couple of weeks ago, I felt absolute peace when Grayson said, "Mommy, I am glad you and Daddy told me the truth about Santa but don't worry, I won't tell my friends." And mommies of kiddos Grayson and Ella play with, don't worry!! We often talk about not telling other kids and ruining it for them. Grayson is in Kindergarten and has not had any problem with it. His teacher has even said when they do Santa activities, he just gives her a look but says nothing!!!
I believe every family should do what works for them. This is not a right/wrong issue...it is just what we have felt convicted about and are going with that feeling. Our goal is to raise Grayson and Ella in a Godly environment. We want them to know and love the Lord with all of their heart, mind, and soul just like Deuteronomy 6:5 says.
So that's our story and hopefully you don't think we are crazy, weird, or mean...haha! We are just following what we feel God wants for our family. We still do fun activities each year for Christmas. Here are some of our traditions!
1. Candle Light Service at Church
This is an absolutely beautiful service that our church does that makes you feel like you stepped into a Hallmark movie. My favorite is hearing Silent Night. Join us this Sunday at 5:30 at Chisholm Baptist Church in Rockwall!!
2. Looking at Christmas lights. The kids get so stinkin' excited even if its seeing one little tree wrapped in lights.
3. Visiting Bass Pro Shop. We don't really shop there but every year the kids love going and looking around and we usually buy some fudge on the way out.
4. Trains at Northpark. We try to do this every year if we can. The kids always love it!
And before I go, I want to share my fav Christmas picture to date.
1 comment:
Good for you! We did the same thing in our family and our boys grew up fine and also did not spoil it for others!
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