Believing

When I was a kid, Santa came to our house in a BIG way. He was huge at our place! And the idea of ole Kris Kringle was made even bigger by my parents who encouraged my brother and I to believe. My parents never used the idea of Santa Claus as the "morality police"- I don't remember a single time when my presents were threatened by my behavior; I think my parents encouraged me to believe just to have fun and for the sake of believing.

Lately, I've noticed a lot of families are making less of a deal about Santa, for fear he might take away from Jesus. I don't have any problem with that- to each their own, and I certainly never want to highlight Santa over the true reason I celebrate Christmas morning- the birth of my Savior.

However, I don't think that the IDEA of Santa has to take away from the REALITY of Jesus. I truly feel that believing in Santa taught me how to believe. I learned early on that Santa wasn't a mind reader- the present I wanted worst of all, in my heart of hearts, wasn't always under the tree on Christmas morning. Yet, I was never disappointed by what was waiting for me under the tree. And even after I was told the awful truth about Santa, I didn't want it to be true and I doubted it for a long time. I don't ever want to purposefully make a child doubt the reality of Christ, but I also don't think that asking questions, no matter the age, is so terrible.

I realize you don't turn to my blog for insightful parenting tips (especially since I have zero children to parent), or hard hitting theological debates but if you can't express what you're thinking about on your own blog, where can you?

May your Christmas be filled with lots of love, happiness, warm and family. Most of all may it be filled with lots of belief.

From my (old school) family to yours: