The Bible NETWork ~ Impacting the World for Christ one post at a time!

Hi Everyone! I have a 6 -year-old, a 2-year old and a 1-year old. I know it's probably not that big of a deal (and really after the fact!) but I'm trying my best to figure out the whole santa issue and the best way to approach it. I tried to repeat over and over again the real reason for christmas throughout the whole holiday to my eldest and she gets it but santa is being drilled into her head by the gazillion of holiday movies, children's shows... I actually think she might not really believe that santa is real from my behavior and me trying to renavigate the conversation every time its brought up but she really wants to believe in this magic... and how can I blame her, I remember wanting to believe beyond all good reason for myself as a kid.

I try to monitor and explain everything she sees but I just can't physically monitor everything. The one year old doesn't understand, the two year old gets excited about santa and that's fine but I just can't find a comfortable balance for myself with the 6 year old. I can't bring myself to "ruin" childhood fantasy and say santa isn't real (I think it's wonderful that she has a great imagination and I don't want to stop the magic of imagination) but everything about santa on tv seems to walk a fine line and repeat incestantly that one must be a "believer" in santa no matter what... I don't know why it bothers me so much, I guess it's kind of ridiculous on my part but somehow it feels like it is a setup for children down the road when they become old enough to contemplate God and His son a little more. I thought about explaining that santa was a symbolism for the christmas spirit but she is too young to really grasp what symbolism is... my parents always just went along with the whole santa thing (you'd better be good so your not on the naughty list), my christian coworker said his parents told him it was just a man in a suit and not real.

It sometimes feels really hard being a parent trying to navigate everything for your kids as there seems to be so many things in culture trying to veer the kids in the wrong direction. Santa really should be the least of my worries seeing the things that are being marketed to them and thinking of the trials to come! Is there a happy medium with this whole thing? Any suggestions... I know I've taken it way more seriously then I should

We told our son that Santa is a game that most people play. They pretend that there is a Santa.

For our two daughters, now full grown and out of the house, we never made Santa Claus a big deal. It was something fun but when they asked us about the reality of Santa we told them and we told them the legend about St. Nicholas who was a bishop ca. 5th century AD.

I told my son the story of Saint Nicholas (Sant Niclaus a.k.a. Santa Claus) and that he was a Christian who helped poor people by giving them gifts at Christmas because that was when God gave HIS gift to all people--Jesus. He always knew that "Santa Claus" was not real, but that it was OK to pretend.

Creationtalk - well said, my wife and I did the same exact thing for our kids. It helps to let them have an imagination and the real story behind Christmas has grounded them in reality.

I Did look up St.Nicolas at some point and found out all about him. He was a real person from Way Back in History in Turkey. Where the sleigh and reindeer came from I've No clue. That's apparently our Americanization of him. But - when you think about it -- Americans came From other countries.
But the idea of telling small children about St. Nick from ancient Turnkey would be great.
Our job as parents Is to share as much as we need to with our young children to reinforce in them the True meaning of Christmas. The birth of Christ and sharing with others as the wise men brought gifts to the Christ child.

If this isn't too far off topic, does anyone have an opinion as to when the wise men visited Jesus? I notice that they were in a house by the time of the arrival of the wise men. Mat 2:11 And Herod killed children from two years old and under "according to the time he had learned from the wise men."

More likely from northern Europe, from the Netherlands, Germany, or Scandinavia. A lot of early American traditions come from there.

Then, when the Coca-Cola company enlisted Santa Claus in its ad campaigns, he took on the appearance of the modern Santa Claus. Before that, he was just an elf. And I'n not talking about the Tollkien kind.

_________________
Not all those who wander are lost.

you cite the key verse that demostrates why many of the "traditional" manger scenes are not Biblical -- their intent is good, of course

i haven't looked @ this in a while but 1-2 yrs seems likely vs. 1-2 days that is often presented

I just looked up the Luke 2 passage vs 15 - 16 " When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to 'Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger."
In the Matthew passage -- ch 2 -- the Magi from the east came to Jerusalem -- by the time they got to the area, the 'baby Jesus' Was no longer the little baby. And it's said they were in a house.
So the manger scene Is Biblical -- the local shepherds Were the 1st to see the Baby.

only if the Magi are not present

the 1s i've seen don't have shepherds, only Magi & always 3, despite the fact this isn't specified -- only that there are 3 gifts

And how many 'hairs' are we 'splitting' ?!

just trying to be accurate <shrug>

it's an ex. where people are familiar with a Passage or story & so don't read it critically -- hence errors find their way in

not all manger scenes are configured by Christians either

And we are talking about the Fact that there is the Matthew narrative and the Luke narrative. I've always been more familiar with Luke's.

I've not paid that much attention to Christmas cards -- other than having them as Biblical as possible.

It's the fact that Christmas is the arrival of the Christ child -- the 1st coming of Christ which was heralded by the star of David. And people from far and near came to see Him.

For the sake of this and the next generation -- we need to keep Christ in Christmas -- and remember His gift of salvation to us.

We need to not worry about celebrating the pagan "holidays" and start celebrating the feasts and festivals God himself told us to "keep holy." He directly told us to keep his feasts holy, but instead Christians adopt the pagan holiday of saternalia, all in order to add the pagan body to the christian denomination.

On the Santa thing, I would not lie to my children. My parents lied to me about the whole santa thing (I'm 17), and now they regret the fact that they lied to their children because of scripture telling them not to lie.
I'll give you 3 simple reasons/ways to adandon the whole santa/christmas thing all together.
1. God told us not to lie. A magical man with elves and a flying sled is definitely a lie.
2. God said nothing about celebrating the holidays we celebrate today, but told us to celebrate his festivals which we don't celebrate
3. Study the scripture and determine a day closer to the day Jesus was really born! December 25th was derived from the pagan holiday of saternalia, along with all of the christmas traditions. Sit down with your family and read the bible, eat some cake, celebrate a birthday, but for Jesus! Also, celebrate his feasts with people that actually read and dedicate their lives to God and scripture. God tells us the majority of people are wrong in what they're doing, you just need to study and find what's right. Hope this helps, shalom!