Any OT Parents Refuse to Let Your Kids Celebrate Santa?

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We’ve been asked by several friends this year whether or not we “do Santa” – and the answer is we do not. In a nutshell, here’s why:

We LOVE Jesus. We want to celebrate Him. We want to honor Him. And teach our kiddos the true meaning of Christmas. It’s all about Jesus’ birth. Receiving the GREATEST GIFT EVER. And in our society, Santa has stolen the spotlight. Santa is on our Christmas cards, he’s in our public schools, he’s in the mall, he’s on the TV, and he’s in the Christmas music. News flash: Christmas is NOT about Santa. Not about gifts. Not about hyper-commercialism. We want our kiddos to appreciate that Jesus’ birth alone is the BEST GIFT we could ever hope to receive. And we still have tons of fun. We fellowship with friends and family. And we give gifts because we love each other. Our kids just know that their gifts come from their parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles.

We want to be HONEST with our kids. We emphasize that we want them to always tell us the truth. And it would be hypocritical of us to tell them that Santa is real when he is not. We want our kiddos to know that when they come to us and ask us about anything – that we will tell them the truth. The original sin was Satan subverting the truth. He deceived Eve. He pointedly questioned God’s motives and he lies and tells Eve that if she eats of the fruit of the tree she will not die. But the truth – as God had already told her – was that she would die if she ate the fruit. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). If I were to tell my children Santa is real, that’s a lie. I just don’t want to do it.

Society has created Santa to be this Jesus-like person. He is able to visit every home in one night (omnipresent) and he knows whether you’ve been naughty or nice (omniscient). We actually had someone tell our children to pray to Santa about what they want for Christmas. I just about fell out of my chair when she said it. Pray to Santa?! Can you imagine how Jesus must feel when His beloved creation says things like that? It is HIS birthday. HE is REAL. HE answers prayers. Santa is not real. Can’t answer prayers anymore than he can hear them.

Finally, the idea of Santa comes with the underlying premise that if you’re NAUGHTY, you won’t receive gifts, but if you’re NICE, you will find gifts under your tree. Santa gives gifts based upon behavior. It teaches our children that if they are good enough then they can earn their way into Santa’s good graces. That is the diametric opposite of what Jesus teaches. Jesus tells us we can’t earn anything. We cannot ever be good enough to earn salvation. It is by GRACE that we receive salvation because Jesus died for us. He did everything that needed to be done. According to God’s Word, WE are ALL NAUGHTY (unrighteous) but Jesus still gives us the best gift ever because HE is GOOD.

So, what do we do?

We equip our kiddos for the world they live in. We’ve told them all about St. Nick. All about Santa. And that he is just like Ariel or Minnie Mouse. He is a fun character, but he’s not real. We watch some movies with Santa in them, but my kiddos know that he is just a character – that he doesn’t really come down our chimney or visit our house.

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