Just to Clarify...

We received this anonymous comment to our Christmas Survey post. I initially rejected it because it's our policy to reject any unsigned comments. However, I wondered if other people misunderstood our intentions about what we teach our children about Santa Claus and I decided it would be a good exercise to answer the comment.

"I find it funny that you put that parents threatening about Santa was annoying. I find people who make up that Christ was born on Christmas Day annoying as well. You tell your kids that Santa is made up and you don't even know the true history behind Christmas. All your stories are made up as well, from the 3 wise men to the 25th being the birth of Christ"

We actually don't tell our children that Santa Claus is made up. We firmly believe that he was a real man. His name was Saint Nicholas and he was also a follower of Jesus, just like us. Because of his love for Christ he sold everything he had and spent his life giving to the needy. He died in the year 343. We actually like Santa Claus a whole lot. In fact, if you read the rest of the Christmas Survey post you would have seen that my favorite Christmas movie is "The Santa Clause."

When I said the most annoying thing about the season was hearing parents threaten their children with Santa Claus I was referring to the practice of telling kids that Santa won't come or that they won't get any presents or that the parents will tell Santa to put the kids on the naughty list if they don't behave. It bothers me that these parents convey the message that people only get gifts if they deserve them. This was certainly not how St. Nicholas offered gifts and definitely not how Jesus gives gifts either.

I do know the true history behind Christmas. I know why we have the traditions of the Christmas tree, gifts, stockings, Santa Claus, and nativity scenes. I know that some of these traditions started from vastly different religions from mine and I also know that symbolism is what you make of it regardless of its origins.

As for the three wise men, the Bible only mentions three gifts that the magi brought for Jesus. There is no mention of how many actual magi there were. But that doesn't mean the story is made up. I believe it is a true and important story and I don't think it matters how many wise men or wise women were there. The same goes for celebrating Christmas on December 25th. I don't believe that is the actual birthday of Jesus, but that is the day we choose to celebrate it. That's why it's called Christmas--as in Christ Mass, Messiah comes. Again, not a hill to die on.

So, while we admire and respect Santa Claus, we don't teach our children that he will be coming to our house in a flying sleigh and dropping down the chimney. We don't tell them that they will only get gifts based on behavioral performance. We teach them about the real Santa Claus, being generous because he was and because Jesus was, and about loving people regardless of how they treat you...and, just in case you were wondering, we also teach them about jumping to conclusions, making assumptions and leaving tacky anonymous comments.