I can tell you for me and my husband we decided that we would have to “play” Santa a little bit, because we were going to be sending our kids to public school and we did not want to have 20 parents calling us mad because our little precious one went and told the class that Santa was not real. Not a real good way to win friends and influence people is it?
So we decided to do to Santa what the world has down with Christ during the Christmas Season- we decided to “Marginalize” him. What does that mean you ask? Well for our home that means Santa brings 1 gift, and fills the stockings (usually panties, socks, and some candy) – by no way does Santa bring the coolest most desired toy. Mom and Dad have worked very hard since our kids were little letting them know right off the bat what gifts might be to big, or too much for Santa to bring. And to safeguard ourselves we have always said, parents have veto power, and Santa always checks with mom and dad before he brings anything into our home – to be polite of course.
We also do not spend time emphasizing and assigning god like attributes to Santa (like he knows when you've’e been bad or good, or he sees you when your sleeping) nope! That also means we do not use Santa as a means of disciplining or keeping our children in line during this time of year. (I love the manger idea a few post down to help with that!).
What do you do? How does your family handle the whole Santa issue??
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Santa only brought one gift when I was a kid. When I had kids, I mistakenly let Santa bring everything. Until the year one of my kids looked at me and said "Mom, you didn't give us anything for Christmas!" After that, Santa brought one thing and stuffed the stockings. Everything else came from mom and dad.
ReplyDeleteWhen decorating this year, I realized that I have waaaay too much Santa stuff everywhere. I have put a lot of it away--to give to children if they want it and Goodwill if they don't. Hubby has already given me a Christmas gift--a beautiful Nativity painting about 2x3 feet! So much better than Santa!
We've let Santa have the Christmas morning limelight and it has been a lot of fun. I'm happy to see our youngest this year shifting the focus back to the birth of Jesus. He brings it up every single day - and hasn't mentioned Santa much.
ReplyDeleteI think Santa has a season in their lives but that we should never lose focus of the real purpose for Christmas.
We don't play up Santa. We have fun w/him. We feed the reindeer, leave him cookies and he leaves an unwrapped toy present under the tree.
ReplyDeleteMy 4 yr old just announced that Santa was mommy the other day. I did not correct her. I'm looking for the book that is about the kneeling santa. There is an artists rendition of the poem & painting that they have turned into a book I hear. We want the focus to be on Jesus. The gifts, Santa, the world take care of so much of the distraction. I also want my kids to get the joy of giving gifts. Not just because we say so, but truly the gift of giving. That is a life lesson that is such a blessing.