Just a little white lie....

I was reading this post "Santa: Yes or No?" (and the comments) the other day on From the Morning. It was kind of interesting to see a post on this subject because I've had a few conversation with my mom & various other people on the same subject. Is it in your childs best interest to do the "santa" thing with them???

I (at the moment) am not married & do not have any children but one day I plan on beind married & having kids, so this has crossed my mind on what I would do. I have 12 cousins under the age of 10 (my mom has 3 brother & 3 sisters so yeah we have a big family plus my dad's side) all of their parents have chosen different ways of doing the Santa thing.So I've been able to see different ideas for this subject.

For me it has always been a hard thing to decide. I know as a child I was always excited about "Santa coming" & enjoying giving presents to others. But now that I'm older I look at everything in a different way. It seems so interesting(for lack of a better word) to me that pretty much every "Holy day" we have Jesus' birth, His death & Resurrection have all been "covered up" through out the years to be not about Jesus & the message He has for us but it's about Santa & the Easter bunny. It's as though we as Christians don't even have those days for ourselves anymore. (not to sound selfish but they are OUR days to honor Jesus) They have been turned into a secular holidays for everyone to celebrate. I don't know about you but I don't celebrate Hannukah because I'm NOT JEWISH just because it's a holiday. So just because Santa came around Christmas is all of a sudden everyone's holiday.

So with that said it is hard for me to be able to say that when I have children that I will do the whole Santa thing for them! Because we celebrate Christmas because it's about honoring & celebrating Jesus' birth not about Santa. Not to mention the point that FTM brought up:

I remember when I was a young boy and I first learned that Santa was not real. I remember how hurt I was to learn that this great guy that brought me toys on Christmas was just something that my parents (or their parents, or their parents' parents) had made up. I remember my first thought very vividly: "I wonder if God is real."

What a great point! That to me is definitely one of the biggest reason why the Santa thing is so hurtful & deceiving. I want my children to trust me & believe what I say. And even though it's just a "little white lie" a lie is always a lie!

I believe that for me the best thing would be to celebrate Christmas for what it is. Jesus' birth. Yes I think that we will still give presents, but not because of Santa, (they will be from mommy & daddy) the presents will be given in love & to celebrate Jesus' Birthday. Just like the three wise men brought gift to baby Jesus we give gifts to each other to celebrate!

Another great idea that I might incorporate my "Nanny" (my grandmother) has started a new tradition since my younger cousins were born, when we get together for Christmas we have a Birthday Party for Jesus. She makes a BDAY cake that says "Happy Birthday Jesus" on it. We all fellowship & sing Happy birhtday to Jesus, etc. Just like a normal birthday party. That to me is such a great idea because kids really can relate to that! And we read the Christmas Story. It is a really great way to Celebrate Christmas & the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Well, that's my two cents on the issue. Definitely check out From the Morning he's got some great posts & a lot of diversity in comments!