We don’t do Santa at my house.  Actually, that’s not completely true.  We “pretend” there’s a Santa Claus, but everyone knows it’s just for fun.  We treat the Santa issue the same way we treat any other fun, imaginary character like Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, or Jesus.  Hmmm.  That’s my point.  I’m just not up to telling my kids something is true when it’s not, because I can’t help but wonder what they’ll think about the other things I tell them are true, like Jesus.  I’d rather be honest.  Plus, I really believe at their ages, pretending there’s a Santa Claus is just as much fun for them.  Their imaginations are crazy.

I’ve gotten my share of “You’re a terrible parent,” “You’re robbing your kids of fun,” comments over the years.  I’ve had people seriously get so angry with me about this – probably because when I say I don’t want to lie to my kids, that implies that they want to (or do) lie to theirs.  Oh well.

Okay, so that’s my 2 cents worth on Santa, but honestly I know there are different & valid opinions on it and I’m willing to not judge those of you who want to lie to your kids (That’s the first time I’ve ever made a smiley face like that.  It literally took me 15 seconds to figure out how to do it, but I thought it was appropriate to put right after I pissed someone who doesn’t have a sense of humor off.) 

Contrary to the title, we don’t let our kids tell other kids the truth.  We’ve had several conversations with them where we explain that some kids actually believe there’s a fat guy who flies all over the world in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, that he stops at every single house, and goes down all the chimneys to give kids toys, and he does it all in one night.  We tell them they aren’t allowed to tell those kids the truth if their parents don’t want them to know the truth.  But it’s okay to laugh at them in your head, just not out loud.

Don’t get me started on the destructive nature of the naughty & nice part of the Santa story when it comes to influences that has on our view of God.

I came across some posts at Blog Worship on this topic recently if you’re still interested in the discussion.  I’d love to hear what you think.  Don’t worry I won’t laugh out loud if you disagree with me.

I had a discussion about this with some friends last night, and I’m interested to hear what some of you think. 

We can all agree that Christmas is underattack all over the world, and to most of us, that’s an outrageous thing.  So, don’t take this as another such attack but just a question. 

This doesn’t really have to do with youth ministry, but does have to do with Christmas.  Should we as Christians make Santa Claus out to be a real guy?  I mean someone who’s actually alive and going to visit our kids?  Should we tell them that?

I don’t think that Santa is Satan, even though they are both red and have funny things on their heads.

All joking aside, here’s the question. And, I’d love to read your comments supporting your view. Oh, and next we’ll be asking about Bubba Claus.