The truth is, Virginia, Santa is a myth (Why Santa Claus is not a part of my family's celebration of Christmas)

Dear Editor--I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, 'If you see it in The Sun, it's so.'
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon
115 West Ninety-fifth Street

In preparing to write this Blog, I re-read the classic "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus" editorial from the September 21st, 1897 New York Sun, written by Francis P. Church. I confess to there being some good things in Mr. Church's response to Virginia. He at least makes mention of the realities of unseen reality, which was an excellent counter to the creeping rationalism of the coming 20th century. Perhaps we still need a reminder of those same unseen truths. Perhaps. However, when my children ask, "Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?" I have to tell the truth. I have always told my children ... no, there isn't. He is a myth and a legend. On the other hand, there is a God heaven from whom comes every good and perfect gift; a God who is a father to us all; a God in whom there is no change, no turning shadow; a God who sent His Son as man to redeem a depraved race. Rather than delighting in a mythical man in a red suit ? delight in this God; the major difference between the two being that one is real and the other is not real.

In fact, I warn my children that idolatry is dishonoring to our God and defamation to His name ... and it's all too easy for a jolly man sliding down the chimney on Christmas Eve to become such.

C.H. Spurgeon defined idolatry like this:

"The essence of idolatry is this-to love anything better than God, to trust anything more than God, to wish to have a God other than we have, or to have some signs and wonders by which we may see him, some outward symbol or manifestation that can be seen with the eye or heard with the ear rather than to rest in an invisible God and believe the faithful promise of Him whom eye hath not seen nor ear heard."

I fear to teach my children to bow down to another master (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13). I fear that this being might become a god; or at minimum a false representation of something that takes the place of the only God they should ever bow to.

Now, I say all of this knowing that I will be labeled as a Christmas kill-joy and that I am spoiling all of the yuletide fun. However, I will give you several reasons why the Anderson family has chosen to celebrate Christmas without Santa Claus and why it would be my wish that others in the church of Jesus Christ would follow suit.

1. The attributes of Santa-God.
I understand that most people of healthy mind and emotion are not going to confuse the mythical Santa with God himself. That being said, I find it disturbing that he is given attributes that God alone can possess. The line "He sees you when you're sleeping; he knows when you're awake; he knows when you've been bad or good?" I personally find troubling. This makes our mythical Santa-creature all too God-like. He is an omniscient (all-knowing), omnipresent (everywhere present), omnipotent (all powerful) being who is able to grab all your deepest desires out of his magical sack. To top it all off, Santa has a moral standard that needs to be kept in order for him to appear. Of course, I have never known a person in all the history of consumer-driven American Christmas who has NOT kept the standard; but more on that in a moment.

2. Truth or Lies?
Personally, my largest issue with the celebration of Santa Claus as an integral part of our Christmas celebration is that fact that it does indeed require parents to lie to their children. My question, therefore, is: what do we teach our children by promoting a lie? I am not going to say that God will ultimately be displaced by Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. (Although, I think it is a real possibility.) However, I wonder what this will ultimately do for our children's faith? When Virginia asked for the truth, she was fed a lie and asked to believe it. Call me a cynic, but I have issues with that.

3. The Santa Standard
In my mind, Santa provides Christian families with a real theological anomaly. If the requirement for presents is to "be good" - name one child who has ever actually been 'bad' enough to not receive presents? The concept of Santa promotes an incredibly weak and arbitrary standard at best; universalism at worst. I don't believe these are healthy ideas to promote to our children. Santa grades on a curve (and a very generous curve, at that). God's standards stand; eternally. He offers a gift that can not be earned. The Santa ethic confuses this.

4. A Total Eclipse of the Son
The noise and the turmoil of Santa Claus will absolutely smother the quiet power of the manger and the cross to the mind and heart. When Santa is elevated, I believe Christ is demeaned. It becomes very difficult to direct our family's attention to Jesus when the children are waiting for Reindeer to hit the roof and presents to come down the chimney. I fear to exalt myth over the reality. Christ is central to everything ... and Christmas is an unusual opportunity to intentionally exalt Christ with my children. I don't want to ruin that by putting something else in front of them that will consume their affections. The affections of my children are too important and I do not wish to play around with them like that.

Wait just one cotton-picking minute, Mr. Scrooge ...
(The arguments I am hearing as I write)

My Family did Santa and I still believe in God!
I will be the first to admit it: I believed in Santa Claus. I mean ... I really believed. It was rather disappointing for me to find out that he didn't actually exist. As far as I know, no great psychological damage was done because my parents allowed me to believe in Santa. I now believe there are better ways to intentionally exalt Christ with our families. The argument of 'my parents did it and I'm okay' doesn't hold much water for me. My wife's grandfather smoked for 50 years and didn't die of lung cancer. That doesn't logically make it safe for me to smoke. There's a better way.

But it's like a fairy tale...
If Santa were treated in our culture and in our families as a fairy tale, I wouldn't take issue. The problem is that in the majority of cases, he is not a fairy tale. He is real. Many (if not most) who 'do Santa' are asking their children to believe a lie. He is presented, most often, as truth. While, as parents, we may be reflecting on Santa with sentiment, the bottom line is that we believed a lie and that we're asking our children to believe the same.

Don't get me wrong ... I am the first defender of the value of fairy tale and legend. My family just saw "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". It is a fantastic fairy tale; a great fictional story. My wife and I loved it. My children loved it. "Father Christmas" was even involved with the story. The main difference being that none of us were asked to believe in a literal 'Santa' or a real 'Aslan'. Let fairy tales be just that: make-believe stories that are mere pictures and illustrations of what is real; unseen fantasy that points to unseen reality. Don't ask your children to 'believe' in something that will ultimately disappoint. Ask them to believe in the One Ultimate Reality that will satisfy the heart.

Santa: A Tutorial in Giving?
Some argue that Santa teaches giving. I personally don't buy that. Milk and cookies, coupled with some lightly sanitized behavior, in exchange for goods in a sock or under a tree doesn't really teach giving. In fact, I would argue that it teaches the opposite: greed. Santa's bottomless bag is not about how I can give to others; it's about what he can give me. Santa will not be my children's tutor in conditional gifts ("you better watch out?"). Christ is our 'unspeakable gift'. This is who they shall know, love and learn from.

For these reasons, Santa Claus is not a part of the Christmas celebration at the Anderson home.

So what's a family to do?
I think every believing family needs to be intentional in that "whatever you do, whether you eat or whether you drink, do all for the Glory of God." (I Corinthians 10:31). This must apply to holiday celebrations. Please don't misunderstand. I am not saying for a minute (as some do say) that we should not celebrate Christmas. In fact, I would say the opposite. Celebrate. We should celebrate with more exuberance and joy than anyone living in our consumer-driven, Santa Claus loving world; the difference being that our celebration should be of Immanuel; not ourselves.

For those who include Santa Claus as a part of your familial Advent celebration, I only ask that you ask: "why"? What is our desired outcome as a family? Is he more real than Jesus to your children?

I am not writing this to be a kill-joy (honest). I am writing this that you might think. I am writing this that you will seek to glorify God in every area of your family life. If you desire to have a mere 'Happy Holiday" - I suppose all of the Santa-stuff will not do too much harm. However, if you do desire that your family come to know the true cosmic realities of the manger and the cross, that I ask you to prayerfully and thoughtfully consider how you 'do' your Advent celebration. Leverage this holiday for the most glory for God and the most joy for your family. It's worth the work. It's worth being thought as strange. It's worth another look.

It's worth saying, "No Virginia, Santa is not real. However, there is One who is real; who is alive; who is worth celebrating and looking to and trusting in; and who will give the greatest joy because He is Eternal Joy. Believe in Him with all of your heart and thought and affection."