The Truth about Santa Clause

So sorry this is long but I do hope you will take the time to read it. Before even having children, Paul and I made the decision that we wouldn't do the whole "Santa Clause thing" with our children. We want our children to focus more on the truth of Christmas than what Santa's going to bring them. Also, we don't want to lie to our children. Besides, I don't want an imaginary, magic man getting credit for the gifts that we will get for our children.We don't look down on people who do the "Santa Clause thing" with their children. Our children will certainly be allowed to participate and enjoy the fantasy of Santa Clause, i.e. sitting on his lap for a picture, reading stories, and watching movies about him. However, they will know that it is a fantasy. Paul and I haven't announced this publicly, but as it has come up in conversation, we have told people what we are going to do. It kind of shocks me that the typical response in some form or fashion is, "you're going to ruin his Christmas" or "you're going to take the fun out of Christmas." It may not be said in those exact words, but I get what they really mean. It saddens me that Christmas has become all about us and the presents we will get. We will throw in a reading of the Christmas story from the Bible somewhere in our celebrations in order to appease God and "celebrate" the birth of His Son. Why is it that one of the first questions we ask children during the Christmas season is, "what is Santa going to bring you?". Why not instead ask, "what are you doing to celebrate Christ's birth this year?" I'm sorry to get on my soapbox here, but I wanted to share this after I read an article by Mark Driscoll about what we tell our kids about Santa Clause that someone else posted on their blog. Here is the article orignally posted in the Washington Post : What we tell our kids about Santa 'Tis the season . . . for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa. When it comes to cultural issues like Santa, Christians have three options: (1) we can reject it, (2) we can receive it, or (3) we can redeem it. Since Santa is so pervasive in our culture, it is nearly impossible to simply reject Santa as part of our annual cultural landscape. Still, as parents we don't feel we can simply receive the entire story of Santa because there is a lot of myth built on top of a true story. Redeeming Santa So, as the parents of five children, Grace and I have taken the third position to redeem Santa. We tell our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. We also explain how people dress up as Santa and pretend to be him for fun, kind of like how young children like to dress up as pirates, princesses, superheroes, and a host of other people, real and imaginary. We explain how, in addition to the actual story of Santa, a lot of other stories have been added (e.g., flying reindeer, living in the North Pole, delivering presents to every child in one night) so that Santa is a combination of true and make-believe stories. We do not, however, demonize Santa. Dressing up, having fun, and using the imagination God gave can be an act of holy worship and is something that, frankly, a lot of adults need to learn from children. What we are concerned about, though, is lying to our children. We teach them that they can always trust us because we will tell them the truth and not lie to them. Conversely, we ask that they be honest with us and never lie. Since we also teach our children that Jesus is a real person who did perform real miracles, our fear is that if we teach them fanciful, make-believe stories as truth, it could erode confidence in our truthfulness where it really matters. So, we distinguish between lies, secrets, surprises, and pretend for our kids. We ask them not to tell lies or keep secrets, but do teach them that some surprises (like gift-giving) and pretending (like dressing up) can be fun and should be encouraged. We tell them the truth and encourage them to have fun watching Christmas shows on television and even sitting on Santa's lap for a holiday photo if they so desire. For parents of younger children wanting them to learn the real story of Santa Claus the Veggie Tales movie Saint Nicholas is a good choice. The Truth about Santa Claus The larger-than-life myths surrounding Santa Claus actually emanate from the very real person of Saint Nicholas. It is difficult to know the exact details of his life with certainty, as the ancient records are sparse, but the various pieces can be put together as a mosaic of his life. A Gift-Giver Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and presents. Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of sexual slavery. A Bishop and Saint Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5-6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicaea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in A.D. 325. Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some two thousand churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas, since they were celebrated within weeks of one another. Misnomer During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kris Kringle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus. Folklore The legends about Santa Claus are most likely a compilation of other folklore. For example, there was a myth in Nicholas' day that a demon was entering people's homes to terrorize children and that Nicholas cast it out of a home. This myth may explain why it was eventually believed that he came down people's chimneys. Also, there was a Siberian myth (near the North Pole) that a holy man, or shaman, entered people's homes through their chimneys to leave them mushrooms as gifts. According to the legend, he would hang them in front of the fire to dry. Reindeer would reportedly eat them and become intoxicated. This may have started the myth that the reindeer could fly, as it was believed that the shaman could also fly. This myth may have merged with the Santa Claus myth, and if so, explains him traveling from the North Pole to slide down chimneys and leave presents on fireplace mantles before flying away with reindeer. These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early twentieth century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew. In sum, Saint Nick was a wonderful man who loved and served Jesus faithfully. So, we gladly include him in our Christmas traditions to remind us of what it looks like for someone to live a life of devotion to Jesus as God. Our kids thank us for being both honest and fun, which we think is what Jesus wants. My family is choosing to redeem Santa Clause and focusing on the birth of our Savior and how St. Nicholas exemplified Christ through his gifts of charity. My point is not for you to do exactly as we are doing, although that would be fine if you did or didn't. I just want you to think. Merry Christmas!

FYI: Shutterfly Cards

So, I'm dissapointed to tell you that I'm not going to be getting 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I did what I was supposed to do and was told I would get a promo code email in 3-5 business days, and I never did. Maybe my blog post wasn't good enough to qualify. This makes me sad because I really like the Christmas card designs by Shutterfly, but money's tight and I can't afford a bunch of cards from them. But, I'm excited to tell you that I still got a really great deal on Christmas cards. I got 60 Christmas cards for $5.29 including tax and free overnight shipping! I think that's a pretty good deal. They are not as pretty as Shutterfly cards, but a SAHM's gotta do what a SAHM's gotta do. I found out about this deal using southernsavers.com. The website told me of a deal from seehere.com. You can also get 50 free prints of any pictures from snapfish. Even though my cards won't be as pretty as I hoped, I did my best to save my family some money. Now, my Christmas cards should be out on time (as long as do good to mail them out when they get here), and by on time, I mean before Christmas.

Parker At 16 Months

Parker had what was supposed to be his 15 month checkup but was actually closer to 16 months. He weighs 25 lbs 10 oz which is just a little above the 50th percentile, and he is 33 3/4 inches tall, which is in the 97th percentile. Parker has added some new words to his vocabulary: nigh nigh= night night, stop, sit, and hey. That's all I can think of right now. He can also sign "please". I'm just so thankful that he is growing and developing!