Here's what I feel about the idea of Santa. As a kid I always enjoyed Christmas and Santa. I made absurdly huge lists of presents that I wanted. Then Christmas eve I would bake Santa cookies and put out carrots for the reindeer. In the morning I would walk up at some crazy hour run out side to see if the carrots had been eaten and the cookies all gone. Then of course there were the presents. Don't get me wrong I love presents, but I was an only child and got a lot of them. Every year Santa would always bring me little boxes of cereal. That was the only time of year I got to eat sugar cereal, so it was a big deal to me. Then came the year Santa forgot the cereal. How could Santa forget? Two months later I asked my mom if Santa was real and of course inevitable "No, KC, but he is the spirit of the season and ........." We'll that was the end of that. After Santa was gone Christmas time became much more special to me. It was about being with family especially my sick grandpa. About traveling with my mom. It was about walking through old town looking at luminarias and eating tameles with my mom.
Having never been christian, Jesus has never been apart of my holiday season, except for when I was dragged to church occasionally by my grandmother. For me Christmas has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. Which is what the holiday is about. But this topic is a whole 'nother bag of beans. Back to Santa....
The problem I have with Santa is that essentially he is about consumerism. The Santa we know, was created by Coca Cola and department stores as add campaigns. The thought of lying to Sofia and any other kids who some along, for a minimum of 10 years makes me a little ill. Here is a link to a great wikipedia article about the history of Santa. I think I'll just have to give them a fun history lesson. I'm sure it would be fun to see their faces light up when they see all the extra presents from Santa. Can't I do the same thing though, just not put out presents until they go to bed?
I want the holiday season to be about family, food (of course) and fun traditions we make up together. Not what Jolly old elf will bring this year.I suppose I'll have to start looking into solstice celebrations.
So at then end of this soap box speech, I will not be playing Santa for my kids. However, the question is what to do if they bring it up? I would love to hear your thoughts on Santa, please feel free to leave a comments below.
I wrote about this very thing this morning. It sounds like we come from similar backgrounds. I thought I could get away with no Santa, but at 3 nearly 4 Bean knows all about Santa. So, we stress family, traditions, celebrations, events, and yes, Santa comes into it. There would be no way to stop the grandparents anyway. What they have been exceedingly good about is our request to limit it to one gift. Bean and I are spending time making peppermint bark as gifts for other people. I have a long list of things to make (still!) and she will be getting gifts on the 25th. I have a book you might be interested in if despite good intentions Santa starts being part of your household conversations, Santa Duck by David Milgram and if you're interested in Solstice stuff, The Shortest Day of the year is working to explain to Bean why this time of year is important to us.
ReplyDeleteHere is an old, but thought provoking discussion about the whole Santa thing... http://www.urbanmamas.com/urbanmamas/2007/12/is-the-santa-se.html
ReplyDeleteSanta comes to our house, but we don't make a big deal out of it. Our boys love putting out cookies and carrots, and the excitement on Christmas morning is contagious--we all enjoy it! But they also love making gifts for friends and writing cards and baking cookies and all of the wonderful things that come along with this time of year. I created a "advent" calendar with one family activity for each day leading up to Christmas, it's been wonderfully fun for everyone. They will each receive one gift from Santa, one gift from us, and a small stocking full of very inexpensive items--homemade play dough, art supplies, a yo-yo, and a handmade Lego necklace that I bought at a craft show last weekend. We don't shop throughout the year, so Christmas and Birthdays are the only occasion in which they receive gifts or toys of any kind from us and it's fairly easy for me to justify as I think they are pretty grounded boys, especially compared to their friends. Everything in moderation...
Thanks for the references and wonderful comments!
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