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What Should Christian Parents Tell Their Children About Santa?

What Should Christian Parents Tell Their Children About Santa?

Last updated on: November 30, 2017 at 2:33 pm by Mark Driscoll

What Should Christian Parents Tell Their Children About Santa? 2017-11-30T14:33:59-05:00 Mark Driscoll

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Religious-bible-cross-holiday ‘Tis the season . . . for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa.

Jesus Christ looms so large over human history that we actually measure time by him; our calendar is divided into the years before and after his birth, noted as B.C. (“before Christ”) and A.D. (anno Domini, meaning “in the year of the Lord”), respectively. Not only are human history and our calendar divided around the coming of Jesus, each year the world’s biggest holiday, Christmas, is devoted to celebrating Jesus’ entrance into human history.

Along with Jesus, every Christmas season, Santa also takes the stage. He’s sitting at the mall, featured in holiday themed television shows and movies, and takes over the airwaves as song after song is sung 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, when our kids were younger Grace and I adopted the third position to redeem Santa. We told our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. We also explained 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, coming down the chimney, having an army of elves who make toys) so that Santa is a combination of true and make-believe stories.

We do not, however, demonize Santa because Santa is not a typo of Satan. 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.

Don’t Lie to Your Kids

When a child is little, they might believe the myths you tell them about Santa. But, at some point they will discover the truth about the lies that you told them. This was the case with Bart Simpson. His mother Marge one said, “Alright, kids. Let me have those letters and I’ll send them to Santa’s workshop in the North Pole.” To which Bart replied, “Oh, please, there’s only one fat guy that brings us presents and his name ain’t Santa.”

Lying is such a big problem to God that He included it in his naughty list called Ten Commandments. No parent wants their children to lie to them. To help set a good example, parents should not lie to their children. We should teach our kids that they can always trust us because we will tell them the truth and not lie to them. Conversely, we should ask that they be honest with us and never lie.

Since Christian parents also teach their children that Jesus is a real person who did perform real miracles, does see you when your sleeping and knows when you’re awake, and really keeps a list of who gets an eternal gift or not, 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.

Saint Nicholas

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.

Nicholas was likely 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.

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.

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.

Santa Legends

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 as a pastor and Bible teacher with a heart for the poor and children. 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 have thanked us for being both honest and fun, which we think is what Jesus wants.

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