I didn’t really expect it so young. But, my 4-year old looked at me the other day, right square in the eyes and said, “Santa is real, right?” I didn’t even say a thing. I was just so shocked I stared at him and he went about his day.
This got me thinking a lot about Santa and how we want to handle this jolly figure with our kids. After much discussion our official stance became: Santa is Fun. Jesus is Real. And, so, we decided not to uphold the lie.
Here’s why.
My husband grew up in a non-church-going household and Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc…were front and center. When it came to discovering Jesus later in his life, his mind classified Him in the same bucket as these fictional characters. It was a deliberate effort in our house to ensure that Jesus would be known as real, present, every-day. This has made us shy away from promoting or acknowledging that Santa is real. We acknowledge that Santa is a fun part of Christmas, but not real.
I think this is extremely challenging. Even though I strongly feel this way, I’ll be honest, when my innocent blue-eyed 4-year-old looked at me and straight up asked me if Santa was real, I wanted to assure him that there is nothing more real. My mommy heart feels a little like we are ruining some magic of Christmas, but in the end, it was important for us and somewhat of a relief not to uphold the lie.
So, what about you, how do you handle Santa?
Plus, just for fun. I love what these Santas are doing. Thank you to these Santas for shining the true light of Christmas.
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