Do I believe in Santa Claus? No, but I believe in the Coca Cola ad campaign that featured a right jolly old elf. Personally, to me the proper symbol of the secular version of Christmas is a live tree draped with real tinsel, bedecked with Noma lights, interesting ornaments with a simple Lionel train set orbiting the base. Unfortunately my wife has an allergy to what ever they spray on trees to keep them green, our pets tend to eat tinsel, Noma lights are few, far between, and now priced beyond my reach, and grandchildren and my Lionel set tend to be a bad combination. But we still have some great Christmas ornaments. Throw in some mistletoe and holly (lots of holly!) a mug of egg nog and a piece of fruit cake (I love fruit cake! If you get one for Christmas and feel an urge to re-gift, I'm your man) some Andy Williams on the Alexa and I'm ready for the secular holiday.
But the Christian celebration of remembrance that God kept his promise and became man and walked among us, knowing from birth that with every step he took that he was growing closer to insufferable agony because of my sin is celebrated a bit differently. Mostly with quiet prayer in my little room, tearful with gratitude and begging God that if He can forgive and forget my sins, that He can help me forgive myself and forget them too.
Santa Claus is not St. Nick, and we as Christians need to keep that in mind. We need to keep our secular and Christian celebrations separate, and if we can't I suppose we have to drop one or the other.
We taught our kids about Santa Claus and never even mentioned St. Nicholas. They learned from the beginning that Santa is just another fairy tale to have fun with, and that he was NOT real.
ReplyDeleteExact same here! I guess my rebellion against my catholic upbringing caused me to never speak of RCC saints to the kids. Santa Claus was more of a game we played with them when they were little,,, kinda little,,, ok, under 30
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