Comments on: Do Christian kids believe in Santa Claus?

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:20:42 +0000

My son who just turned 5 today has never had an interest to sit on Santa’s lap. He wishes he could sit on “God and Jesus’ lap” as he says. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

I believe he has a closer connection to God than most kids his age as parishioners at my church have commented that as well. Although he doesn’t care to sit on Santa’s lap, he is aware of who he is and now being in preschool he is exposed to Santa more. The odd thing about all of this is neither my husband or I have ever pushed him away from Santa. In fact, we’ve even suggested he visit Santa (like we did as kids) but he always declines. He says “Santa is ok over there but I prefer Jesus.”

I feel so blessed to have a son like this and perhaps his love for “God and Jesus” will be God’s gift of him planting seeds in his lifetime so that others will see the truth as well.

By: Marvin

Marvin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:35:51 +0000

Fortunately or unfortunately, I grew up in the Philippines; and in the town where I grew up, Santa Claus was really nothing but a decorative item on the walls or table tops. At the very least, I cannot recall having been told, nor heard, that Santa Claus was real, and that he would actually fly high on top of the clouds and land on our rooftops and give us gifts. Nope. We’re used to fairy tales here, and while they sounded nice, we didn’t expect the characters to actually appear.

In fact, it was only when i did a simllar research very recently that I ended up knowing that Santa Claus, in fact, represented someone real. Somehow, that gave me a strangely similar feeling of being slapped on my face, opening my eyes to the long history of Christianity, and the fact that there were recorded stories of Christians outside of the disciples and Saint Paul!

This is part of growing up I guess :)

Thanks to internet, people across continents can swap stories like this.

By: Alan

Alan — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:27:00 +0000

My wife and I had a problem with this deception with our children. We decided to tell them the truth about Santa, while reassuring them that Jesus is real and true. We got ourselves in a little trouble with other parents who had told their children that Santa was real, and then our children told them that Santa was not real. If we had to do it over again, we do the same. Perhaps we would might have done better to instruct our children not to discuss the subject with their friends.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:34:32 +0000

I really appreciate the information given on this site! I have a 2 year old son and a 6 month old daughter. My husband and I have already decided not to tell our kids that their gifts are from Santa. We are going to have our Christmas centered around Christ and His gift of salvation. We will also probably tell them about St. Nick, and how he WAS a real person who gave to others in need, just that he’s not the one leaving them presents on Christmas day. My husband and I grew up believing in Santa Claus and yes, we did have a lot of fun. So, some people might wonder why we’re choosing not too bring our children up the same way. Here’s a thought: You tell your kids that Santa IS real (who’s someone you can’t see) and then, tell your kids when they’re older he’s NOT real, they could take the same logic and say well, my parents are telling me God is real (someone I can’t see), so maybe God isn’t real either. Telling your kids that their presents are coming from Santa is a LIE. Period. And, exactly, a lie is a lie anyway you look at, wether in fun or not. So, thank you and God bless to everyone. Hold on to the Faith, keep Christ in the center of your life and remember His promises! Till we meet in heaven, Michelle

By: Tom Blackaby

Tom Blackaby — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:20:12 +0000

All I know is that when we stopped believing in Santa, he stopped bringing presents!!!! my kids have fun with the Santa idea but figured out along the way that he was a cultural tradition like most countries have in one form or another.In Norway it was trolls and Santa was a mean little creature. Every culture seems to have their folk lore and traditional stories that keep life fun and interesting. There are more important issues to grapple with for our kids than debunking Santa in my opinion. Growing up we only got one present from our parents, and Santa brought the other one so it was to our advantage to hold on to Santa as long as possible and write really nice thank you notes. I have 3 pastor brothers and a missionary sister so I think we must not have been harmed too much in our fun with Santa!

By: Anna Marie

Anna Marie — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:13:40 +0000

GREAT! If we see Santa as an opportunity to learn and practise generous, anonymous, living loving and giving then what a fantastic opportunity to teachour children this. Just as many Christians throughout history have been recognised as setting examples in living right so too can St.Nicholas! – Have we ever noticed that often these Saints godly examples are often recognised by the Catholic part of the Body of Christ – maybe we can take something from that!
If I choose to see Christmas as a family time of being blessed through giving , sharing and enjoying food, gifts, time and love together then that will be the legacy my children receive – if I see it as an expense, tiring, problematic, selfish time – then how wil they go on to celebrate it? The buck stops with me and I am delighted to see others want to use Christmas as an opportunity to promote Giving of ourselves to one another!

By: Emily Carlton

Emily Carlton — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:25:42 +0000

I do a “blended” approach to this for my kids. I keep Christmas Christ-centered by making an Advent wreath with the kids and using that as a weekly reason to talk about the wonder and excitement around the birth of the Lord. We also are lucky to have this WONDERFUL evening “living” exhibit one weekend every holiday season in our neighborhood where several churches all get together and stage what it called the “Bethelehem Walk,” where there are 15 stations set up with live actors acting out different stages of the Christmas story, along with associated scripture. Also, the churches are all open and choirs are all singing carols – it is a wonderful way to keep the true meaning of Christmas in the season for the kids.

But regarding Santa, my kids will grow up “believing” in Santa as well – just as I did. My belief in Santa was just as strong as my belief in Jesus at each age, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. I always knew and accepted Jesus as the Lord and my Savior, but I also knew and accepted that Santa was a wonderful magical person who came Christmas Eve.

My parents did a good job of letting us believe in both, without compromising our values or the real meaning of the season, and I hope to acheive the same for my children. I never felt “lied” to, and when I discovered that Santa wasn’t who I thought he was, it was of course a dissappointment, but certainly not traumatic.

I really enjoy your blog – so glad I found it!

By: Jana

Jana — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 03:56:47 +0000

My husband and I have decided on not including Santa Clause in our family celebration of Christmas. The reason why is that it takes the focus off of what is the only reason we should be celebrating Christmas. And of course that is the birth of Jesus. I don’t feel the need to include Santa to make the holiday “more fun and exciting.” I want my daughter’s heart to know truth and learn to discern what is of this world and what is of the bible. I think Santa Clause is just another way Christian holidays are being manipulated. Easter….Bunny’s…. NOT the reason we celebrate. But it does seem more fun I suppose(to children) but it really is unnecessary to go about life doing things that are just Satan’s way of taking from what is a day that is to celebrate the life of Christ. The real reasons we celebrate are the things we want to remember not the pretty bows that are put on these holidays. I truly believe that these things are a distraction from truth!

By: Patricia Kaehler (DomainBELL)

Patricia Kaehler (DomainBELL) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:27:51 +0000

Kids believed in Santa till about age 7…

Always knew the Birth of Christ details…

Two totally seperate things in my home…

~Patricia

By: Deb Burton

Deb Burton — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:29:35 +0000

Your Santa Claus got coffee? No wonder he was wired by the time he got to our house.

We followed pretty much the same philosophy with our kids. We emphasized the birth of Christ, we taught them about the real Saint Nicholas, but we allowed them to put out the cookies and MILK and a few carrot sticks for the reindeer. They enjoyed getting letters from him one year, but my daughter was always suspicious because Santa’s handwriting looked mysteriously like Dad’s. :)