I had a conversation with my son yesterday.
Me – Son what do you want mom and dad to buy you for Christmas
Him – I want legos, playmobiles, and books
Me – Ok, sounds good
Him – Santa is good to us dad he brings us lots of stuff.
First I grew up in a home where Santa and Satan were used interchangeably. Second we drill into our boys Christmas is about giving and about Jesus’s birthday. Lastly this made my wife who is always listening give me those “I told you so eyes”
Then today I go to my google reader and find out my good buddy (we met once at Orange, so we are pretty much one step from our families going on vacation together) John is dealing with the same beast. He wrote a brilliant post about “Not knowing what to do about Santa” He give you 3 options: 1. Embrace Santa 2. Kill Santa 3. Combine Santa and Jesus
I would say we do all three but apparently with poor results. Basically we explain to our boys that St. Nick was a real person who was very giving and very generous, so much so that many people want to copy him and what he did so thats what all those Santa’s in the mall. Cheap copies of an irreplaceable original (I then tell him that it is our secret not to say anything at school because some kids still think Santa is real). I explain how we can learn from his life and live a generous life others want to copy. Judging from my conversation with my boy today, I must not be doing a great job explaining.
How do you handle the tricky topic of St. Nick?