Because there are only 53 days left until Christmas, this week’s Works for Me Wednesday is a themed holiday edition.
So, I am reposting this from last year. It’s an explaination of how we’re “doing” Santa in our family. I can’t wait to see your comments and suggestions on how you handle the Jolly Ol’ St. Nick in your home.
I love Christmas!
It’s a time of year to focus on the birth of our Savior.
It’s a time to cherish family, and friends, near and far.
It’s a time of tradition…adhering to the old ones and making new ones.
What I don’t love about Christmas is the commercialism and materialism that it can create. No, not that it creates, Christmas doesn’t create this, but there sure is a lot around at this time of the year and it’s just no good.
In that, I have been thinking a lot about how we’re going to approach Santa.
It’s something that I have been pondering since my girls were babies and now that they are three, I think my husband and I have come up with something that is going to work for us.
I don’t want my children to view Christmas as just a time when they get stuff from Santa. That’s what the world would have them believe. So many children are totally focused on making their lists of “wants” for this time of the year. So, far, this has not touched our family and I want to avoid it if possible, and I believe that it is possible.
Last year we went to a wonderful Christmas party for one of the companies in Keith’s unit. Santa showed up at the party and handed out gifts to the kids there. EA received a “Barrel of Monkeys”, MC received a cute little baby doll with wild curly hair, and Will received a plush toy phone.
Throughout the year, EA and MC have referred to those small gifts as what they got from Santa. MC will quickly tell you that Santa gave her that babydoll. And it is one of her most prized babies. She sleeps with it more often than any of the others. And EA still asks to play with her barrel of monkeys. For weeks after the party last year, she could be entertained by sitting in a chair and playing with her monkeys, she would take them out one by one and look at them. They were special because they came from Santa.
I have noticed that sometimes children don’t receive anything from their parents…it all comes from Santa. Last year, because they already had their special gifts from Santa, the girls saw the presents that were under the tree Christmas morning as coming from Mommy and Daddy, not necessarily Santa. We didn’t design it that way on purpose, it just kind of happened.
And that’s how I decided how to “do” Santa in our family.
They will have gifts under the Christmas tree. These will be gifts from family and friends and from Mommy and Daddy.
Santa will bring our children one special, small gift, possibly one that will fit snugly in their stockings. One that they will be able to cherish as coming from Santa Claus.
Have you struggled with avoiding the commercialism of Christmas in your family to focus on the real reason for the day?
What have you done to address this?
Does your family have a special way of “doing” Santa?
To see what works for other moms during the holiday season, visit Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Famly.
Lynn says
I know exactly how you feel about Christmas no longer being about CHRIST but about give me this and give me that. We’ve toned down tremendously on gift giving. Each child receives only three gifts each, not including extended family. One is a need, one is a want, and one is educational. So far this has worked for the past two years. My kids are older 14, 9 and 6 and we homeschool. We decided to tell them early that Santa is a myth like the Easter bunny and focused on the real reason for the season.. CHRIST. That way there was no need to explain later that Santa doesn’t exist. We also read the true story of St. Nicolas.. They liked that! Many blessings <
Bailey's Leaf says
I agree that Santa doesn’t need to be the center of the gift giving gig. Christmas is Christ based in our home, with Santa dropping a gift off under the tree. We’re going way low budget this year and somethings K- will be getting are handcrafted goodies from Mommy and Daddy. My parents did the same.
Thanks for sharing!
Gina @ Six in the Country says
This year we are doing a low-key Christmas, too. As I was reading your blog, I realized that even though we set our holiday to only have 7 gifts for each child (we have four), there are no big gifts that Santa would typically bring. My kids are all old enough to know — but still expect something big all the same. Whatever Santa chooses, it will be much smaller this year. No big ticket items under our tree. Good luck on your choice!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Shanna says
I’ve struggled with this as well, and I decided this year to allow Santa to bring our three “biggest” gifts, and to wrap the others (primarily educational, clothing, etc.) from Mama and Daddy. I like the thought of three gifts from Santa and the comparison to the Wise Men bringing three gifts for Jesus. While I certainly want the girls to always keep Christ at the center of Christmas, I still remember the magic of Christmas when I walked out and saw what Santa brought. It is really hard to keep things balanced. But I grew up getting everything from Santa, and I definitely don’t want my children to do the same.
Wendy Darling says
Hi, Monika 😉
My nephew has lived with us since he was 3. His parents did do Santa with him, but we weren’t too keen on the idea. However, I promised to not tell him the truth UNLESS he asked me outright. Then, I would not lie. Well, when he was 4 he asked me flat out if there really was a Santa Claus. I replied, “What do you think?” He said, ” I don’t there is.” I told him he was right, but then I told him about the real St. Nicholas, and the legend of how Santa came from that.
We homeschool, so I did an entire unit study with him about Christmas Around the World. We studied the birth of Christ FIRST. We studied Hannukah and made Latkes, we read stories of how they celebrate Christmas in other countries, etc. It was very interesting, and fun.
We then finished up our study by “becoming” Santa Claus. We made cookies, put them in boxes and delivered them to neighbors. We took a name off of the Angel Tree and bought presents for another child. He chose EVERYTHING. HE was Santa Claus. 🙂 I think it actually enhanced our Christmas by taking “the guy in the red suit” out of the equation. 🙂
Even though he is 12 now, we still have the same tradition on Christmas Eve. My brother reads “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. It is a classic, after all. 🙂 Then, a family member will read Luke 2: 1-20 from the Bible. That is the final thing that is read before we send the kids to bed, and it is, again, stressed that THAT story is the reason we celebrate. 🙂
Stephanie says
Thank you for writing about this as it is something we have both been struggling with, and thank you to all of the people who have responded. You have all given me some ideas to discuss with my husband as we have different ideas of how to handle Santa. Maybe he and I will find a “better” way to handle Santa.
Stacey says
I totally agree with what you wrote. In fact i can already see my 4 year old concentrating only on what Santa will bring her. do realize part of that is just her age, but we too are changing things up a bit this year. My daughter lost a favorite stuffed animal while on vacation once. Thanks to a visit to ebay, Santa will be returning her beloved pet to her. We’ll probably also have a sweet treat for her, but unlike last year, the big special present will be from mom and dad.
Rachel C says
As a mother of a now almost twelve year old, I often wondered how she would view Christmas when she was older. After reading this blog, I asked her what she thought what she thought about Christmas and “Santa” . It was wonderful to see her wonderful faith in our Lord and Savior as she told me about how it is to worship our Savior’s birth. I got tickled at the fact that she also went into the history of it, etc. I asked her about the Santa aspect of it also. She said she thought it was fun and she would be sad if “Santa didn’t come” even though she knows the truth about him. Sometimes as Christians we can get so caught up with making sure that our children see the true meaning of Christmas – which I stress is the most important value we can give to our children- that we forget the “fun” of Christmas. I love seeing your responses in trying to keep Christ in Christmas, without deleting the fun of Christmas. Children are only children once, and now that my baby is growing up, I cherish those precious moments when she saw a baby doll under the tree Christmas morning. The focus then was not on Santa, but on a little girl who was thrilled to see something just for her. All the wrapped gifts are all from us and our family. As for our traditions, we always have a little “party” with appetizers, etc., Christmas Eve. My husband will read Luke 2, and we will pray and thank God for giving us his Son. Usually, we watch It’s A Wonderful Life, if it isn’t too late after that! Just as a sidenote…one of my most special memories as a child was that my brothers and I would put on the Christmas story for our parents! I believe Keith( Monica’s husband) was a shepherd, or a lamb, or a donkey (whatever the older boys didn’t want to be! 🙂 ). I still remember those little plays…I can remember doing them even as a teenager. Just an idea to give your children. We had such fun!
I hope I didn’t run on and on. I pray you will all have a wonderful Christmas!
Happy Mama says
We have also struggled with this..Especially since I was raised believing in Santa and Hubby Did not. We have opted with no Santa. We asked Tornado last night id Santa was real…he said no much to our surprise but also to our surprise we asked him if God is real he said no too! HMMM Hubby and I were puzzled . He will openly tell you that he loves God and Explain a lot theologically for a three year old. However we have a long road ahead of us. Started next year we will be giving the older kids …$ and up three gifts. Plus stockings. A Gold wrapped gift-something that he/she needs A silver gift-something that they would like to have and a white wrapped gift Something that will help them in their spiritual walk! I would love to claim this as my own idea..Alas it is not but sadly I have no idea where I got this idea from except for it was in a magazine!
Mrs. Bick says
We strive to make a distinction in Santa/Christmas, and Christmas. Which is very challenging, since society tells our children from a very early age that Christmas is about getting gifts from Santa on Christmas day. And this is perpetuated by every adult they see during the season… “What is Santa going to bring you ?”
We have tried to use Saint Nicholas Day (December 6th) as our way to manage Santa. And in this, “St. Nicholas” visits us and brings us three gifts in our stockings. (Three gifts, just like from the Three Kings story.)
We have never really pushed the idea of a Santa, although we do emphasis the “spirit of giving” related to Santa when he comes up in conversation.
A Frugal Housewife says
When I was growing up Grandpa always gave us something from “santa” we all knew who santa was but it was still neat.
So far we have opted not to do Santa – my husband’s family never did and the person who provided “Santa” gifts for us as children (my grandfather) was not a Christian. Our little one is still pretty young so we’ll see what happens as she grows… I imagine we’ll end up like you did – with a logical solution simply presenting itself!
Laura says
Our kids are only 2 and 1yr old this Christmas, but we have been stressing St. Nicholas is Santa. We also are only doing 3 gifts from St. Nicholas on Christmas morning in honor of the three gifts Christ received from the wise men. They will receive a stocking and small gift from mom and dad too 🙂
LifeatTheCircus says
We do a very similar thing at our house. The kids get one gift from Santa. We don’t make a big deal out of Santa… I hate when people say “you better be good or you won’t get any presents” as if they have to earn their gifts. This bothers me. I don’t give my children gifts because they earn them or b/c they are good, I give them b/c I love them. Much like God’s love to us. Anyway, we too keep the focus on Christ. We do a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas evening. The kids know about Santa but we don’t stress it. I was so excited when my 4 year old was looking through the Toys R Us catalog last week at toys and he kept telling us things he wanted for his birthday (in April) and not what he wanted for Christmas.
Julie From Inmates says
Very cool. Sounds like it works perfectly =)
.-= Julie From Inmates´s last blog ..Some Fabulous Fudge With Some Below Average Photography =-.
Lisa @ Stop and Smell the Chocolates says
I like hearing how everybody handles it! We decided to keep the focus on Christ and don’t do Santa and explained that he was more like a character (like Mickey Mouse). It worked out for the best as our son was terrified of all Santas anyway when he was younger! Our main challenge was keeping him from telling other kids that Santa wasn’t real – we had to emphasize over and over that it was up to each daddy & mommy how they wanted to celebrate and when to tell their kids. Didn’t want him to be like me – In 2nd grade, I told every kid I could find that Santa wasn’t real and that it was all a lie! Apparently my Mom had a few unhappy phone calls. 🙂
.-= Lisa @ Stop and Smell the Chocolates´s last blog ..Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ The Nutella Challenge: Nutella Bites =-.
Sidnie says
I’ve been tossing around the idea of using the German tradition of St. Nicholas. He comes on the night of December 5, and the children will leave a boot [I’ve thought about making them some special stockings that we’ll hang outside the door] outside the door for him to leave gifts and sweets in. Then Christmas will be left to truly celebrate Jesus’ birth.
.-= Sidnie´s last blog ..Something to put on the wall… =-.
Megan says
One idea that my SIL uses (we’re pondering it….our only dd is 3) is the gold, franchincense and murh (sorry for that spelling-but you get the idea….the 3 gifts from the wisemen). Santa brings the stockings and then Mom and Dad give them the 3 special gifts with the gold gift being the “biggie”. One of the others is usually a cleansing agent of some sort (bubbles, soaps, etc) and the other is usually something educational. They also get a family gift for the entire family which is usually a game. It works beautifully and the kids expectations are realistic.
Erin @ Closing Time says
That is a really cute way to do it! I think it’s so important to make sure our kids understand the real reason we celebrate. We have decided not to do Santa. Our girls understand that some people do Santa, just for fun, but that we don’t. And they’ve been fine with that. The gifts we give just come from each other.
.-= Erin @ Closing Time´s last blog ..WFMW: Holiday Tip =-.
Kim says
Every year BEFORE Christmas, my son (soon my daughter will too) goes through his toys. We talk about how there are lots of boys and girls that need toys and we are so blessed to have so many. That God blesses us so that we can bless others. We pick out toys together to give to other boys and girls. He amazes me with his choices. We take them to our church and he helps unload them and give them to church staff. We all explain to him that these toys will go to boys and girls locally in outreach programs and all over the world in mission programs. All of the toys are in excellent condition and we usually give the back of the minivan full. We do this before Christmas and before his birthday. It reminds everyone involved about giving. The church staff is amazed by my son’s reactions, too. He loves it!
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Personal Placemats =-.
Joyce says
My husband and I both agreed to keep Christmas completely focused on Christ with our children. We read the book by Noel Piper called Treasuring God in Our Traditions. An online PDF can be downloaded from here…http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/2438_Treasuring_God_in_Our_Traditions/
It has an excellent chapter on Christmas and the whole Santa tradition. The whole book is amazing and I pull it out several times a year to guide our celebrations. Blessings!
.-= Joyce´s last blog ..Fall Festival 2009 =-.
Rona says
We never told our son about Santa. We didn’t have money to buy Christmas gifts for several years. I didn’t want him to think that he did anything wrong.
He’s now 17 years old and understands that Christmas is more than gift giving.
angie says
I am so thankful that young families like your own are celebrating keeping baby jesus in the spotlight
katrina says
I think yours is a wonderful idea.
I’m wondering…. is it too late to make that switch in my home?
Unfortunately, we have fallen into the many- of -gifts- under -the -tree -from -Santa routine. And so now when the kids request an expensive item and I say, “Oh honey…that’s too expensive” they simply say, “Then I’ll ask it from Santa”
Ugh. What have we created?!!
With nine children, some who believe in Santa and some who don’t, perhaps I can restart our traditions with your idea. Those who don’t believe in Santa anymore won’t care one way or the other…but those who are still young enough to believe in Santa, and yet old enough to remember Christmas pasts and all the gifts from Santa, might have an adjustment and ask WHY are they only getting ONE thing from Santa. How to handle that?
And then when they talk to friends and their cousins about the gifts they got, and they tell them they got one thing fron Santa, and then hear about all the gifts from Santa that others received, what will they think? will they think Santa doesn’t like them as much, if they only get one thing from Santa while their friends get many gifts from Santa?
In our home, the Tooth Fairy gives $2 for a tooth. It has always been that amount in our home, ever since the oldest lost his first tooth. Then the neighbor kids nextdoor comes over with a missing tooth and tells my kids he got $10 under his pillow from the Tooth Fairy. And my kids look at me and ask, Why doesn’t the Tooth Fairy give them that much? Doesn’t the Tooth Fairly LIKE them? And I just want to go over the those parents and ask WHY in the WORLD do you give your kid so much for a tooth? I’m not raising my Tooth Fairy tooth payout to keep up with the Joneses, LOL.
Ugh.
.-= katrina´s last blog ..Capturing the moment =-.