We Don't Worship Santa Revisited

On Monday, an older lady waiting in line with us at the post office, asked my kids what Santa's bringing them for Christmas. My babies looked at me cluelessly. They know who Santa Claus is. What confused them was that a grown woman thought someone who is not real would bring presents to them. They looked to me to answer. I told her, "We don't do Santa. We..." She cut me off with a curt, "I'm sorry" and scurried away from me in utter fear, like I was some cult leader. Seriously, I didn't even get a chance to finish by explaining, "...focus more on Jesus' birth and less on Santa at Christmastime."

I do not want to kill Santa; I do want the freedom to focus on Christmas without his huge distraction for my children (and Justin and me, too). The Christmas season already doesn't go perfectly in our house. We fight materialism with our kids on a daily basis this time of year, Santa or not. Our kids don't care who is bringing the presents to them; they just want them and a lot of them. As a result, I want to spend our time focusing on the real reason we look forward to Christmas, to the God who humbled himself to be born as a baby to an unmarried nobody virgin girl in a stable of all places. Our kids understand the presents under the tree part all by themselves. No explaining, encouraging, or prompting needed. Ha ha!

I challenge you to pay attention this Christmas season to how much more Christians talk about Santa, his elves, and his gifts than they do the birth of our Savior this time of the year. See how many sweet saints ask your children about presents, being naughty or nice (which is only a gift-wrapped version of works salvation), or Santa and his reindeer. Then, and only then, will your eyes be opened to our culture's worship of Santa, even the Christian culture's worship. It makes me sad that Santa trumps Jesus so often in so many Christian homes. That's ultimately why we don't worship Santa.

Justin posted this blog post on our Facebook earlier this week. This man explained how I feel much better than I did last year here on R&R. Now, I will stop talking about Santa. Talking about him too much negatively still draws attention away from Jesus, and I don't want to do so. What I desire is for you to celebrate Christmas how God convicts and leads you. All I ask is that you pay attention to the Santa worship happening around you, and pray for the truth of Jesus to shine through the distractions. 

Have a merry Christmas!