The Santa Dilemma

The number one question - hands down- that I have been asked in the last two weeks is some variation of, "Are you so excited to introduce Little Weed #4 to Santa?" 

 

I thought long and hard about this question beginning as far back as Halloween when we passed our first stuffed Santa statue in CVS.  Our family has never been over-the-top about Santa.  I don't begrudge any fun to those that adore making a huge deal about the jolly fellow, but we just haven't chosen to emphasize that part of the Christmas tradition. 

In childhood, I was a realist and figured out quite early on that the presents from Santa all had gift tags in my grandpa's handwriting (and wrapping to match others that my grandparents had given us.)  Besides that, I was always so excited about the arrival of the Baby Jesus, that the big-bellied benefactor in red was really a secondary detail.  When our first child was born, Sticks and I made some feeble attempts early on to include some Santa wonder, but we travelled out of state every Christmas and attempting to pack one more gift in the over-stuffed family car proved to be more of a logistical challenge than our motivation to recreate the "Night-Before-Christmas mystique." 

We've never denied the existence of Santa (unless directly interrogated, which did happen with Ziggity at age 5).  We do celebrate St. Nicholas Day, with stockings miraculously full on the morning of December 6, and enjoy talking about reindeer and flying sleighs as part of all the holiday fun.  But our primary focus has always been that we are getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  That trumps everything else. 

So now we have a seven year old (Sweet One) who does believe in Santa (despite the fact that she has never received a gift from him - go figure), and we are welcoming a brand new six-year-old member of the family to the holiday.  What to do?  Some might assume that a six year old would LOVE to learn the story of Santa and anticipate that onslaught of gifts the big guy is supposed to deliver. 

I know my kid though and I know one of  the first things out of his mouth after learning about the story of Santa and how he delivers presents to good little children all over the world on Christmas Eve will be, "Why he no bring me special before?"  (Translates, Why didn't he bring me presents the other 5 years of my existence?") How the heck do I explain that?  "Yes, Santa loves children and whisks around the world in his sleigh, but he conveniently ignores those in orphanages in remote areas of communist countries?"  Ummm...  no.   I can't slander the good name of Santa by opening him up to such a line of questioning.

So, we're choosing to stay the course and focus on the birth of Jesus.  He's the reason for the season anyway, right?  And you've never seen a child so excited about a birth that happened over 2000 years ago.