We Don't "Do" Santa...

Christmas is chalk-full of nostalgia inducing moments. In fact, I can't sing "O Christmas Tree" or "Silent Night" without belting out at least one verse in German, and thinking about caroling with the Byron youth group to the nursing homes in the area. When I think about Christmas, I think about felt advent calendars, tons of food, hugs from my grandparents, and wearing poster-board angel wings for the children's service at my church. When I asked my husband what images pop into his head when asked about Christmas, it's many of the same things- snow, food, family, and eggnog filled moose cups. As children, we were FULL to the brim with Christmas spirit.

In case you didn't notice, neither of us said Santa.

Brett says he doesn't know if the "Santa" phenomenon was ever really "pitched" to him or not. He remembers a neighbor dressing up as Santa and delivering presents, but says he always knew that it was just that- a neighbor dressed up as Santa. I think that with 2 older siblings (for each of us), the idea of this mystery man was never really pitched too hard to either of us because our parents had other, more pressing issues to attend to... like cutting out poster board angel wings and filling our moose cups up once again.

So now, as parents ourselves, we know we only have this year to solidify our own traditions. Let's face it- last year, when Madigan was still under 6 months old during the holidays, we were on the tail end of survival mode. We knew she didn't care that it was Christmas, and quite frankly, neither did we! This year, we better get our stories straight. She's going to have a lot of questions next year at this time, and if either of us flinch when she asks them, we will be in trouble.

Here's the catch: We aren't going the Santa route. And apparently, that's some sort of big deal.

Now, it wouldn't be a big deal if we were the religious zealots, Santa-is-satan, cram-my-Jesus-down-your-throat kind of folks. Because, that would be...expected. But for those of you who know us, you know that's not the case. So I guess that's why people are shocked when we say we're just not "doing the santa thing". Here's why....

First, I was a child sensitive to lies and have grown into an adult that is just as sensitive to being lied to. I hate liars, I hate being lied to, I am an actual-factual being. I'd rather be told a disappointing truth than a beautiful lie. If my parents would have tried to sell me a fake Santa story, I would have been furious when I found out. So I cannot willingly lie to my child for the sake of fantasy, only to know she'll be disappointed later. Secondly, I was raised to know the real Christmas story. One more beautiful than a man on a sleigh with magic flying reindeer. The first Christmas story holds enough magic for me, and it's real. It's not that I didn't know the whole "santa story", because I knew who he was. But to me, it was just another make-believe story. "Santa" still filled my stocking; and when "Santa" came to town on a firetruck to hand out brown paper sacks filled with dry peanuts, an orange and an unidentifiable lump of ribbon candy, I was first in line. I had fun playing along, because I was in on the secret.

As parents, our approach has nothing to do with anti-consumerism, over commercialism, or religious supremacy. I don’t care if she gets gifts from “Santa”, sits on his lap for a picture, or reads “The Night Before Christmas”. We have just chosen to forego selling a Santa story to our daughter, and instead focus on cookies, songs, family and Jesus (not necessarily in that order). Because those are the things that we cherish about childhood Christmases, and we want to give those same memories to her.

So break out the moose cups and eggnog, and gather around our tree for a rousing rendition of “Stille Nacht”. Bring your Santa hats, and help us make Madigan’s Christmas memories just as glitter-crusted as possible.