Friday, December 17, 2010

Hatin' on Santa

A whole lotta parents with young kids seem to be hatin' on Santa these days.  There are various veins of thought around this, 1. teaching kids about Santa is a lie and lying is always bad/truth is always good, etc.,  2.  Teaching kids about Santa encourages rampant commercialism and doesn't reflect the 'true meaning' of Christmas, or 3.  the Santa story conflicts with the Little Baby Jesus story (henceforth referred to as LBJ for brevity). 

I have some opinions about the aforementioned business of being down on old Santa.

Kids will, all too soon, be confronted with all kinds of shitty, shitty 'truthes' this world has to offer them.   Far too soon, in my not-so-humble opinion.   I'm not in any rush to invite that shit in.   Moreover, I don't actually agree that lying is always wrong.  The ins and out of truthing and lying is mostly about grey area and very little about black and white, so to speak.   Which brings me around to the fact that I don't actually see encouraging a belief in Santa as lying, at least not in a bad lying sorta way.  

I believe that Santa is about far more than presents.  Santa, his reindeer and elven pals, his work, his journey, his belief in the intrinsic goodness of children, is about believing in magic, suspending disbelief, choosing possibility over impossibility.  (This may get me into hot water here) but I believe that our old Santa story isn't really all that different than our cultural LBJ stories (though I'm not even remotely Christian, a girl can still appreciate the good bits an LBJ story has to offer now and again).   Both Santa stories and LBJ stories can be used to encourage the good in people, kindness, and love for one another.  Both Santa stories and LBJ stories encourage the belief in magic, and in possibility.   Both can be used to instill wonder and excitement about life.   And for me, that wonder and excitement about life is every bit the 'true' meaning of Christmas. 

(As an aside here, both Santa and LBJ stories can be used in sucky ways too.  I can't get behind using Santa to control kids' behaviour - in much the same way I can't get behind using LBJ for controlling people's behaviour.  We don't and won't ever tell our kids that Santa only comes to children "that are good."  For starters, I believe, (and so should Santa, dammit!) that all children are good.  And I think using the magic of Santa to punish kids is kinda sucky.  To each their own, I suppose, but you're not going to catch me threatening that "Santa won't come" if the kids don't do x, y or z.)

I also don't think that Santa has to be about rampant commercialism.  Boy-o wrote a letter to Santa this year, and there was no long list of "I WANTS".  He asked for dress-up clothes for himself, and for Girlio, so they could play together.   I hope that in part, this is because we're trying very hard to create a family culture that runs contrary to that kind of me-me-me-ness.  This is something we make every effort to continue emphasizing throughout our kids' lives.   

So all you Santa-haters - say what you will.  But I'm going to choose MAGIC.  I'm going to help my kids believe in that magic.  I'm going to feel as excited and as giddy and as giggly as they do, heading downstairs on Christmas morning (even thoughlike most mornings around my house, it's likely going to come far too early), finding the note from Santa, and the dress-up clothes they asked so sweetly for and likely a few surprises they didn't ask for. 

And if I'm really lucky, I'll get to tap back into that amazing time in my life, when I too wholeheartedly believed in magic.  That time was nothing short of a gift. 

8 comments:

  1. Magic over here too. C (3 years old) wrote a letter to Santa and asked for a particular toy for her baby sister (8.5 months) because she really thinks she would like that toy. Idk, I find that sweet. Like Boy-O asking for dress-up clothes.

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  2. Sandra - so awesome for C to ask for something for her sister. Bless her little heart :) GO magic!

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  3. I'm with you 100%. And those freaking killjoys really piss me off. They have plenty of time to know about the shitty realities of what really goes on in the world...I hope they can enjoy those days of believing for as long as possible. My daughter is 12 and this is only the second Xmas since she stopped believing...I was perfectly happy to go along with it as long as she wanted to. She's a little bummed that she knows the truth but is having fun doing things for her little bro and will have even more as he gets a bit older and understands more.

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  4. So true! That is so sweet of your little one to ask for something so they can play together :)

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  5. Père Noël (aka Santa) is a big part of our Christmas experience over here with the girl and the boy. J didn't ask PN for anything, instead, he said that if PN had time, could he come by and play trains with him? My kids are well-provided for and no doubt love getting new things but J (3 years)is also old enough to be cognisant of others. He is sensitive and when we did 12 days of charity (my twist on the 12 days of Christmas) he was BEYOND excited each day to do his next nice thing for someone else.

    As parents, WE must be responsible for the intreptation of Santa/Pere Noel/Father Christmas. Our kids don't KNOW about the other crap unles someone teaches them...so I say start early, teach the magic, teach the love and teach that it is OK to really really believe in something GOOD! THere is enough soul-destroying bad out there waiting for them to learn about. I want my kids hearts to be full of love, hope and faith when the walls of childhood blindness start crumbling down!

    Great blog!!

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  6. Hey folks, I just stumbled on this blog. I am researching for my own podcast, which records on Friday. mamaT...can I quote you on the show if I give proper credit? Anyone else? I am very tired of the Santa Hating that is happening right now. I should warn you, we are a Pagan group and open and loving towards other faiths. We don't dis any faith...unless it feeds you purple kool aid...then we have problem.

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  7. Sparrow - I'm so sorry I didn't notice this in time. For next time, this blog is public content and totally quotable if credited :) I hope your podcast was fab!

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