Our family doesn't "do" Santa. It's not that we think Santa is evil... we don't think Santa is bad... we don't abstain from Santa because we think it's against the true meaning of Christmas. We just don't "do" it. I've found that not only is our choice rare, it also seems to be pretty controversial. A few other people have recently found out that we don't do Santa and I've recieved a mixture of complete confusion and utter disgust. People seem to think that, without Santa, Christmas has no magic or specialness.
Really? No magic? Nothing special? An entire HUMAN BEING was concieved WITHOUT sex and then later DIED for US. That's pretty darn special if I do say so myself.
BUT... religion is NOT why we don't do Santa. Religion is why we read "God Gave Us Christmas" and why we have a nativity set and why we read the Christmas story on Christmas morning before presents. It's not why we don't do Santa. The truth is, Jon didn't do Santa as a kid... he grew up relatively normal. I grew up doing Santa... I grew up relatively normal. We just don't particularly think it's necessary. We didn't have some massive philosophical discussion about the pros and cons... we even have a "Baby's First Santa Letter" and pictures of all of us at the Santa Claus House in North Pole, AK. To us, it wasn't some big decision. When it came time to pick out the "Santa present," we just decided that he would be just as excited to open a cool gift from mommy & daddy. So we put that on the tag. When he asked who the guy in the red suit was, we said he was Santa, and that he was a fun character like Mickey Mouse... not real, but fun. When he was old enough to discuss Santa at school (4ish) we told him that some of his friends really like to pretend that Santa is real, and it would hurt their feelings if we told them he wasn't real. He doesn't want to hurt his friends feelings, so he just smiles and nods when they talk about it. It's really not a big deal.
So I don't really understand why people are truly shocked and sometimes upset that we don't "do" the Santa thing. Don't worry... my kid won't spill the beans to yours. He won't think your child is crazy, nor will I think you're a bad parent for encouraging imagination and make believe... just don't think that I'm somehow depriving my child of the "magic of Christmas" because he knows where his presents come from. I promise... all of our kids are going to have a great Christmas regardless :)
