Really? Church teaching is replete with examples of ways to give generously and selflessly without seeking recognition. What about anonymous charity, volunteer work, praying for others, caring for those who have nothing to give in return, etc? That’s just a day in the life of a Catholic. We have our perfect example of giving: Jesus! Santa may work well for your family, and it’s obvious your heart is in the right place, but I just don’t see how Santa becomes the sine qua non of instruction in generosity.
Because in my time, my culture, my experience - Santa is a wonderful gateway that leads directly to Jesus’s example - and shame on me if I failed to communicate this properly.
Forgive my post for any lack of clarity - work and family demands have left me extremely sleep deprived so I am quite possibly not using the best verbiage to express my feelings on the matter.
And I forget sometimes that my own experience is outside the norm - I have children who do their age differences have blessed me with almost 30 straight years of “Santa” - it’s a well established family tool. Perhaps it’s hard to express or understand exactly how I’ve worked thru the Santa model to get them to go from being beneficiaries, to assistants, to being secret Santa for others. Perhaps it’s just that it’s too easy (imo) to toss a couple items into the canned food drive or collect the used clothing to donate. Those are practically normal chores - it’s just what you do, without a great deal of investment into it. On the other hand, again, my situation/my location, there’s not much in the way of giving actively for the children to participate in until they are in their teen years. But even a 4yr old can help bake cookies, wrap them up and have fun sneaking them onto a neighbor’s porch, all the while being very sneaky so that the neighbor will think Santa brought them.
Maybe it’s just that I am surrounded by people who do a lot of speaking of Christ’s love but very little action to demonstrate it. Santa (for us) is the start of that demonstration - a way to get the kids hooked on giving while they are still little.
Maybe for others, putting a piece of straw in a manager scene every time they do a good deed to prepare it for Jesus’s birth at Christmas is something that works for other families. For me, and mine, that’s as unuseful and a little bit nonsensical as others see my Santa focus. (After all, it’s only symbolic, and straw isn’t that comfy - as one of my kids pointed out one year when trying to do this for a homework project - and what counts as a good deed anyway?) On the other hand, figuring out what a friend, a name on the giving tree, a relative, would like, learning to look at it from their point of view, making a decision, implementing it, creating the surprise and getting away with it without getting caught (yes, we even teasingly try to sneak our dutifully unwrapped gifts under the giving tree when no one’s looking) makes it real and fun.
Anyway, to each their own - but I still treasure the envelope that arrived with a return address of Santa, postmarked the North Pole, and contained gift cards that helped save our own Christmas one year when things were looking bleak. To this day, I don’t know who Santa physically was that year, but I pray for them regularly and thank God for their kindness and blessing. That envelope contained more than the resources for a few presents - but it contained hope, and joy, and love of neighbor - a little message of love sent by God, courtesy of a Santa.
No one will ever convince me Santa isn’t real.
