Santa Free Christmas

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I am 100% against this.

Santa only stands for materialism if you teach that he stnds for materialism. If you teach that Santa gives gifts out of the goodness of his heart to children who act good, then there’s no issue.

And anyway, why not teach about St. Nicholas (my Confirmation Saint)? That’s great. Why do we need to get rid of Santa to do it? Or why not teach that Santa Claus IS Saint Nicholas? The Saints are alive, after all.
 
Marc_Anthony said:
I am 100% against this.

Santa only stands for materialism if you teach that he stnds for materialism. If you teach that Santa gives gifts out of the goodness of his heart to children who act good, then there’s no issue.

And anyway, why not teach about St. Nicholas (my Confirmation Saint)? That’s great. Why do we need to get rid of Santa to do it? Or why not teach that Santa Claus IS Saint Nicholas? The Saints are alive, after all.
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Marc… check out the book I recommended on page 1. It pulls St. Nich/Santa and the Birth of Christ together in a spectacular fashion… and in a children’s Story… I think you will really enjoy it!!! If you don’t have it already!
 
Robert_Burns said:
I came across this this Morning.

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - A group of German Catholics wants to do away with Santa Claus because of the fictional figure’s commercial hype and replace him with St Nicolas and the selfless giving they say he represents.

Even before shops fill with Santa-themed goodies, the Bonifatiuswerk of German Catholics – a Catholic aid organization – has begun calling for “Santa Claus-free zones.”

WHY NOT take back our Holiday from the Secularists?
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Not a bad idea.
 
The way we approached it, Santa was just like Big Bird on Sesame Street, he wasn’t anymore real than any of the kids shows DD watched growing up. But Jesus was/is very real. I didn’t want to confuse my daughter with giving her both Santa and Jesus being real and then one day she finding out Santa doesn’t exist and having to explain to her why I lied about Santa and why should she believe me about Jesus. She was allowed to believe in the “fantasy” of it all, did the pics with Santa , played along with her classmates when they totally believed, but we never sugarcoated it or forced her to believe in Santa and asked her truthfully whenever she had any questions surrounding Christmas.
 
faithfully said:
Marc… check out the book I recommended on page 1. It pulls St. Nich/Santa and the Birth of Christ together in a spectacular fashion… and in a children’s Story… I think you will really enjoy it!!! If you don’t have it already!
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Thank you for the suggestion, I will definitely keep that in mind. 👍
 
My wife is from Baguio City, Philippines. Her experience was much like yours.

But I’m telling ya, I’m a big Santa fan. I’m totally 100% in disagreement with the OP. I’m sticking to what we do now: go to Mass, focus on the birth and incarnation of Christ Jesus, Christmas tree, egg nog, big dinner, Santa’s sleigh arriving at around 7pm, presents, prayers to the Lord, meeting Santa at the mall, etc.

I’m not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I’m no secularist for keeping Santa in the mix. It drives me nuts that people want to throw the fun of Santa out just because of some secularists. Ay yay yay…
ConstantineTG said:
I guess my lack of fondness with Santa Claus is that the images of him is always on a sleigh with snow and he comes down chimneys. I grew up in the Philippines where there are no chimneys or snow. I can’t even remember in actually believing in Santa. Although I did know him when I was young, I always knew my gifts came from my dad.

Besides, Church is very central to the Philippine Christmas tradition. The Nativity scene is a more common decoration in homes than secular characters. The Nativity scene and plastic Christmas Trees 😃
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gurneyhalleck1 said:
My wife is from Baguio City, Philippines. Her experience was much like yours.

But I’m telling ya, I’m a big Santa fan. I’m totally 100% in disagreement with the OP. I’m sticking to what we do now: go to Mass, focus on the birth and incarnation of Christ Jesus, Christmas tree, egg nog, big dinner, Santa’s sleigh arriving at around 7pm, presents, prayers to the Lord, meeting Santa at the mall, etc.

I’m not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I’m no secularist for keeping Santa in the mix. It drives me nuts that people want to throw the fun of Santa out just because of some secularists. Ay yay yay…
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Baguio is on a plateau. Its higher elevation (kinda like Denver I guess) so they’re much colder during Christmas. There are some cabins there with fire places, but usually only the upper scale ones. It can get down to single digits (celcius) there, but still no snow. So Santa still won’t be showing up.
 
If this anti-Santa campaign is successful I can’t wait to see what happens to the Easter Bunny! 😃
 
Don’t be so sure. When we go to Baguio, I make sure Santa is alive and WELL!🙂
ConstantineTG said:
Baguio is on a plateau. Its higher elevation (kinda like Denver I guess) so they’re much colder during Christmas. There are some cabins there with fire places, but usually only the upper scale ones. It can get down to single digits (celcius) there, but still no snow. So Santa still won’t be showing up.
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gurneyhalleck1 said:
Don’t be so sure. When we go to Baguio, I make sure Santa is alive and WELL!🙂
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LOL
What I mean was from my earlier statement that in the Philippines we never expect Santa Claus because we don’t have snow 😃
Perhaps that is why I’m always like a child when snow falls 😃 its just going to be my 4th winter in Canada and I still anticipate it as if I am 5. Or maybe because we don’t get lots of it, LOL. Like this past winter when we had the Vancouver felt-more-like-Spring Olympics 😃
 
Here’s another book… The Autobiography of Santa Claus It’s historical fiction. (My fave!) It blends REAL people St. Nicholas and his early start… with other historical figures (that did infact mysteriously disappear…) Turns out they chose to help St. Nick with his good deads;)

So, it blends reality with fantasy… A wonderful read!

I recommend this to those that enjoy blending the fantasy and magic into the REAL and Important story of Christmas… Not to confuse the two of course… That goes without saying!
 
ConstantineTG said:
I’ve already got my wife to agree last year that Christmas should be Jesus-centered (as it should be) and we’re not raising our kids thinking Santa is real.
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I too refused and still refuse to do the Santa lie and am, so far, pleased with the results.

But boy, did I catch hades for that decision!!
 
Santa lie…eesh. Guess I’m a liar. 🙂 Being Catholic doesn’t mean one has to be like a JW and have a house without any holiday fun. Santa doesn’t negate Christ. Especially since I read them the real story of St. Nicholas each year, and his charity toward children and orphans. The easter bunner, leprachauns, tooth fairy, lies, evil lies! 🤷:rolleyes:
mark_a said:
I too refused and still refuse to do the Santa lie and am, so far, pleased with the results.

But boy, did I catch hades for that decision!!
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gurneyhalleck1 said:
Santa lie…eesh. Guess I’m a liar. 🙂 Being Catholic doesn’t mean one has to be like a JW and have a house without any holiday fun. Santa doesn’t negate Christ. Especially since I read them the real story of St. Nicholas each year, and his charity toward children and orphans. The easter bunner, leprachauns, tooth fairy, lies, evil lies! 🤷:rolleyes:
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A Catholic can have a lot of fun, even if they don’t totally buy into the Santa Claus myth either. There are still plenty, plenty of other things about Christmas that are joyful and entertaining besides Santa.
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
Santa lie…eesh. Guess I’m a liar. 🙂 Being Catholic doesn’t mean one has to be like a JW and have a house without any holiday fun. Santa doesn’t negate Christ. Especially since I read them the real story of St. Nicholas each year, and his charity toward children and orphans. The easter bunner, leprachauns, tooth fairy, lies, evil lies! 🤷:rolleyes:
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Sorry for the tone of my post. Please allow me to clarify.

My kids are allowed to take part in festivities that include a “Santa”. They have enjoyed it too. I have pictures of the kids w/ Santa, etc.

However, I draw the line at having my kids believe the guy in the picture is the Santa, and that he delivers junk plastic toys to billions of kids in one night.

Again, sorry for not being clear.
 
Couldn’t resist since I’m getting ready to head out to his concert now…
youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus

But I LOVE Santa. It never took away from the meaning of Christmas. It all depends on how you raise your kids. I live in Florida, so there’s absolutely no snow here and I’m usually in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops on Christmas. So snow isn’t a deal breaker for Santa.
 
mark_a said:
I too refused and still refuse to do the Santa lie and am, so far, pleased with the results.

But boy, did I catch hades for that decision!!
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So were you deprived of Christmas with Santa as a child? How about the rest of you in the anti-Santa crowd? Seems my generation had no difficulty distinguishing between Christmas with its Advent Calendar, Crèche and bible stories and the fun of anticipating Santa. Lighten up, let the children be children and enjoy the excitement of the Christmas season, teach them the true meaning of course but let them enjoy; the harsh reality of the real world will hit them too soon as it is.
 
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