The Santa Question

[Bud_Stewart]

Kevin Cassidy:

Wow I don’t even want to know what this crowd thinks about Halloween. We did all that stuff and I think as Fr. Stravinskas wrote that a properly taught child can absorb quite a bit of myth and not lose faith. All this anti-Santa, anti-Easter Bunny and anti-Halloween is not Catholic but fundamentalist…

Hi Kevin, I don’t think anyone is being anti-Santa. We are all sharing our experiences on presenting this wonderful story to our children.

I think we should all heed Kevin’s advice, and be careful not to keep this wonderful Christmas tradition away from our children. The story of Santa Claus does not distract from the true meaning of Christmas, it adds to it.

God Bless us Everyone.

 

[cove]

To those who are worried. I just want you to be assured that Santa is alive and well and living in Florida .

Well, the big guys gotta have some fun in the sun, too.

 

[tee_eff_em]

me:

With my limited child’s vocabulary, I didn’t think “Christmas spirit”, I conjured up images of a ghost! At least that explained how he could slip down the chimney even though our flue was sealed shut.

Come to think of it, there’s a **(space) ghost ** posting on this thread!

tee

 

[Charliemac]

tee_eff_em:

I hope you have not lied to him (a la above), and, now that you have told him the truth can also show him the difference between telling a story for pretend and telling a lie.

My experience has been similar to yours. I think the absolutely worst thing you can do to your child is to lie. That doesn’t mean tell the child all you know, nor does it mean doing a Clinton on the child. But it does mean tell the truth, about Santa or any other question. It also means never let your child see you as a liar. I am very proud of the integrity level of my three grown children, and I believe my honesty with them was the teacher. Nothing is more pointless than saying don’t lie to me, when the child knows that you lie, to them, their mom, your boss, the tax man or whoever.

My kids just grew out of Santa, pretty early I think, but we took them to get the Christmas picture with Santa for years. I have Santa pictures of my kids when they were in Jr. High School. (they loved it, and they knew that their mom was collecting the pictures). Of course these same kinds were still going out for Halloween when my daughter was a senior in high school, and the boys were freshman. We spent a lot of time laughing at our house.

Thanks for this thread, it sure did pull up some great memories.

Charliemac.

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

My recommendation:

Given the secularization of the culture is important to stress and stress again the Christian beliefs about each Holy day (Christmas, Easter, All Saints Eve). Children should understand why these days are important to us as Christians.

Christmas = Jesus’ birthday
Easter = Jesus’ conquering (sin &) death for us.
All Saints’ Eve = remembering everyone who lived holy lives.

If all your customs comes back to the core Christian belief, your children will benefit for the Holy Days by growing closer to God. Tie all the secular practices back to Christianity.

Society tends to de-emphasis the Christian aspects of Holy Days. Counter it (by emphasis the Christian aspects) strongly and be amazed at the good it does.

 

[SueG]

It’s been great to read all the varied responses. I really wish I had been in my current state of SPIRITUAL mind before my children were born. I’m doing a lot of “catch-up” work with my family right now.

God Bless all of you.

 

[space_ghost]

SueG:

It’s been great to read all the varied responses. I really wish I had been in my current state of SPIRITUAL mind before my children were born. I’m doing a lot of “catch-up” work with my family right now.

God Bless all of you.

You are doing great…

 

[pnewton]

SueG:

It’s been great to read all the varied responses. I really wish I had been in my current state of SPIRITUAL mind before my children were born. I’m doing a lot of “catch-up” work with my family right now.

God Bless all of you.

I know what you mean as my children are 14 and 16, but…

thank God and the Catholic Church (for its position on contraception) I am going to be a father again. My wife of 8 years just found out she is with child.

If this seems an odd post here, I’m sorry. I’ll calm down in a few days

PS - I am 44 and my wife is 37. Never give up.

 

[Spatulate]

SueG:

Now we can celebrate Christmas and Easter like we always do, but it will be Jesus’ birthday and resurrection, without the big guy in red or the fluffy bunny.

We celebrate Easter as the resurrection of Jesus…we don’t do the Easter bunny at all. We have “resurrection baskets” which we hide and the kids hunt for them…I fill them with treats and religious items. They hunt for resurrection eggs, which symbolize new life.

For Christmas, we don’t do Santa, nor do we exchange gifts. We borrow from my Dutch heritage and celebrate St. Nick’s Day on 12/6 in a BIG way! The night before, we all put out our wooden shoes and during the night, they get filled with gifts, treats, etc. In fact, they are not only filled, but they also rest *atop *various gifts! DH takes that day off work annually, and we go get and decorate our tree, which we leave up till Epiphany. We have special meals and family time. We read the story/-ies of the REAL St.Nicholas. Of course we discuss how Santa plays into the season. A great book is Santa and the Christ Child.

We have been doing this for years, now, and it is soooooo nice to have the focus of these two major holidays be on Christ.

:twocents:

 

[T.A.Stobie_SFO]

pnewton:

… thank God and the Catholic Church (for its position on contraception) I am going to be a father again. My wife of 8 years just found out she is with child. …

Congrats! :dancing:

You are a father again. You have now the responsbility to love the child and see after his or her best interests.

(You is your whole family, the 5 of you.)

 

[Katholish]

A lie is the telling of an untruth with an intent to deceive.

By its very definition, like murder, lying is sinful.

The traditional Catholic method of assessing the morality of a given act is the 3 Font Principle of Morality (Object, End, Circumstances).

1. The Object is the “what” of the act, what the act is aimed at, the nature of the act itself. This is not just the physical action, but the act as grasped by the mind, hence writting a letter is not moving your hand, but writting a letter.
2. The End is the “why” of the act, the intent or purpose.
3. The Circumstances are the context of the act and include all forseeable consequences of the act.

All three of these “fonts” must be good in order for the action to be good, and if any one is bad in itself, than the whole act is bad. Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque defectui. (The good is from the whole, the evil from any defect whatsoever.)

Neither the End nor the Circumstances can justify an action if the Object of the act is itself bad. This is the case that we are presented with. The object of the Santa Case is lying to the children, which action cannot be justified. Regardless of what your intent or motives are, you can never be justified in lying.

That being said, the definition of a lie would only apply to Santa if the there is an intent to leave them with an incorrect belief, that is to present it has truth. If it is presented as just a story, and not true, it would not meet the definition of a lie, but if you are trying to convince the child that Santa is real, that action can never be justified.

 

[space_ghost]

tee_eff_em:

Come to think of it, there’s a **(space) ghost ** posting on this thread!

tee

see, when you hang around in the same thread too long, you get noticed… i’m outta here…

 

[mary_tim]

kids don’t need santa better they should learn to give-making or buying little gifts for othersand acknowledging the efforts of others to do the same for them. someof the presents are real heroic offerings. Pity not to let the children appreciate what their parents did for them. we celebrate several saints in advent one is st. nicholas and we have a nice break from the rigors of advent. once one of them wanted to do the santa game and I answered. great let him get you your presents and i’ll just do the other kids’. that was the end of santa. but that doesn’t deprive them of the mystery of Christmas rather they love the birthday of the Christ Child and the family gathering. Going to the crib in church and indeed holding the little Jesus(doll size) figure at our own homeis a real mystical experience. leading as they become adults to fervent adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and knowing that they can trust what we tell them. A long time ago i heard on Paul Harvey that the reason most commonly sited for loss of faith was that God was just like santa and the easter bunny.I’m sure there are lots of reasons for loss of faith buit I don’t want my kids to say it was because i didn’t tell them the truth. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour covers lying and telling untruths to put it more mildly.again I don’t condemn anyone who does i just explain what i do.

 

[Michael_C]

My youngest cnildren thin there is a Santa. We teach them that Santa is very reigious and loves Jesus. Every Christmas eve my wife wakes up the kids and they spy on me dressed as Santa putting gifts under the tree. One year I slept on the couch and my brother-in-law dressed up and the kids saw me sleeping there while Santa was putting gifts all over the place. The next morning when they were telling me about it I told them they must have been dreaming.

Santas’ ok just keep reminding them what Chrsitmas is really about adn go to Mass.

 

[mommi2four]

just a comment. my church in Walnut,CA we have a statue of Santa Claus in his big red suit paying homage to the baby Jesus.

Santa is knelt down with his funny hat off and looking straight at the Baby Jesus.

i hope that somehow points out my opinions

 

[asquared]

I am old enough to face life without Santa Claus, but don’t start messin’ with my chocolate Easter Bunny

 

[Michael_C]

mommi2four:

just a comment. my church in Walnut,CA we have a statue of Santa Claus in his big red suit paying homage to the baby Jesus.

Santa is knelt down with his funny hat off and looking straight at the Baby Jesus.

i hope that somehow points out my opinions

I’ve seen such a statue, it’s beautiful and that’s the message I give my kids.

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

My kids are fairly young yet (ages 0-6) so the big questions haven’t surfaced yet.

However, I make a point to tell them that Jesus is real. I also make a point to answer questions they have about things they aren’t sure about.

For example, my daughter asked me if unicorns were real. I told her they were not. It was a disappointment for her, but I wasn’t going to lie to her about it.

I’ve told her that dragons were not real, but that dinosaurs did roam the planet at one time.

Santa has become a part of our household moreso due to outside influences than to inside influences. We do get them presents from santa, but the excitement for the anticipation of santa comes from what they see on TV - not from what we promote from within. I have made it a point to promote Christ and that is the reason for Christmas.

We also own a cartoon about St. Nicholas - a real person. When the time comes, I’ll be able to explain (hopefully) that St. Nick was a person who loved children and then the myth (reindeer; elves; North Pole; etc.) took off from there.

 

[JKirkLVNV]

I don’t have a problem with Santa as a myth, I have a problem with Santa tied into Christmas tied into rampant gift buying (though anymore I guess the economy would crash if we all didn’t do our part the day after Thanksgiving!!! I teach in a barrio school. My children’s parents are hard pressed enough. I always thought we should tell the truth about Santa, that he’s derived from Saint Nicholas, the miracles associated with his life, etc., culminating with,“No, he doesn’t live at the North Pole, he lives in Heaven with Jesus and he’s praying for us right now.” You could still have the gifts, the wonder, the mystery…an even deeper and more profound mystery!!! That said, I understand why parents want their children to have Santa. Garrison Keillor says that parents want to give their children the world with both hands. I salute the Christian parents who post here and all that they do. :clapping:

 

[RichT]

Yes, but doesn’t Santa truly exist in our hearts? I mean we all have the spirit of Santa in our hearts. And what about St. Christopher? Did he exist or not? How many of us still wear St. Christopher medals? As long as we focus on the importance of Jesus during the season we are fine. Ask my daughter what Christmas is all about, and she will tell you it is Jesus’ birthday! She will also talk about the importance of giving, especially to those who are in need. She’s five by the way. She proabably understands the meaning of Christmas better than most of us.

Now, the tooth fairy? Haven’t you people watched the Santa Clause with Tim Allen, the second one? The Tooth Fairy Lives!!!