Dec
18
Santa-less Christmas?
Filed Under Christmas
Thabiti Anyabwile posted a great piece on why Christmas is better without Santa Claus. He debunks the three most common reasons that Christians put forward for incorporating Santa Claus into their family traditions.
- Santa is good for kids’ imaginations.
- Santa is fun.
- There is nothing wrong with celebrating Santa because it is a part of our tradition.
Thabiti’s approach is both gracious and cutting. He recognizes that there are many godly families on both sides of the issue. I find myself in agreement with his reasoning. The Holland family decided early on to make Christmas as full of Christ as possible. We simply don’t have time to waste with Santa when we could be focusing more on the glorious person and work of Jesus Christ. Anyabwile echoes this sentiment in his closing paragraph.
I’m not arguing a dogmatic causality here. I’m simply asking the question, “Why include Santa Claus at all?” Is the imagined upside of following the culture here worth what we think it’s worth? And are our justifications helping us to point our children to Christ or masking the reality that we may be pointing our children away from Him? Personally, I doubt Santa Claus is worth it, and pointing our kids away from Jesus at Christmas may be the worst form of child neglect I can imagine.
Make sure you read the whole article and have a Christ filled Christmas.
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