Thoughts on Christmas traditions

Since it is December 20th, I thought I would write a short post about Christmas and some thoughts I've had regarding it lately. 

    I began teaching our children's class at church a few months ago.  I very much enjoy it, and have been able to teach the children about missionaries, and we had a series on Elijah the prophet as well.  Several weeks ago, December hit and I knew that I would begin a short series on the Christmas story and those events leading up to and following the birth of Jesus.
    I began this series by asking the children about some things they think of when they think of Christmas.  Of course, I got the usual answers of "Getting presents!" and "Decorating the Tree."  I was expecting that after getting through the list of material things and such, that some child would remember the birth of Jesus and say that, but no.  Not a single child (there were nine children present from ages 7-13) mentioned the real reason for Christmas. 
    I thought that it was sad, and appalling really!  So many things have taken the place of the real meaning of Christmas today and it made me think long and hard about how I will someday raise my children around Christmas time. 

    That same Sunday in class, I proceeded to tell the children that while Santa, presents, trees, elves, (and everything else) are nice things, they are not the reason we should be celebrating Christmas.  I began telling them the story of Jesus' birth, and reinforcing that His birth is the reason we celebrate Christmas. 
    After that Sunday, two children came to me and told me about traditions their families observe.  One is the typical idea that Santa brings them their gifts if they have been good all year.  The other was something I had not heard of before.  Apparently, each home has an "elf on the shelf" who watches the children at home, and reports back to Santa about whether they are good or bad. 

    To address Santa first....

    I fully understand the history of Santa Claus (or Saint Nicholas).  I understand that he was a real man (a monk in fact) who would give out kind gifts and do generous things to help poor children.  However, the story that he knows all and sees all and climbs down chimneys and travels by means of a sleigh pulled by reindeer is not historical in the least.  This all stemmed from a poem written by a man in the 1800's for his young daughters.  The santa we think of today was the imaginings of this man, put in ink by a cartoonist. 
    Of course, the story became more and more far-fetched as time went on.  Now, there is a ninth reindeer named Rudolph, elves who work for santa, a Mrs. Claus...the list goes on. 

    I have heard for years that santa only gives good boys and girls presents, and he gives a lump of coal to bad children.  How many children do you know who receive coal though?  I know for a fact that the number of children who are perfect all year is zero.  One lady told me the story of how Christmas came at her house when she was young and her sister was very rude and mean and threw fits in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  Christmas morning, this girl opened her present and it was a lump of coal.  She ran to her room and threw a temper tantrum.  After letting her cry for awhile, the parents went to her, told her "See, this is why you shouldn't be naughty..." and then gave her all of her presents. 

I can't be the only awful person who thinks "If I can be bad, and still get my presents, what's the point of being good?"
 Clearly Santa is a joke!  He is certainly inconsistent. 

 

Secondly, this "elf on the shelf"...

I had never heard of such a thing until my student told me about hers.  When I asked what the significance of this elf was, she told me that the elf watches her day and night and sees if she is good or bad, then reports back to santa. 

 

I did some research on this.  No wonder I had never heard of it!  Apparently, it only became a "fad" a few years ago when a woman and her daughter wrote a book about this elf.  Today, lots of people have bought the book, bought the elf (money-making scheme!) and are now teaching their children about this magic elf. 

AND THEY ARE BELIEVING IT!!!!

 

Again, I'm appalled...
    If santa "sees you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake" and "knows if you've been bad or good", WHY does he need an elf to do spy work for him?  I can see parents using this elf as a means of threatening their children into being good, at least for the month of December.  What in the world?!

    Often when I meet people out door-knocking, they will tell me that the story of Jesus' birth (and the Bible in general) is too unbelievable to be true.  People refer to the Bible as a book of fairy tales, yet they teach their children to believe in nonsense like elves and santa.  And the crazy thing is, THEY BELIEVE IT!

You may ask "Why the rant, Virginia?"

    Because I am teaching children who have never been taught about Jesus, or about His birth, but they know every intricate detail about Santa and his elves.  Why is this? 

Parents aren't teaching their children the right thing. 

    Someday when I have children, we will have Christmas traditions.  We will enjoy the Christmas season.  We may decorate the tree and Christmas cookies and give each other gifts.  But my children will know WHY we celebrate Christmas.  I want them to know Who Christmas is about. 

    When I was a child, I was never taught much about santa, other than the fact that he was made up and unreal.  I knew that my presents came from my parents, not from some fat man in red who spies on me while I sleep (creepy!).  And I'll be perfectly honest: knowing that the presents came from my parents who had to work very hard to be able to give us nice gifts, helped me to behave more and be more thankful.

    If you are a parent, and reading this, please teach your child what is important and what isn't.  Jesus is important.  Santa is not.