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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Celebrate Santa?

As I've mentioned before in a previous post, Santa is NOT a part of our family's Christmas celebration. I've never struggled with this decision but it's often hard to gently explain to others (when they ask) why we chose this for our family. I struggle because I don't want to come across judgmental, condemning, haughty, or arrogant. The girls over at GirlTalk posted about this subject today and then linked to this article by Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor in the Cayman Islands who was once a Muslim but is now a Christian. It was an interesting read.

I don't walk around proclaiming our stance on Santa - If I'm asked, I'll tell. Our children know that it's just a regular JOE dressed up in a Santa costume...but I hope they are considerate of others' beliefs when I'm not in their presence to help guide their conversations on the matter. Once I get my new hard drive, I can't wait to upload the photo I took last night of the boys posing with "Santa" during a Christmas light extravaganza. It will make for a hilarious page in their scrapbook.

To end, I appreciated GirlTalk giving advice on how to lead children through the difficult questions that arise when Santa is not a part of their Christmas celebration.

1. Prepare your children before they're in the situation.

2. Don't leave your children hanging; model the response you're hoping for.

3. Teach children to take an interest in the traditions of others.

4. Finally, we have to teach our children how to handle objections.

1 comment:

beck'sthree said...

Jawan, we don't tell our kids that Santa is real either. We don't object to Santa; we just make sure the kids know he's make-believe.

Recently, Lauren decided to tell two of our preschool neighbors that he's not real (despite my instructions not to tell other kids this), and they all three came into my kitchen arguing and demanding to know the truth. I said, "You'll have to talk to your own mommies, because only your own parents can talk to you about Santa. That's the rule." I had another serious talk with my kids about it after that!