The Heart of Santa Claus

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I know there is a great debate about Santa (or seems to be). I've read many posts this year on Santa or the deliberate lack of Santa. The season creates an uncomfortable pairing of the sacred and the secular in Christian households. Have you read Jon Acuff's post about the Elf on a Shelf vs. the Nativity scene? It still makes me laugh (even if that was the first time I ever heard of the Elf).

My very best friend grew up without a Santa Claus. Her mother decorates for Christmas almost exclusively with  snowmen, to avoid the Santa Claus.

I grew up in a house where we did the Santa thing and we went to church to do the Advent thing. I think I got to light the Advent candle once, and was enchanted by that long candle snuffer wand thing ( I assume it has a real name). My belief in Santa grew when I heard sleigh bells. This past year my mother revealed that this was the year I received a swing set. I continued to believe in him until I finally realized that his handwriting look suspiciously like my mother's. We kept Santa alive at my house.

Every Christmas I look forward to a marathon of Christmas movies. Some of my all time favorites aren't Christian. I love Holiday Inn and White Christmas, because Bing Crosby is Christmas for me, too. A Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story (besides THE Christmas story). Actually, it would be better called a Christmas legend or myth. Because at this point it has gone beyond Dickens to dozens of versions with the same message. Perhaps you could even call it mythopoeic, joining the ranks of my beloved George MacDonald, Tolkien, and Lewis. Mickey's Christmas Carol is by far my favorite version.

I have read that many families reject Santa Claus for a focus on Christ. I don't think I will do the same if I ever have a family. The reason is that Santa does not represent the greedy, commercialized (hey, Charlie Brown!) Christmas that I do try to avoid. The Santa I cherish from childhood represents the giving part of this holiday.

Santa is more than the the big guy in a red suit who lives like a hermit with a bunch of little people making toys. He is more than the  tree and the sleigh and the cookies with milk and the reindeer used as a fog light.

You see, the Santa movies and stories that I love have one thing in common: at their core, they celebrate a man who loves to give. The best stories about Santa are about how he became Santa. Forget Tim Allen. In the beginning, Santa was just a simple man who wanted to spread joy by giving simple toys to children. This man would risk his life to continue giving toys. This man gives up a "normal" life to give. He works the whole year to give on one night a year and make it special for every child.

I was watching a movie from Netflix this week called Christmas Story about a boy named Nikolas who became Santa Claus. Its a Finnish movie and I was well over an hour into the movie before I realized that the dialogue I heard was not matching their lips. Nikolas began by giving to the children in his village in response to the village taking him in as an orphan. When the gifts were found on Christmas morning, he would deny that the gifts were from him. Santa is more about his giving than children receiving. I think its a new favorite of mine.

That's another theme I am seeing this year. An emphasis on giving. Especially the hard giving to complete strangers.  The giving that is far removed from the receiving. Its not enough any more to give for the simple joy of giving and seeing the delight in someone's eyes when they unwrap a gift and see our heart for them. These days we have the opportunity to give the gift of giving. Especially, with all these opportunities to give to those in need. In real need.


Parents want to train their children to give to others instead of receiving from us. All those post about Compassion and giving what we have are like arrows to my heart. I've actually been thinking about this kind of giving and if I can do, but in my own quiet (don't-mention-it-to-anyone-so-noone-notices-when-I-fail) way. I can tell that this is not something that I can continue to keep on the down low. So thanks for that.

To me, this is not at odds with the heart of the man who became Santa Claus. . I think my Santa would be the first in line for all these giving programs available today.

Santa Claus is really more like Christ than I am. He (and fellow bloggers) may just inspire me to be more giving, even if I don't think I have enough. This might be a new tradition in the making.

Sharing Christmas traditions with Critty Joy


and Unwrapping Jesus with Faith Barista.