Every year I start to get excited about the fun of Christmas...and then more and more agitated at the red suited myth surrounding the holiday. This year Digg brought the topic up long before I normally deal with it. So far no one has asked my kids what they will be asking from a mythical creature, or if the saw him in stores, and no one has gotten upset that my kids will not lie anymore than I do. Which means I found it relatively easy to type this year! No erasing sentences filled with swearing and pent up anger 
.
The comment may have moved up or down since posting, but the one that caught my eye is of 4 reasons why folk use Santa.. the exact reasons I don't. Here is their post in italics with my comments after.
..... useful purposes.
1. He keeps small children from nagging their parents about presents they want for Christmas. Tell it to Santa, I have no say.
My mother taught me I could ask for 2 thing every Christmas, this made me narrow it down to what I really wanted. (good practice in frugalism) Now I let my kids ask for one thing. (though I keep my ears open for their debate) I also am very honest about why I will not buy an item. (not worth it, bad for you, going to break to fast, you already have some, not healthy, etc) No nagging, and no lies.
2. He can be used to make the kids act better. They know that I'll still be nice to them even when they act bad. I was already planning on taking them to Chuck E. Cheese's, I wasn't going to cancel or leave one behind because one kid is being a dick, so they won't believe it if I tell them they'll get no presents if they are naughty. Santa is a more distant figure, though, and they've heard from a lot of people that he knows who is naughty and who is nice.
On the contrary, my children do know I will cancel or at least keep them in the car/corner/non-fun spot for a time while the other part of the family has fun. I do not rely on the boogie man to keep my children from going round the corner either; though it would be easier.
3. It's fun to see the kids get so excited about him coming to bring them presents.
Nothing wrong with seeing kids get excited about giving presents and receiving. Do you need a false name for the giver?
My kids love all parts of Christmas, from carols and cookies, to angel tree gifts to shoe boxes. From pageants to special books, and steak dinner. Christmas is a wonderful time of celebration and tradition. I don't need any falsehoods in my story (yes I do believe in Jesus, I never make up anything to support what is believed through faith)
4. It's good training for future atheism. When they learn that it's possible to believe in something made-up just because that's what people you trusted told you was true, it's easier for them to make the jump to not believing in God.
umm yeah....I know if you have been perpetuating the myth you tell your kids 'it's different'. And I know plenty of Christians that survive the childhood lies. But why? I also know those that found the truth about Christmas the turning point in becoming atheist. Why risk it? If you do not believe in Christ, and yet still want to celebrate the holiday, why lie? Why can't you just say the whole tradition is fun and you enjoy it and you like giving folk presents?
I think the number one reason folk do the whole fantasy thing is because their parents did it. It is tradition, and those die hard. Christmas itself is a collection of traditions adapted from various Winter Solstice celebrations.
Jesus certainly wasn't born in December no matter what all those stories show you. But Christians wanted to enjoy their traditions and the church felt December was as good a time as any to celebrate the birth of our savior. The difference between Christian symbols and the red suited myth is that we believe the stories we tell our kids.
I believe Christ has eternal life, so when I tell my kids we choose evergreen to decorate as a symbol to remember His eternal life I mean it. I tell my kids we decorate the tree with all sorts of fun tidbits of our life to remind us of all the wonderful blessings we have.
We use the advent candles and crèche to remember the story. Presents recall not only the greatest gift from our Father but also the story of the Magi giving Jesus gifts (and yes I know that was several years after birth, and I tell my kids so)
No part of our tradition requires me to lie. I never have to worry that my children will 'discover the truth' I have tried to give them the truth from day one.
October 1st, 2009 at 01:10 pm 1254402659
But yeah, October is my "peak month" for holiday shopping. Hoping to have it done before the month is out.
October 1st, 2009 at 01:40 pm 1254404434
There are two sides to every story. We are a family that opts for Santa, however he isn't a point that we emphasize. We don't go to visit him at the mall; rather we see him a church-sponsored dinner were the Holy Family enters first. We discuss the lives of saints and St. Nicholas is a pretty good one to illustrate the true spirit of giving. I wonder what these folks would say about the South American tradition of the Christ Child bringing one gift to a child at Christmas?! And comment 4 totally annoys me!
October 1st, 2009 at 01:44 pm 1254404697
It worked out for us, but I've heard lots of stories about people who had a hard time when they found out the truth about Santa.
I would have skipped Santa entirely, but I didn't think I could pull that off!
October 1st, 2009 at 01:49 pm 1254404961
October 1st, 2009 at 02:14 pm 1254406492
As for lieing to my kids, I have done that. Not just about Santa. When my son was first learning to draw, I applauded his artwork. It was not anything impressive, it was squiggles and scribbles, but I made over it like it was a masterpiece. That is lieing. When I told my daughter that her ballon that she lost in the wind went up to heaven and made Grandpa very ahppy, well, that was another lie. I do not feel that telling these types of lies are bad. My children seem to be very thoughtful, caring, intelligent children. I do not feel bad telling falsehoods to them to help encourage them and build their confidence. Childhood is very short. I hope my children will look back with happy memories! I know I sure do!!
October 1st, 2009 at 02:49 pm 1254408560
As to drawing, I call my kids scribbles what they are, wonderful amazing scribbles, because I watch and wait as EL struggles to get the crayon to mark on the paper, and I applaud that for the achievement it is. I don't have to lie, it is wonderful to see her learn to mark up paper.
Later it is wonderful to see UE choose colors, and describe what he scribbled. Still further on I see GMC and JC making real figures, OK so GMC mostly goes with stick figures-I don't applaud the art much, I applaud the story that goes with it. JC is learning how to make animals and people that actually look like animals and people, she is better at drawing than I am. I never said it was Monet, or Raphael, just that it is impressive.
BTW I find strangers more short tempered at Christmas...especially the store clerks!
October 1st, 2009 at 02:57 pm 1254409068
We all want to raise healthy and happy kids. I've worked in both an adolescent psychiatric unit and a NFP home for mentally and behaviorally challenged kids. I can personally tell you that none of the problems I saw resulted from finding out the Santa was a myth. And I've met plenty of homeschooled kids who are happy and bright and well-adjusted individuals. As long as we parent without the intent to harm, I think we'll all do a decent job.
October 1st, 2009 at 03:57 pm 1254412639
In these discussions, it's rather moot for my family. The kids already know, so there isn't any lying. The day my son seriously asked me if elves were real, I told him the truth. No, I would never outright lie to my child. For that I agree. He no doubt told his brother. But the little one could care less anyway, he lives in a fantasy world anyway.
Interestingly, my husband was very happy he did find out because as an atheist he didn't want him believing fantasies and such. The day he figured it out my spouse felt he had done his job as a parent. He was impressed we had a young critical thinker. I can't say I Was the same as a child - another child had to tell me the truth and I didn't believe them!
Which leads me to religion and Christmas. My spouse's family is very Catholic and yet I have never seen any amount of religion in their Christmas celebration. Beyond dragging us to Midnight Mass once or twice in our younger years. That's it - it is not celebrated as a religous holiday as far as I Can tell. I think part of it is they know it isn't a real and true Christian holiday. Obviously it is not JEsus's birthday.
I grew up in a melting pot and everyone celebrated Christmas - no matter what the religion for the most part. To me it has come to mean a winter tradition or an American holiday. What is funny is now that we live in a much more white/conservative area, my atheist and Jewish (understandably) friends are VERY anti-Christmas. They get really pissed off that we would celebrate the holiday as atheists. It's like, hello? Is there really anything remotely religious about the celebration of Christmas? When it comes to Santa and Christmas Trees? It's an American Holiday, plain and simple. As such, the anti-Christmas sentiments in schools and such? I just think, "You have got to be kidding me." No, the word Christmas doesn't offend me. Now, at my child's school they celebrate a million international holidays, to embrace diversity, but we can't celebrate easter or Christmas, at school. (The area has gotten much more liberal). Gotta love it.
There is no doubt the masses go crazy at Christmas. Ugh! The funny thing is we do really focus on Christmas as a time of giving. That is the mind boggling thing to me about dh's family. To them it's little more than "spoil the kids rotten." I don't like the commercialized Christmas thing, at all, that is for sure. I think it's become something rather ugly. I give you that!
October 1st, 2009 at 03:58 pm 1254412686
In these discussions, it's rather moot for my family. The kids already know, so there isn't any lying. The day my son seriously asked me if elves were real, I told him the truth. No, I would never outright lie to my child. For that I agree. He no doubt told his brother. But the little one could care less anyway, he lives in a fantasy world anyway.
Interestingly, my husband was very happy he did find out because as an atheist he didn't want him believing fantasies and such. The day he figured it out my spouse felt he had done his job as a parent. He was impressed we had a young critical thinker. I can't say I Was the same as a child - another child had to tell me the truth and I didn't believe them!
Which leads me to religion and Christmas. My spouse's family is very Catholic and yet I have never seen any amount of religion in their Christmas celebration. Beyond dragging us to Midnight Mass once or twice in our younger years. That's it - it is not celebrated as a religous holiday as far as I Can tell. I think part of it is they know it isn't a real and true Christian holiday. Obviously it is not JEsus's birthday.
I grew up in a melting pot and everyone celebrated Christmas - no matter what the religion for the most part. To me it has come to mean a winter tradition or an American holiday. What is funny is now that we live in a much more white/conservative area, my atheist and Jewish (understandably) friends are VERY anti-Christmas. They get really pissed off that we would celebrate the holiday as atheists. It's like, hello? Is there really anything remotely religious about the celebration of Christmas? When it comes to Santa and Christmas Trees? It's an American Holiday, plain and simple. As such, the anti-Christmas sentiments in schools and such? I just think, "You have got to be kidding me." No, the word Christmas doesn't offend me. Now, at my child's school they celebrate a million international holidays, to embrace diversity, but we can't celebrate easter or Christmas, at school. (The area has gotten much more liberal). Gotta love it.
There is no doubt the masses go crazy at Christmas. Ugh! The funny thing is we do really focus on Christmas as a time of giving. That is the mind boggling thing to me about dh's family. To them it's little more than "spoil the kids rotten." I don't like the commercialized Christmas thing, at all, that is for sure. I think it's become something rather ugly. I give you that! In my corner of the world, people seemed to have lost sight of the point.
October 1st, 2009 at 04:25 pm 1254414353
"Which leads me to religion and Christmas. My spouse's family is very Catholic and yet I have never seen any amount of religion in their Christmas celebration. Beyond dragging us to Midnight Mass once or twice in our younger years. That's it - it is not celebrated as a religous holiday as far as I Can tell. I think part of it is they know it isn't a real and true Christian holiday. Obviously it is not JEsus's birthday."
Our liturgical calendar is based on the birth of Christ (Advent) and the death of Christ (Lent). The twice-a-year going Catholics miss out on everything that our faith has to offer. I personally don't need to know the exact dates for this to be one of the two central events in my faith/spiritual life. Seems to me that your DH's family might not be as Catholic as you think.
October 1st, 2009 at 04:58 pm 1254416309
The red suit and Claus are just versions of him from northern countries.
His feast day is celebrated on December 5 and he was a wonderful man, a bishop who gave away all his wealth to the poor.
I don't have kids. I do teach sunday school and I always tell the kids about Saint Nicholas.
October 1st, 2009 at 05:31 pm 1254418272
October 1st, 2009 at 05:49 pm 1254419398
My kids know a great deal about St Nicholas, as well as many other countries versions of a fellow giving gifts at Christmas time (in wooden shoes, in stockings, old fashioned Christmases, boxing day, wildflowers instead of evergreens, ect, done in high summer vs winter-culture of Christmas and winter/summer solstice is the topic of many a conversation in December.)
We found a wonderful website last year with all kinds of cultures listed side by side with what they call the gift giver and when he comes (Christmas day or 12 days later, or Dec 5th) As well as some common gifts, foods and celebrations. (candles on the head anyone)
October 1st, 2009 at 07:58 pm 1254427116
October 2nd, 2009 at 05:17 pm 1254503829
October 9th, 2009 at 06:01 pm 1255111305
history
Lots of interesting history, Last Christmas we did all sorts of googling on just where Myra was, and who stole them and what a basilica was. It was interesting. Dunno what will catch the kids interest this year.