You’d Better Watch Out, You’d Better Not Cry…
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I’m going to tell you right off the bat that some of you are going to BOO me over this post. And some of you may unsubscribe. Some of you, though, may actually find it quite interesting…
I’m weeding Santa out of Christmas at the Oliver house.
There. I said it.
Consider this:
~St. Nicholas Day is December the 6th not even on Dec 25th; Dec. 6th is day when the Catholic church traditionally honor(ed/s) St. Nicholas by giving in kind as he freely gave to those in need. Somehow St. Nick got linked to Christmas Day on December 25th - I haven’t found that one yet, but I HAVE learned…
~The tradition of St. Nick was brought to America by Vikings, Spanish & Dutch settlers - the tradition had spread to other countries in Europe. The Puritans and Separatists did NOT bring the tradition with them, since both groups took a dim view of Saints. Obviously the tradition had morphed a bit as it spread to other countries and then to America. Ironically, since the pilgrims were not practicing the holiday, this actually allowed it to change in the hands of the immigrant celebrators, rather then keeping it intact with it’s original focus.
~St. Nick himself was “morphed” from a priest to a “dutch-like” elf much later by Washington Irving’s “Knickerbocker History of New York” in 1809 in heavily Dutch-influenced New York. His new image was further transformed and sealed by “Children’s Friend” in 1821 and “Twas the Night Before Christmas” in 1823 (and since then Santa and his posse has grown to include Rudolph, elves and the like by additional fictional works of fancy.)
~By the 1920’s Santa looked as he does today and pretty much all that was left of Saint Nick was the name. In the 1930’s Santa was permanently melded into American culture with the beginning of a long-running series of Coca-Cola ads featuring Santa Claus himself. It was no large leap from there to the (inevitable?) commercialization of Santa and Christmas.
Whereas Saint Nicholas was most definitely a real person, who by all evidence did in fact live his life by giving and loving others because of his love for God and Jesus.. and while “St. Nick” may at its very earliest point been derived from the story of this man.. “St. Nick’s” whole ‘existence’ is based on satirical and fictional tales early on, and commercialism, advertising, and Hollywood later on, and has very little (if anything at all) in common with the Saint Nicholas of the Catholic church.
While I once said the same thing, I don’t see how we (society, Christians, anybody) can make the claim that we can tell our kids Santa Claus is based on Saint Nicholas and is nice and good because it’s all about giving like St. Nick gave - when Santa has so very little basis on the original tradition. This is something I’ve struggled with/over for years and has really become quite clear with further research this year.
We’ve been celebrating Advent for at least 5 years now and it’s something that we’ve really enjoyed doing as a family,.. even though we still open presents on Christmas Day and still have a couple of secular traditions, watch a few Christmas movies with Santa in them. I make a point with my kids to start laying the foundation early on that Santa is just a symbol, a symbol for the secular Christmas, and that’s about it. While I am not Catholic and don’t agree with the worshiping of saints, I do believe we can learn from others who have lived their lives well, and as such, I do include stories and books about the REAL Saint Nick during our Advent celebrations.
Of course the real “star” of Christmas is Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, not under a tree but laying under a twinkling sky with one shiny Star of Bethlehem overhead. The real story of Christmas is how this tiny baby was God’s fulfillment of salvation, our Savior come to make right with God things we could have never made right on our own. The real “happy ending” to the story (because you can’t just read the beginning of the story and leave out the end) is that the price paid in that last moment on the cross when Jesus’ breathing stopped in sacrificial offering was sufficient to cover the unimaginable offense of sin once and for all. And then, too, when death did not hold it’s grasp over Him but God’s sovereignty over all was displayed as Jesus emerged from the tomb, victorious. And yet the story STILL is not over, as the Earth moves ever forward to one last battle, one last victory over sin and death and the devil himself. One last victory, once and for all.
That, is the true joy of Christmas, the true focus of Advent. It is more than enough joy and glory and celebration and exultation for our holiday celebration.
Santa suit…just simply not required.
(Main source for St Nick history/info: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/ Image: Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, January 1, 1881, Val Berryman Collection from the same website.)
P.S. I penned the majority of this article in a comment on this post, which obviously then inspired the one you just read.
Update: Read more about how we fired Santa HERE.
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12 Responses “You’d Better Watch Out, You’d Better Not Cry…”
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[...] of you know that I’d decided to weed Santa from our Christmas traditions and celebrations. I hadn’t decided exactly how or what exactly I would do this year or if [...]
I really liked this post. Thanks for sharing. I have been thinking about this topic as well. I can’t believe how quickly Christmas has come this year.
I also read and love the way that you wrote your disclosure policy. I tried to comment on it, but I guess you can’t, so I am commenting here.
Blessings
Honey
We have never done any gifts from Santa. We read a story about the real St. Nicolas, so my children know about him and that other people pretend. But like you, our focus is on advent, the coming of Jesus. An absence of Santa does not mean an absence of memories.
No booing from this household either. We have always believed that if we invested in the myth of Santa that our children would look at us one day and think Jesus was a myth as well. Our Christmas is focused on his birth and the gifts we exchange are a symbol of giving for his birthday. My children are excited that Baby Jesus is coming (and arguing who gets to put him in the manger on the Advent calendar….) Be blessed! Thanks for sharing your heart!
Great post Amber!!
Thanks for writing on a topic that for most is so ‘taboo’. We don’t do Santa Clause at our house and quite frankly it’s challenging to know how to respond to the many, many people who say stuff….and sadly it falls to my kids to try and come up with an answer sometimes. We recently had an issue with this at gym class and my 4 yo was treated not so well by the ADULTS of all things when she stated that Santa Clause wasn’t real but Jesus is and that’s why we celebrate Christmas. What’s frustrating to me is that we teach our kids the truth while others are actually making up all kinds of lies to support their story and yet I have to admonish my kids on how to respond to questions about Santa in order for people to not take offence. Anyway, didn’t mean to go off on a rant or anything. This has just been something that’s been a bigger deal for us this year and it’s so nice to actually read about someone who feels the same way!
I have enjoyed your blog immensely but feel you may be misinformed on Catholicism. Catholics honor saints; they do not worship them.
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/customs/rosary/mary_worship.asp
Blessings to you and your family during this holiday season.
We do Santa at my house..always have and always will but that doesn’t mean I would criticize or unsubscribe. I think your stand has very valid reasoning behind it and while I don’t take the same stand, I certainly understand where you are coming from. As a Catholic, I do agree with Lisa though. The whole concept of Mary and the saints is very misconstrued by many non-Catholics. We don’t worship them nor do we pray to them as some (even some Catholics!) think. We honour them and we ask them to pray FOR us. People often misuse those terms without realizing it.
Lisa, Cyn - Thanks for the comments and support. Thanks also for pointing out that line, and its shortcomings. I don’t think it came across as intended. I didn’t intend to make a dig at Catholicism, I have no qualms with the denomination at its most basic level.
I really intended the line to read more like “even though I am not Catholic (and so have no reason to be celebrating a holiday for a Saint) and while I don’t agree with the worshiping of saints (so I’m not going there) I DO think that we can learn from others who have lived their lives well…”
But since you brought it up… ; ) … I do also think there ARE some Catholics who cross the line into worshiping the saints. And I think how you view that also depends on how you define worship. If you mean “laying down your all and devoting your whole life to” then no, I don’t personally know anybody who has gone that far for a saint. But if you mean, “giving honor and reference to one who is considered holy and divine” then yea, I do have the impression that most Catholics consider Mary to be holy AND divine and pray to her the same as someone else might pray for the Holy Spirit or Jesus to intercede on their behalf. If that’s not correct, I’d love to hear more.
Still, I’m not convicted that these are divisive salvific issues. I don’t mean to offend or condemn any of my Catholic friends. Thanks for speaking up! ~Amber
You are so right that there ARE some Catholics who cross the line. I am not a “cradle Catholic” - I converted so I had to study Catholicism - plus then I became a Catholic school teacher and had to take religion courses in conjunction with that. The discussions in our courses were interesting - it amazed me the number of cradle Catholics who thought they knew the Church’s teachings and sat there in shock as they were taught what it really says. Even in the rosary it asks Mary to “pray for us” - but many many people including Catholics misinterpret that and think they are to pray TO her. But then again there are many many Catholics who think that the Immaculate Conception refers to Jesus’s conception and it doesn’t. The problem is that people have these misconceptions and then they pass them along from generation to generation and in the past studying the Bible and Catholic teachings was not encouraged the way it should have been so there was no correction of these misconceptions. I even know priests who misquote Catholic teachings because they too were cradle Catholics and yes they went to seminary but some of the basics that they misunderstand weren’t covered there in favour of more in-depth theology. For example, I knew a priest who didn’t know where the congregation was supposed to genuflect and bow to - it’s supposed to be to the tabernacle where we believe Jesus’ body and blood reside in the church but he thought it was supposed to be towards him and the altar. I’ll stop now LOL because I could go on with many examples. Our church is not perfect, our members and priests are not perfect, and this may not be a popular thing for me to say among other Catholics but sometimes we do the most damage and create the most misconceptions about our church ourselves. By the way, I didn’t think you offended or condemned us in any way at all. I thought you handled it all very respectfully and I appreciate that.
We weeded Santa out of our house and traditions this year once and for all!!! Praise the Lord!!! I’ve hated the lying for years, but didn’t know how to start over. We are now starting new traditions. Thanks for your article - really encouraging!!!