Christmas seems to have lost some of its magic in recent years. Tidings of good cheer and goodwill towards men have faded in the bustle of the commercial holiday season. A spirit of giving has been replaced by a spirit of getting, and what once was the happiest season of the year has become for many the most stressful. Somewhere along the way, we've lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas.
For evangelical Christians, the natural response is to push hard against this cultural move toward consumerism. Many Christian parents have gravitated toward more religious expressions of celebration rather than upholding secular traditions. One of the first things to go in many of these genuinely Christ-seeking families is Santa Claus. They point a finger at the man in the red suit for the undue commercialization of our children. Santa Claus, some would argue, is the reason that so many of today's adults are selfish and obsessed with novelty in the consumer world. He teaches them that Christmas, a holiday intended for centuries to be about the birth of Christ, is about receiving gifts, planting a red-and-green seed of greediness and irreverence in their susceptible hearts.
While I have seen, even in my own lifetime, a shift in the way our culture views the Christmas season, I believe Saint Nick to be falsely accused. Santa Claus is not the problem. Sin is.
I was the kid who got into fights on the playground about whether or not Santa Claus was real. I wrote letters. I baked cookies. I even left bowls of carrot sticks and water out for the reindeer. I believed in Santa Claus for a good three years by sheer force of will after I was explicitly told by a parent that he wasn't real. I remember listening for sleigh bells and reindeer hooves on the roof as I fell asleep. I remember waking with my stocking at the foot of my bed and hearing Santa's big, black boots clomping down the hallway. Santa didn't make me greedy. He reinforced the joy and magic of giving to others, an idea presented by the mystery and beauty of God's gift of His Son as a baby.
As an adult, giving gifts is one of my favorite things to do. I love Christmas because it's a season that celebrates giving, whether it's the gift of a present, the gift of a good conversation over a good meal, the gift of friendship and family, or the gift of Jesus Christ. Santa Claus doesn't take away from the true meaning of Christmas, he enhances it. While the commercialization of society is an alarming reality, it isn't perpetuated by a jolly man in a sleigh who spends his life giving gifts to children. You might find sin dressed in a Santa suit or covered in tinsel, but in the end, it's sin, not Santa, that causes selfishness and greed.
My children will read the Christmas story out of Luke every year. They will sing "Silent Night" and "Away in a Manger." They will put ornaments on the Christmas tree. They will bake the "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" cake. They will have gifts under the tree from Santa Claus and, by the grace of God, they will grow up to be generous individuals who never forget what a blessing it is to give to others.
