Christmas With Annie

We don’t do Santa Claus. That’s not what Christmas is about. Christmas is about the birth of our Savior. It’s about family. It’s about giving. It’s about candy and baked ham. In all seriousness, we want Annie to grow up with a firm knowledge of the meaning of Christmas. Too many kids these days see Christmas as the day when they get tons of toys from some magical figure that scoots down the chimney. They spend months dreaming up a long list of things they can “have.” The older I get, the more I realize that life isn’t about what you have. It’s about bringing glory to God using your life. You can have tons and tons of toys and be totally empty inside. When I go to the mall and see the huge line of kids waiting in line to see Santa, it almost makes me sad. Are they learning what Christmas Is REALLY all about? I don’t ever want to have that doubt with Annie.

Yes, we do give gifts. We aren’t against the idea of gift giving. Just against the idea of telling kids that Santa brings those toys……if they’re GOOD. “If you’re good kids, Santa will bring you tons of toys!” So, instead of being of good character because that’s what God commands, they’re good because of what they want to GET. It’s purely driven by selfishness. The Lord commands us to be servants as He was a servant. I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t serve his disciples so He could get the latest in the Harry Potter movie series. Giving gifts is a sign of love……because I love you, I will give you this gift. It has nothing to do with the fact that you’ve been good. I want to bless you because I love you. I love you even if you mess up. Isn’t that how Jesus acts with us?  Every good and perfect gift is from above James 1:17. It doesn’t say “Every good and perfect gift is from above if you’re good and share your toys.” Thank goodness Jesus isn’t that way with us…..or I’d get a stocking of coal every year.

You know what I hate even worse? Being at the store after Christmas and hearing someone say “If you don’t shape up, I’ll be calling Santa and telling him to come back and get your toys!” Huh? What kind of stuff are you teaching your kids? They’ll grow up thinking that all the gifts they get are based purely on merit. No. It is a GIFT! When you give someone a gift, you don’t take it back. And if you want to take your child’s toys away, don’t blame it on some mythical being. Okay, yes, some gifts are based on merit. If you child does well at the dentist getting a cavity filled, then you might take them to buy a small gift. That’s cool. That just brings me back to what I said before…..gifts are given out of love. You did well – I love you – here is a gift. But we shouldn’t teach our children to be good just to get a gift.

We do plan on telling Annie about Santa. He was actually a real person and he did many great things. It will be a great history lesson for her. He was a great man, did great things, and served out of the love in his heart……but he’s dead. Just like Elvis. Six feet under. He does not still exist in a place called the North Pole. Yes, I love all the make-believe stories and movies. They’re awesome! I watch them every year…..but I watch The Wizard of Oz too. I wouldn’t tell Annie that Glenda the Good Witch was real. So, why should I tell her that Santa is real. Isn’t that  a lie? Think of how she’d feel when she found out. She’d wonder if everything I told her had been a lie. I want our relationship to be based on truth and honesty. It’s okay to play make believe. It fosters creativity….but it’s not okay to say that something make believe is actually real. Oh, and I’m pretty sure Elvis really is dead. Sorry.

So, what do we do? We still give gifts. I give Barry gifts…..we give our family gifts. Hey, guess what? We give Annie gifts! We’re not Scrooge here. We give gifts out of the love we have for our family. We always try to give things that are needs or something that we’ve made ourselves. If the Lord has blessed us with excess funds, we might even give something that’s on the wish list! GASP! Our gifts to Annie are based on the gifts that the Three Wise Men brought to Jesus – gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gift of gold is something that is wanted/precious. When she is old enough, she’ll be able to choose this one gift; for now, we do it for her. Last year we got her a set of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that I bought off Etsy. The gift of frankincense symbolizes something spiritual. Frankincense was burned in the temple as part of worship, so for this gift we buy her something for her spiritual walk. Last year we bought her a CD of Christian songs (this kid LOVES music!). Myrrh was used for medicinal purposes back in the day, so for this gift we get something for her body. It could be clothing, lotions, etc. We chose a sleep sack for this gift last year. So, as you can see we do still celebrate Christmas but in our house the emphasis isn’t on gifts or Santa……it’s on the REAL meaning of Christmas.