As Promised...The Santa Post

I finished Treasuring God in Our Traditions today, but my mind is still busily processing. I feel like I have a general idea about how the Piper's used "everyday" routines and "especially" traditions to teach their children about Christ, but now I need to go back through the chapters, consider the rhythms and habits and traditions of my own family and make sure that God is the focus and the reason for them. That's quite a task.

Since I talked a little bit about the "everyday" traditions in this previous post, I'll share what I learned about "especially" traditions in this post, or rather, I'll share what I am currently digesting in my heart and mind.

To begin her discussion of special days and holidays , she said this:

"God Himself appointed special days, such as Passover, for His people and gave them ceremonies to set those days off from the others."

and this:

"The ceremony of a special day keeps it from slipping away like any ordinary day."

and this:

"Our 'especially' traditions anchor us and our children in the harbor of our family, reflecting our true refuge - God. The way we observe these occasions - the focus of our observation - has great potential to show our children what we think is most important and to help them value what we hold most dear."

In short, these days, their traditions and the preparation of them are opportune moments in our year to remind us and our children what God has done, moments to worship Him. And so, Mrs. Piper suggests that as we create the culture of our homes, let us strategically create traditions that accomplish that goal.

Alright...so about Christmas and Easter and magical holiday creatures...here we go. This is the reason I started reading this book after all. (It has been so much more though!)

After reading the previous 75 pages, I wasn't at all surprised when I came to the Christmas and Easter chapters and read that her family does not incorporate Santa Claus or the Easter bunny into their holiday celebrations. Everything they do is very intentional and purposeful and drenched in Scripture...it is all pointing to God and His Story.

Noel addresses the issue of Santa Claus specifically, and very clearly articulates the struggle I feel in my heart year after year. While Santa may be a good, jolly character, his economy, make-believe as it may be, is the complete opposite of the economy of God. Santa's economy is based on behavior, God's economy is based on His grace and mercy and has nothing to do with our behavior.
But they're both good and we should believe in them both?
Is that not confusing?
Do we, as humans not have enough trouble trusting that God does not love us based on our works?

The rest of my frustration falls under the fact that the Santa story and all that goes with it is horribly distracting from The Point. I'm not going to go to Suzy's birthday party and sing about Amy. Why is it acceptable to sing about and celebrate someone else when it is the birth of the Christ that we are celebrating? Is His story not fabulous enough that we have to supplement the holiday with tiny elves and red-nosed reindeer? I've heard people say before that it's fun for the children to make-believe and it's a magical time. Well, the Christmas story may not be make-believe, but it is certainly magical and mysterious and interesting and beautiful and it changes lives forever. Santa never did that.

Now, despite the fact that I have pretty strong convictions on this subject, I confess that in the midst of the holidays, I am less resolute. Partly because Casey and I haven't really had to face the Santa Claus issue with Braelyn yet and have still been solidifying our thoughts. But also, because I don't want to be the "Scrooge" or the "Grinch Who Stole Christmas,"...I know that's what people think! And then there's the question about if my kid tells all the other kids the truth about Santa...like that "sin" single-handedly robs the children of their childhood and innocence...is anybody else catching the irony of all this? It seems so ridiculous, but the pressure to be a Santa supporter is so strong. I wonder if there is such a pressure, even amongst Christians, to worship Christ in this season?

I haven't worked this all out in my mind yet, remember, I am still processing! But I think at this point, I would feel uncomfortable making Santa Claus or the Easter bunny part of our family traditions. I am not going to wear t-shirts about it or put bumper stickers on my car, or even evangelize against Santa, but I just can't tell my daughter that Christ is the greatest, most satisfying, most enjoyable Person she'll ever know and then on the holidays that remind us of the things that He has done, bring in some other character. I just can't.

So what do we do? Noel offers some beautiful suggestions for making Christ the King of all of our celebrations. I strongly recommend that you read her book for yourself. Not only will you get ideas from her, but as you're reading, you'll find yourself thinking creatively about implementing your own God-centered traditions. I would love to share some of the ideas I've been thinking about, but I think I'll do that another day, or perhaps, around that particular holiday. In turn, I would love to hear some of the special things that you do in your family. The conversation's not over :).

For now, I'll close with these quotes:

"My goal is that we evaluate our traditions. It's not enough to do things just because that's the way we've always done them. We must think about our traditions. If an activity or custom says what we mean about God and our relationship with Him, we keep it. Some we'll want to change and some we'll want to set aside to make place for something new."

and:

"May the ceremonies of our homes be true ceremony-
from Him,
because of Him,
pointing towards Him,
honoring Him,
thanking Him."