Santa Clause

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey there. You're listening to Rooted at Home with Christian Lloyd, kids pastor at Edmonds First Baptist Church. Diving into real life topics that impact kids, parents and families today and discovering what God's word has to say about them. [00:00:13] Speaker B: Hey everybody. It's a new episode of Rooted at Home and I told you we were going to talk about some holiday or Christmas related things and so we're going to do that today. We're going to talk about Santa Claus. So nice fun topic for all parents out there. Um, I do have Aaron with me, our preschool director, so she's gonna lend her boundless wisdom. [00:00:35] Speaker A: Um, I don't know about that. [00:00:37] Speaker B: I mean you are a little older than I am, so you do have wisdom there. But so just gonna talk about Santa and then just kind of some Christmas in general and then the next podcast we'll have is we're gonna talk about Christmas traditions and so I think that'll be pretty fun too. But so as far as Santa goes, if you don't know, Santa's kind of based on St Nicholas, who was a 4th century bishop and he was really known for giving to the poor and kind of being a, a saint. And he wasn't. There's no magical things about him or whatnot. But Santa seemed over time, especially in, as the centuries went on and on, Santa became this red suit fat man who laughs jolly and has a sleigh and has this North Pole and all these little elves to follow him around and does all this bidding and things like that became this whole new what he is now, I guess you could say. And really when you, when you talk about Santa, the first thing you think of is that Santa brings gifts. And so I think Santa Claus has been, and Christmas in general, which we'll get into a little bit, but has been commercialized. It's very. You gotta buy all the things. I don't know about Aaron here or even you guys, but Christmas is all about, well, gotta make sure my kids have the exact same number of presents or I gotta make sure I've spent the same amount of money on this kid as I did that kid. And I don't know, it kind of drives me crazy sometimes. I don't know about you, but I. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Mean I've counted my kids presents a couple of times to make sure they have the equal amount. So. So I don't know how well I feed into that. [00:02:17] Speaker B: Well, my wife has also counted all the presents and we found out we thought we had more gifts for our seven year old, but it turned out we had More gifts for our 2 year old. Or maybe that's opposite way, but anyways, we've done the same thing. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Well sometimes one child is way easier to buy for than the other. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So Santa today of course is this magical figure who knows when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake and he knows if you've been naughty or nice. And it's very much used I think during the year, especially when you get to the holidays of hey, Santa knows what you're doing so if you don't listen, Santa's not going to come bring presents or hey, Santa knows you better listen so that way he can bring you exactly what you want. Kind of Santa oftentimes, I think not necessarily in biblical, in Christian families, but sometimes in Christian families as well, kind of becomes the, the person to help drive obedience around Christmas time and you lose the. Instead of saying hey, God's word says we need to pay attention and we need to not do this action, it's kind of used as a hey, Santa knows that you just did that so now you're going to get coal in your stocking. [00:03:27] Speaker A: Right. [00:03:27] Speaker B: And the Bible just doesn't. That's not what the Bible says. [00:03:31] Speaker A: Right. [00:03:31] Speaker B: So, so just in general, when you look at Santa and kind of Jesus, Santa, of course this mythical being knows if you're bad or good and you're being watched all the time, which I've always thought is kind of creepy in that song. Like Santa knows when you're asleep and knows when you're awake and like he knows if you've been bad or good. Like it's just kind of creepy to be honest. Especially can he can just drop in your house at any time. Doesn't even have a key. Like I don't even have a fireplace. How's he gonna get in my house? But apparently he can. But then you look at Jesus and the true reason for the season and that he's. He really is omniscient. He's all knowing and he's holy and perfect and he judges as well. He's only the, he's the only one that can judge. It's because he's holy and perfect. But he's not just about punishment, punishment, punishment. I mean we know through salvation we get grace. He's full of grace. Our whenever we mess up, we're forgiven. But ultimately of course the greatest gift that he gave was salvation, which is through Jesus, which being born on Christmas. But a lot of times he's overshadowed by a fat man in A red suit. [00:04:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:42] Speaker B: But again, you know Santa and talk about rewards and things that you get. If you do good, you get this. If you do bad, you get coal. Of course, the true meaning of Christmas is Christ was born and he eventually became well, died on the cross for our sins and gives us salvation by grace. And that it's not based on this work space kind of thing. You don't have to be good just to get a gift from Santa. And so one thing that I think would. That a lot of parents maybe struggle with, maybe they don't struggle with, I don't know, is the. Do you even use Santa Claus? Do you tell your kids about Santa? Do you. If you're a Christian household, is it okay to essentially lie to your children that a fat man knows when you're asleep and you're awake or he is gonna bring a coal in your stocking? Is. Is that okay or is it not okay? Um, I know my family. We do Santa. Um, I originally didn't plan on doing Santa. Cause before, when we first had our first daughter, I was very staunch on, well, that's a lie and we're not gonna do that. Cause it's clearly a lie. But now we're doing Santa. So I don't know what that tells you, but a lot of parents do that. What about you, Erin? Did you do any Santa Claus? [00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah, we do Santa. Even though my kids are 17 and 13, they don't believe anymore. And so we still, you know, do the stockings and the. They have a big gift that comes from Santa. Used to, when they were little, they would write a letter to Santa of what they wanted and he ate the cookies and, you know, drank the milk and. Yeah, and so we did that. But they also knew the true meaning of Christmas and that Christ was born. And we never, you know, over exaggerated Santa like we. They always knew. We'd always talk about Christ and what he did and why he came and. But now that they're older, it's. It is a little bit different. They, again, they don't believe, but we still fill the stockings. And I'm sure we're still put out cookies and, and milk because I. It's a tradition, you know, and so sometimes it's hard to get away from those traditions. So. [00:07:08] Speaker B: No, sometimes it's not necessarily a bad thing. Yeah, the traditions either. Which. We'll talk again more about traditions in the next episode. But, yeah, I think kids, especially the young kids, you said they're older now, so they don't really believe in Santa. But the Younger kids, I mean, they. They just. They just latch onto it because it's. It's a fun. It's a fun thing. Like, it's important to tell kids the. Between real and concrete. And a lot of times it's. It's easy to kind of blur the line sometimes. And so you get kids that believe in Santa, but then they start to ask questions of, well, if Santa's not real, then what about Jesus? What about, you know, the other. These other truths and things? But parents do tend to reinforce whatever they teach. Kids are sponges. And so if the parents are like, no, Santa's absolutely real, and then it just kind of helps play into that. But, yeah, I know there's a few. The way that some people do kind of approach it is they either just tell their kids, hey, we're not gonna do Santa at all. We're not doing Santa. Santa doesn't. Doesn't exist. And you just kind of rip the band aid off and do that way. Which a lot of times those kids then go to their school and start telling all the other kids that Santa doesn't exist and ruining the magic for other people. Um, but then I know a lot of times, like, kind of akin, like you said, and a lot of other families, too, I think at least Christian families seem to do this. And that's where they do Santa as a. Like a. He's a fairy tale. He's not real. But it's fun that we can play and we can, you know, still do Santa without losing the full meaning of Christmas. [00:08:48] Speaker A: Right. [00:08:49] Speaker B: Without, you know, messing up with the image that Jesus and what he did for us and him being born and not being able to ruin that along with Santa. So I think a lot of families, at least that I've talked to, seem to do that. They just kind of treat Santa as a. Yeah, is, you know, a fairy tale, kind of like the tooth fairy or something like that. [00:09:06] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:06] Speaker B: Not that you tell the tooth fairy is real, but that's a whole nother topic for another whole other topic thing. So. But then. Then of course, you got those parents that Santa is completely. And just. They're fully down the rabbit hole of Santa's real, and they will kind of. Kind of. I kind of like. And if you fully believe Santa's real and you teach your kids that, then you're probably also do the Elf on the Shelf kind of thing, is my thought. But I've never done. I. Parker has asked for us to do Elf on the Shelf, but I just know. I don't think I can have that level of commitment to move the thing constantly or to. [00:09:40] Speaker A: Right, right. Yeah, us either. We've never done that. I don't feel like I've known about it that long. And then I guess it's been around for lot longer than I thought. But I would always forget just one more thing on my to do list. [00:09:54] Speaker B: It's already enough when you gotta wake up early to take kids to practices or to go to school or to get em ready and then. Yep, oh shoot. I forgot to move our elf to go do something. And yeah, yeah. It just seems like it'd just be too hard to keep up with. [00:10:07] Speaker A: Yeah, a little bit. [00:10:07] Speaker B: I was at Walmart the other day and I noticed they have now, now you can also get instead of elf on a shelf, you can get Snoop on a stoop and it's Snoop Dogg on a house. So I thought that was kind of funny. [00:10:19] Speaker A: Of course I'm not surprised. [00:10:24] Speaker B: But when you think of Santa too, you think of all the gifts. And I think that's one thing that when you look at Santa, that was a lot of. A lot of families do. And, and I think Santa's reasoning, I guess you can say behind Santa becoming a thing was of course for fun and that giving gifts and whatnot. But everything's commercialized now in our, in our world where you just feel like you have to go big on gifts and you have to go big on things and Santa Claus just brings all these gifts. And one thing I know that we do that's different than what some other families have done. I think there's a few that I've talked to, but is we do Santa Claus, but Santa brings a small gift. Santa doesn't bring the big gifts. And so Santa brings something like the small toy, but the bigger gifts. Like this year we've got a bicycle for Parker as a big gift and Santa is gonna not bring a bicycle because again, we like the idea of having fun with Santa and that being part of the season because I just think it's fun and the kids like it. But we also don't want Santa to be the one that provides big things. [00:11:32] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:11:33] Speaker B: For some reason that's just always something we've done is Santa provides a small thing and then mom and dad are the ones that get the big things. So plus I think it helps with an unrealistic expectation. I talked to when I got my haircut earlier this week, somehow Santa came up and as we were talking and she talked about how she did Santa Claus and things, but how they I mean, they just went big with all the Santa things. It was. Santa brought pretty much all the gifts, not the parents. And so when. Whenever their kids found out that Santa was real, that kind of threw him for a loop, that they felt almost betrayed by the mom. And so it was. Yeah, she talked a lot about it. It was interesting. [00:12:11] Speaker A: I also wonder if it's like how you were raised. Like, I was raised with my parents. They did. Santa brought the big gifts, and so it was just never really. And I don't know if Trent was ever raised that way. I don't know. I'd have to ask him. But I just wonder if that just kind of rolled over, you know? But I've never even thought about giving the small gifts and that being from Santa and parents did the big gifts, you know, so just. You get older, you get a little bit wiser and you're like, I wish I would have thought of that when I was. Our kids were younger, you know, I just. [00:12:51] Speaker B: It's kind of a cool thing that you said. You get older and wiser and I'm not older or wiser than you. You're definitely older than I am, but. [00:12:57] Speaker A: Maybe not wiser, but things I wish I would have known when I was younger. How about that? [00:13:01] Speaker B: Oh, okay. [00:13:02] Speaker A: I'll never live that down now. [00:13:04] Speaker B: No, absolutely. And it's forever saved on a podcast. [00:13:06] Speaker A: So it's very true. [00:13:07] Speaker B: If you are listening in, make sure to tell Aaron she's old. Um. [00:13:11] Speaker A: Oh, thanks. [00:13:12] Speaker B: But if the topic of Santa Claus does come up, which is a hey, mom, dad, is Santa real? I heard someone talking to me about it at school, which I'll say school is like the worst for that. Most kids learn that. But I will say I accidentally from the stage and kids church said the told them that the tooth fairy wasn't real one time, but thankfully no. At least no parents said anything about it. So this is a few years ago. So hopefully I can keep the track record of not spoiling something like that. But if they do bring it up, that's just your opportunity to. If they're old enough to ask the question, then I think it's important that you just talk about them. And yeah, I would encourage you. I know as. As families, you can do what you want to do, of course, but I would just encourage you to. If they ask that question, then that's your opportunity to not reinforce the lie of Santa. Unless, of course, if they're four and they really don't know what they're asking, I think you can get away with kind of, of course he's real, blah blah, blah, and just move on. But if they're 7, 8, 9, 10 or whatever it may be, then it's an opportunity to just talk to him about, you know, Santa isn't real. But here's, you know, give an explanation of why Santa isn't real. But then talk about, of course, the real meaning behind Christmas. And Jesus is the greatest gift and he gave us the greatest gift through salvation and that, you know, God, that your parents have provided the gifts for Santa and just talk about how even though the traditions and lights and joy and all, all these things that we do during Christmas time is important, but that if you're going to focus on Santa or some other aspect that isn't true necessarily, that you need to make sure that they understand Jesus is the reason for the season. [00:14:45] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:46] Speaker B: Which of course, if you're already teaching that, that just it's kind of an easy segue into that if you haven't really, if you don't distinguish that with your kids, which I would highly encourage you to do. So that kind of makes the talk harder. But. But yeah. Do you have any other thoughts on Santa Claus and anything like that? [00:15:04] Speaker A: I don't think so off the top of my head. [00:15:07] Speaker B: Well, if you, if you guys have any questions or anything about Santa that you want to ask about, or if you completely disagree with whatever we said and you're like, nope, Santa is gung ho. We, we love Santa and we're going to stick by it, then feel free to talk to us and let us know. I'd love to talk with you about it and get Yalls thoughts on it as well. So feel free to call or text or email us because we'd love to hear from you. And if you ever think that if you guys have a topic as a parent that you want to talk about again, feel free to reach out and tell us. I've already got some list a few different topics from people, but if you want to hear it, just let us know. And if you even want to be a part of the podcast, anybody can join us. So if you have a subject you want to talk about, you're more than welcome to and we'd love to have you on, but if not, thanks for joining us and we'll see you next time to talk about Christmas traditions. [00:15:54] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to Rooted at Home, where faith and family take root together. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to like share and subscribe so you never miss a conversation that helps kids, parents and families grow in God's word.