Santa

I was putting my little girl (5yo) to bed last night and she was getting worried about Santa breaking into the house to put the stocking on her bed during the night.  She takes a wide berth at shopping centres when she sees the Santa sleigh because she's a bit freaked out by him.  The whole thing is a bit strange to me.  I don't see the appeal in plonking your screaming child on the lap of a large, bearded stranger while yelling 'smile' at them.

We've never been into Santa.  It's not based on a particularly strong philosophical position (my parents merrily lied to me about Santa for years and they're missionaries).  Mostly we never got into it because we want the focus of Christmas to firmly remain on Jesus (and that's hard enough in the face of the endless discussion about presents, Santa and food).  But also partly (as usual) because we're a bit lazy.  One set of presents was enough for me to cope with.  The idea of stockings was beyond me.  And plus I didn't want the kids waking at 3am to check for stockings.

Last year we did stockings for the first time.  The kids are a bit older and so don't wake up in the middle of the night.  They enjoyed it.  And they know it isn't actually from Santa.

But the poor 5 yo is still not quite sure despite us all reassuring her that he's not real.  Lots of talk about Santa at preschool has confused her.  And preschool teachers hold a lot of power in her little life.

Hoping we can help her to not feel worried about Santa this week and talk instead about the real meaning of Christmas. And it's not 'being together with family' as I keep hearing. It's simply about Jesus.