Believing in Santa

Kyle and I have always said that our kids really wouldn't do the Santa thing. We would teach them that Santa is a fairy tale and allow them to have "Santa gifts" at Christmas but they would always know Santa wasn't a man who came down the chimney while you were sleeping and brought gifts. He would know about the old St. Nick and the history of Santa but not believe in him or elves.

  This is for two reasons. One being we wanted the only focus of Christmas to be about Jesus. Two being I don't want a child who thinks Santa brought him a ton of gifts. I want them to be grateful and know that mom and dad had to work hard to buy their gifts. 

  However, things have changed because M came to us believing in Santa. And saying he simply believes in Santa would be an understatement. M is consumed with the idea of Santa and his elves. I'm not gonna lie, the magnitude of how much he belived in Santa bothered me a little bit at first. A part of me wanted to just tell him Santa wasn't real, deal with tears and move on...but I'm not cold hearted and the last thing I want to do is break our M's heart. I also didn't want to make moms mad when my kid went to school spreading the news Santa didn't bring the gifts. 

  One thing M talked about a lot was the elf on the shelf. He loved this thing and from the way he talked, the only time he had one was when one visited his class at school. We decided to buy one. I wish we had a video of when he first saw this elf. He was ecstatic. I have to admit, moving him around at night while M is sleeping and doing creative things if fun. It's really fun to see M get into it. It also helps waking him up in the mornings. 

  We have found a good balance with having Santa and also teaching Christmas is about Christ. We talk about Jesus being why we celebrate Christmas and Santa is one way we do celebrate. Also, Kyle and I both believed in Santa and we turned out just fine. 

  Having M has taught me one major thing about Christmas. He has taught me just because you do the Santa thing doesn't mean you've forgotten the meaning of Christmas. It's fun seeing the magic of Christmas through a child's eyes. 

  We are so excited for Christmas morning and can't wait to start new traditions as a family. I'm so thankful God brought M into our lives and He did it at the perfect time. 

-Makayla