We are Santa's Elves...

Eek!  It's been a while since I've blogged, though I read everyone else's blog pretty regularly.  And tonight I just want to vent/search for someone to commiserate with.  No worries friends... it's nothing serious.

My Aunt sent the kids Elf on the Shelf for Christmas.  It's a book and a stuffed elf.  The premise is that the elf is sent as a spy for Santa to report if children are being good or not, so that he knows who to bring gifts to.  Parents can have fun hiding the elf in various places in the home for the kids to find each day and know their behavior is being watched.  My Aunt seems really excited about it and I know it's a big deal for her grandsons.  Bless her heart for trying to help our family start Christmas traditions!  I LOVE Christmas traditions!  The only problem is... our family isn't going to do Santa in the traditional sense that most Americans do.

We aren't totally doing away with Santa, but we are going to be one of those Christians who want the focus of Christmas to be Jesus.  One of our biggest philosophies in parenting is to present the truth from the beginning and to start building a framework that is accessible for their maturity level.  Death, sex, heaven, hell... yes, we're going to start talking about these things very soon.  By the way, I was the 3 year old that told the pastor during a children's sermon that babies came from eggs and worms (worms, sperm, whatever).  I grew up being told these big concepts from the beginning and wasn't scarred for life :-)

The following puts our plans for Santa into good words:

I have taken the position to redeem Santa. We tell our kids that he was a real person who did live a long time ago. We also explain how people dress up as Santa and pretend to be him for fun, kind of like how young children like to dress up as pirates, princesses, superheroes, and a host of other people, real and imaginary. We explain how, in addition to the actual story of Santa, a lot of other stories have been added (e.g., flying reindeer, living in the North Pole, delivering presents to every child in one night) so that Santa is a combination of true and make-believe stories.

We do not, however, demonize Santa. Dressing up, having fun, and using the imagination God gave can be an act of holy worship and is something that, frankly, a lot of adults need to learn from children. 

 What we are concerned about, though, is lying to our children. We teach them that they can always trust us because we will tell them the truth and not lie to them. Conversely, we ask that they be honest with us and never lie. Since we also teach our children that Jesus is a real person who did perform real miracles, our fear is that if we teach them fanciful, make-believe stories as truth, it could erode confidence in our truthfulness where it really matters. So, we distinguish between lies, secrets, surprises, and pretend for our kids. We ask them not to tell lies or keep secrets, but do teach them that some surprises (like gift-giving) and pretending (like dressing up) can be fun and should be encouraged. We tell them the truth and encourage them to have fun watching Christmas shows on television and even sitting on Santa’s lap for a holiday photo if they so desire. For parents of younger children wanting them to learn the real story of Santa Claus the Veggie Tales movie Saint Nicholas is a good choice.

 You can read more on redeeming Santa here.

Anyway, back to my Aunt's gift.  I'm not sure if our household is ready to start Elf on the Shelf.  I think it is an adorable idea!  It will be fun for the kids to look for the elf each day.  But for 1.) they are still a bit too little, 2.) Ander doesn't see *that* well,  and 3.) I'm not really a fan of teaching my kids that they only get gifts if they are good.  Christ came for all *sinners* who love and follow him.  We don't receive that gift by our own merit (i.e.- being good).  I think our family is going to just enjoy playing with the cloth nativity and reading our board book of Jesus' birth for now. :-)  Now... how to explain this to my Aunt without being insulting... any thoughts?