Why We Don’t Do Santa

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This is going to sound like the biggest ba-humbug statement ever, but our family doesn’t do Santa. (I know, I can hear you gasping in horror from here). Now, please let me explain. I am not out to make my kids’ childhoods terrible or deprive them of something awesome. It is just something that we decided wasn’t something for us. Here are a few reasons why:

We want the credit.

My husband busts his butt to provide a nice home for our family and put food on the table (and I make a few pennies here and there, but nothing to support our family on). That magical moment when the kids are opening gifts and they are in AWE of the great gifts they got; oh how I live for that! And to hear them utter “thanks SANTA” instead of “thanks mom/dad”? No thanks. I spent hours planning, shopping, and wrapping. Why would I let my kids believe someone else gave them that gift? No sir! I am selfish, and I am completely ok with that!

It is confusing.

We are Christians, so we believe and teach our kids about Jesus and his birthday. That’s the meaning of the season, right? While I know there are ways to teach about Jesus and Santa cohesively and without taking away from the true meaning of the season, we just couldn’t figure out how to balance that. Our focus as parents was to point our kids to Jesus, and we felt that by introducing Santa would only take away from the true meaning of the season.

It is complicated.

Since our kids are all under the age of four, they aren’t quite to that age where they can think about the dynamics of the whole Santa thing. But, I’ve heard of the questions the kids come up with- and I can understand why it would be confusing! How can one man visit the millions of kids around the world? How does he enter homes with no fireplace? How do reindeer actually fly? How old is Santa? The story is flawed. And I know I would feel like I was lying to my kids or misleading them if I couldn’t answer sufficiently. I just can’t get beyond the fact that I would straight up lie to my kids. It just feels unnecessary.

 

We try very hard to make the Christmas season magical for our kids. So, even though we don’t introduce Santa, the season is filled with love and fun traditions. We cut down a tree at a local farm and decorate it as a family. We open special Christmas jammies. We go see Christmas lights. We open presents and stockings on Christmas morning, as well as other days throughout December with family/friends. We read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible on Christmas. Our kids watch Christmas movies, some of which have Santa in it. I am not anti-Santa, we just don’t “do” it. We are a few years into this parenting thing and our kids seem to have survived thus far!

What do you do as a family? Do you introduce Santa or not? Do you have any special traditions? Share and let me know if you agree!

Did you check out my other Christmas gift guides? Click the links below for some gift-buying inspiration!

Gift guide for men

Gift guide for women

Gift guide for children

 

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