to santa or not to santa

Why do people get horribly angry about children not believing in Santa Claus?

The word "belief" holds such a strong meaning. Wars are fought over them. People are willing to die for them. They separate neighbors and yet connect strangers.

As a person, to "believe" in something is just about the most definitive a statement one can make.

So, in insisting that a child must believe in Santa does strike me as a little dangerous. Espeically since -spoiler alert- we all KNOW (which is another word for "believe") that he is not real.

Now, don't get me wrong, we aren't going to be one of those families who turn Santa into a four letter word. However, we are going to let our daughter know that he's "pretend" just like all of the other storybook characters she enjoys. If she wants to make-believe that he is her gift-giver at Christmas, we can pretend with her. And yes, we will make sure she knows not to tell her friends any differently than they believe. But I just don't see any positives to telling Lilah that Santa is real...

The whole Christmas story (not the bible one) just sounds like a web of lies woven one night when a parent got caught off guard by an inquisitive child.

I can imagine (I pretend this, not believe it)-- It started with little Susie wanting to know the truth about St. Nicholas, and some well-meaning dad who failed his Saint's history class just started babbling.

"How does Santa get into the house if we are all asleep?"

"Umm..... through the chminey?"

"How does Santa get on the roof?"

"Umm....a magical sleigh?"

"What pulls the sleigh?"

"Umm... flying reindeer?"

"Where does he get all the presents?"

"Umm...he makes them?"

"How does he make ALL of them?"

"Umm...he has elves who help him?"

And from this, Susie the chatterbox five-year-old spread to all her friends, the Christmas story as we know it today.

I think the "magic" surrounding Christmas is wonderful. I love how so many people from different backgrounds all come together in celebration of... well, children. Because honestly, it's not really the "mass" of Christ which brings mankind together at holidays.

It's the season of giving. For family. For getting our retail-based economy back in the black. The celebration of stuff.

And really, that's all fine with me. I love giving gifts. I love shopping. I love my family. It just bothers me that in all midst of all this, the real meaning is overlooked.

Cue up my Linus moment.

I'm always so interested in people's stories. The details of our lives which make us unique, yet connect us all.

And when I look at the life of The Virgin Mary, I am intrigued by how God's work in her life was done in such a way as not to make her some sort of unattainable celebrity. She is just a woman, a mother, a believer... just like me.

She went through nine months of feeling her child grow inside of her. She experienced feeling him move for the first time. She strained through the bouts of discomfort.

She bore him in childbirth, and she was spared no pain in the process. She held her child in her arms for the first time and no doubt fell in love with him.

These are all the same experiences I had with Lilah (although I was spared some pain in childbirth, thank you epidural).

Of course, the details were different. Jesus was born in a stable to would-be fugitives. Lilah was born in a cushy hospital bed while I watched American Idol.

But the experience; the essence of bringing a child into the world... I believe so much that God wanted all mothers to be able to relate to Mary. To understand the love a mother has for her own child. The importance and sacrifice of motherhood.

Because think about it... Jesus could have just appeared one day, a full grown man, out of the heavens. He could have hatched from an egg. He could have exploded forth from a volcano, arrived on a spaceship, or been lowered down from the sky in a huge pyrotechnics display.

And he wasn't.

He came into the world like I did. Like you did. Like my child and your child.

And while every child's birth is special, this child's birth--Jesus' birth, comes with it a promise.

For you. For me. For our children. For everyone.

THIS is the child who makes right the covenant between God and His Creation. THIS is the child who will exemplify for all generations the righteous life we are all to strive for. THIS is the child through which the history of the world is changed. I am changed through THIS child.

This is what I believe at Christmas. I believe in the humanity of the story of Christmas. The realness. It's not a stretch for me to believe the story of the nativity like it is for me that of Santa and bottomless sack of toys.

So why does the pretend story get all the attention?

The truth is not lacking in mystery, miracle, beauty, or relatability.

I guess as a people, we have a history of choosing lies over truth.

And while some people might just write me off with the notion that I just think too much about things (which I believe I do at times), I do profess that it's important to me to be intentional in all I do.

Even in a make-believe world.