Santa Claus

Will/did/do you allow your children to believe in Santa Claus. I don't mean believe as in Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. I mean believe in a real man who brings real gifts to your home each Christmas eve?

Before parenthood it never would have dawned on me that some parents shunned the Santa fairytale. I grew up with Santa and expect my children will do the same. But there are some things to consider.

Is it lying to foster the Santa tale?

What is your role in Santa... do you just allow your kids to believe what they see/read/hear without encouraging it yourself or do you actively encourage it with your words and actions?

Which presents will come from Santa? All of them? The big ones? A few small ones?

I found this article interesting. It details how modern Santa Claus is really not based at all on St. Nicholas but instead on the Germanic pagan god Thor. Things I like from this article include:

• Keep the Santa tale in its simple, appealing form and shun the corruptions introduced by commercial managers - all of the Santa "stuff" can be foregone
  Never allow the figure of Santa Claus to dominate the child's mind. The Child Jesus must be the main figure in all his Christmas thinking. Picture to him Santa as merely a servant and deliveryman, delightful but not very important. - this is brilliant, I think. It allows for Santa, but keeps him in a place of helper, not central figure. What a great idea that Santa would be God's helper (just like mommy & daddy are His helpers).

Things I'm not so sure about...

• Do not let your children present their wishes to Santa. If you want them to write down what they desire, let them write to the Child Jesus according to the old Catholic custom. - it's hard for me to get my head around not writing letters to Santa

So for now, I think we'll just play it by ear. We certainly will not shun Santa Claus. And I'm sure we will take our kids for the yearly visit to Santa's lap. But we will try to keep the focus in our home on the birth of Jesus.

I believe it is wonderful for children to have an active imagination & fantasy life. As long as they are guided by a fundamental understanding and recurrent teaching of the reality of our loving God and His Truth.

Other references
http://www.franciscanradio.org/ACRepisode.asp?EpisodeNum=140 (go to about 1/2 way through the broadcast)