Christmas Traditions

I posted this on someone else's blog, but after I started writing, I decided I should post on my own as well.. Some people feel that Santa shouldn't be celebrated at Christmastime, because he takes away from Jesus...

While I do agree that Santa should not get all the credit at Christmas time, I don't feel that he should be omitted completely...

What my husband and I do each year is this- Christmas Eve we have a "birthday party" complete with a birthday cake.. for Jesus (Corny I know, but the kids love it!!) (We also set out carrots on our roof for the reindeer..)

Then the next morning... The kids each get their stocking, filled by "Santa" with socks, a new toothbrush, a few toys, and some candy.. Then they get to see our tree. In front of our fireplace, we place ONE gift for each child, not wrapped, from santa. Everything else is from us, so we get the credit we deserve, while they are still able to believe. And here is why I think they should believe in Santa...

When I was a child, I believed in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, etc... When I was in 3rd Grade, (a few weeks before Easter) I went to my mom with a simple question, expecting a simple answer. I asked, "Mom, if Easter is supposed to be about Jesus, why is there an Easter Bunny?" She called my older brother (Who also still believed)into the room and said, "We need to talk. Santa Clause isn't real." She went on to explain that all of the child traditions I was used to were, in fact, make believe. I remember wishing that I never asked.. I was the second of six children. That year, we had to do a separate egg hunt that was REALLY hard!! and everyone else in my family got to do the normal one. We had to pretend, for the younger kids, that we still believed in Santa, or we wouldn't get our gift from him... when Honestly, I just wished I DID still believe.

My honest opinion is-let them be kids as long as they can!! It is getting more and more difficult to maintain "childhood innocence"... and as long as other kids his age believe it, he should be able to also. You can always choose to tell him later...