Santa Isn’t Real — What I Want My Future Children to Know on Christmas

My future children already know Santa isn’t real.

I can see the scene now, it’s Christmas Eve and they’re dancing around the tree, decorating gingerbread cookies, their little hands so excited to help out with the upcoming festivities. It’s a special night, a wonderfully magical night. But they never look out the window, never suspect that tonight a grown man in a red suit is coming down our chimney.

I want them to know that tonight God is doing very tangible miracles in this world. I want their security to be rooted in God’s genuine omnipresence (Proverbs 15:3), omnipotence (Colossians 1:6), and omniscience (Psalm 139:4) — all the things the fallible myth of Santa falsely promises and perpetuates. Not celebrating Santa ensures my children will have a deeper and more lasting joy, a story that will grow richer through their lives, for there really is One who sees them when they’re sleeping, knows when they’re awake, and knows if they’ve been bad or good. Their Christmas story will be one of God loving them so much that He would actually come into this world (John 3:16), in its brokenness and lack, all because He wanted an eternal relationship with them. The Redemptive Power of God began its work on Christmas. For that, He deserves all the excitement, anticipation, and glory on this holiday.

Instead of writing letters to Santa for their wants during the month of December, I want to encourage my children to daily approach the throne of God for their every need (Philippians 4:19). He wants the little children to come to Him (Matthew 19:14), He bends a listening ear, and His attentiveness extends far beyond the Christmas season. I want my children to know that God Himself is the giver of great gifts (James 1:17). I want their souls to yearn for God in the night (Isaiah 26:9) with the expectancy that He really can — and does — visit all homes in one evening.

Moreover, I want to set forth before my children God’s definition of gifts, i.e. how we can be of service to Him. This was, after all, the setting in which the modern “Santa Claus” was birthed. Saint Nicholas lived during the Roman Empire, spent time imprisoned because of his faith, and had a heart for helping poor young girls avoid the common path for the destitute in those times, prostitution. He was orphaned as a teenager and had a reputation for distributing his parental inheritance anonymously to others in need. His Christmas charity was synonymous with what God celebrates, not reindeers and elves, but lending to the poor (Proverbs 19:17), setting the lonely in families (Psalm 68:5–6), operating as a co-worker in God’s service (1 Corinthians 3:9). The Lord loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6–8) and He keeps track of our giving (Matthew 10:42). The same God who brought Christmas to Bethlehem 2000 years ago is the same God who will bring it to my future family, and I want my children to know it is to Him we look for magic, and miracles, and memories.

Santa has one claim without contention the world over, you need childlike faith to believe. This same faith is what Jesus asks for (Matthew 18:3), and only the latter is substantiative. This time in their lives when they’re young and malleable, I pray the Lord will cultivate little children who grow up to recognize Christmas is about Jesus, the wondrous marvel of God, and an ongoing promise of the world to come. For them, the magic will never end, found out to be a lie, a mere contemporary myth, for theirs is a God who keeps His word to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9).