Time for yet another Chandler Christmas story. Have I told you that Marti is into Christmas in a big way? Yes, even the Santa part. When they get old enough to figure it out, we teach our children that Santa is a mythical character based on a real person, Saint Nicholas, who started a tradition of bringing gifts to poor children on Christmas Eve. Of course all of this gift giving springs from God’s greatest gift to us in his son, Jesus Christ. Still, we play along with the Santa Claus story and indulge in the magic of make believe.
One year in New England when our first two were right at the age of figuring things out, I created an impressive showing on a landing on our roof visible from a dormer window. I used a ladder to make two indentions in the snow for “rails” of a sleigh, and a whole bunch of reindeer “prints” out in front. Christopher and Anne told me later that I really had them wondering for a while about that one.
An official visit to Santa is one of our non-negotiable family traditions no matter how old the kids are. So that means that Santa gets Anne on one lap (something I bet he looks forward to) and Chandler on the other and Christopher standing nearby. Yes, it will happen again this year.
It’s only been a few years since Chandler pulled Marti aside as we left Santa’s house and whispered in her ear, “That’s not the real Santa.” When Marti asked him what made him think that, he said, “His boots are fake.” But then the priceless part was when he went on to whisper, “But don’t tell Christopher and Anne; they’d be so disappointed.”
I’ve got a lot to learn from this kid. My tendency, when I am the first to catch some fallacy like this is to blurt out my finding in front of everybody with no thought to the bigger picture. Chandler took into account the bigger picture, and though we can laugh at it today, it was truly a loving act he performed.
I think of how often my first answer to any request from my children is almost always “No.” I’m not suggesting it should be “Yes” either, but what would be best is to be affirming of their request and buy some time to discuss it and consider it so when I do answer, my “Yes” is “Yes” and my “No” is “No.” “Yes” by way of “No” is not what Jesus was talking about (Matthew 5:37).
Believe it or not, there’s more than just the truth. There is love. Truth and love must go together. The truth can crush if there is no love behind it. Love can drift if there is no truth to guide it. “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
John Fischer The Catch 
John,
I love the way you bring something to light that we can relate to ourselves – giving us a dose of humility if you will, and yet still feel good about the lesson. I guess that’s a bit of truth given in love.
Thank you and God Bless you, Marti and the kids!
I anticipate some major backlash to Santa stuff but I get your point about truth and love…my favorite is Santa on his knees by the manger.
Many years ago, when I was working in radio, I aired a story about advice from a child psychologist on how to discuss the “Santa Claus Myth”. I came out of the booth to find one of my colleagues in heated discussion with someone on the phone. “So you lied to your kid — that’s what you’re telling me?” Apparently, this listener’s child had heard the item on the air and the listener was now ripping into Al. Al could hear the child crying in the background. I couldn’t understand how a child intelligent enough to know the meaning of the word “myth” hadn’t figured out there was something fishy about the Santa thing, but to make amends, I devoted one newscast the next day to reading the “Yes, Virginia” letter (the 5-alarm fire at the hospital would just have to wait).
It’s a quandary, to be sure. Come right out and say, “there ain’t no Santa Claus” or declare him to be an instrument of Satan to distract our attention from the True Meaning of Christmas, and the kid could get labelled a self-righteous pariah (especially if he spreads that truth to other kids).
Play the “Santa” card too well (like the time my then-little boy found fireplace ash tracked on the carpet and then got the mini-basketball he’d asked Santa for at Sears), and you run the risk of being caught in a lie; and if mom and dad lied about Santa, how could they be telling the truth about the virgin birth or the Resurrection?
I like the approach you allude to: find something Scriptural in traditions — like the spirit of selfless giving and unconditional love that Santa embodies; or the Christmas tree: rooted to the spot, branches spread to reach out to us and provide protection under their cover, ever green. That way, you keep Jesus in the forefront.