Do you perpetuate the myth of Santa Claus?

Answer:

I don't mind good questions in the least. It keeps me on my toes.

The concept of Santa Claus is a myth or a fantasy, no different than say Peter Pan or the Grinch. In my own family, we have treated these things as fantasy stories, cute to think about but having no real value. There are aspects of the Santa Claus myth that I don't like because it treads on the notion of deity. I especially don't like the statements that Santa Claus knows who is bad and who is good. This is attributing divine attributes to a mythological character (Psalm 139).

When our children were little they heard tales of Santa Claus, but we never told them that Santa Claus brought them gifts. They knew the gifts came from friends and family. As such, they were expected to express their thanks to the gift-givers. We never hid presents so they could appear on Christmas morning. They were part of the holiday decorations for weeks in advance. There have been numerous years when we decided to hold our gift-giving celebration at another time or even spread across multiple times because of circumstances.

As we taught our children, they learned about the myths and idolatry in the world -- both ancient and modern. In order to combat false teaching, they needed to know what others believed and why they sought out such beliefs. Thus, they learned about some of the Greek gods and saw how they made their gods into the superhumans which included super flaws. Such even touches the Scriptures, such as the conflict in Ephesus over the worship of Diana (Acts 19:21-41), or Paul and Barnabas being called Mercury and Zeus (Acts 14:11-18).

There is an article I wrote several years ago that touches on a few of these issues. See "Holiday Observances."