Today I’m going to tell you the truth about Santa Claus.
Usually the kids were pretty wriggly. This time the parents were squirming.
Here is what I told them.
Long, long ago, about 300 years after Jesus was born, there was a man named Nicholas. He was the “bishop,” the main pastor, in the city of Myra in Asia Minor. He followed Jesus and became very kind and generous.
One time there was a poor man who had three daughters. The man was worried that bad things would happen to his daughters if they couldn’t get married — and he was way too poor to pay for their weddings.
Bishop Nicholas really cared about those young women. So at night, when everybody was asleep, he brought three bags of gold coins and tossed them through the window of their house. The man paid for his daughters’ weddings, and everything worked out great.
That is just one of the generous and loving things Nicholas did. After he died people thought he was so special that they called him ‘Saint Nicholas’. Ever since then, he has been a reminder of how God loves and takes care of children.
In our culture we call Saint Nicholas ‘Santa Claus.’ There really was a Santa Claus. He loved Jesus, and he loved children, and so we remember him. That’s the truth.
If I had been talking to grown ups I would have also told them that he was one of the Holy Fathers at the Council of Nicaea, and a staunch advocate of Orthodoxy against Arianism.
At our house we tell our kids the truth about Santa Claus. We tell them that we have a fun pretend-game we play at Christmas — mommy and daddy will give some presents and pretend that they really came from Saint Nicholas, the man who loved Jesus and loved children.
The kids dig it. They love pretending. And let’s be honest: they really love presents.
And we are happy to help them distinguish the truth from fiction in something as important as the Christian faith.
Plus, on December 6, the feast day of St. Nicholas, they wake up to find gold-wrapped chocolate coins in their shoes by their beds. It’s another old tradition of Santa Claus.
————
I’d love to send you a free copy of my new eBook on quirky and surprising saints. It’s called Role Models for Discipleship.
Click the button and I’ll send it along.
Love it! Dropped golden coins into their shoes last night. They loved it!
That is fantastic, Chad. Great tradition to build into Advent.
(Can’t wait for your webinar by the way!)
Thanks for this, Gary. Our now grown daughter was a very astute 5 year old. Every month in Kindergarten they celebrated a different holiday and in March was Saint Patrick’s Day, of course. Some kids came to class telling how they had received something from leprechauns, and when Sylvia asked why the leprechauns didn’t come to our house, I said, “We don’t do that here.” Understanding dawned over her young face. “So, is the Easter Bunny real?” “No, that’s a fun thing we do, but there’s no such thing as the Easter Bunny.” Silence. “Mom, tell me the truth: is there a Santa Claus?” “Well, there’s isn’t really a man that dresses in a red suit, drives a sleigh and flies all over the world to deliver presents, but there really was a man named Saint Nicholas that our Santa Claus is based on,” and I told her what I knew about him. It was sad in a way to see her become wiser to the ways of the world, but I’m glad I had a meaningful truth to offer her in place of the myth.
Thanks for sharing this story Ruth — that sounds like a poignant moment. Glad you told the truth!
Me too! My mother was very straightforward about things, not using euphemisms and such, and I try to be that way with my kids. How else will they trust what you say and do? There is enough deception in the world. It’s paying off now because they come to me even with difficult issues. At least I’ve done one thing right!
We have a soon to be 4 year old and a just turned 2 year old. This year we are beginning a Saint Nicholas tradition. Small stuff “gold coins”, a small toy, something religious. We’ll see how it goes.
Thanks Greg — I hope your traditions go great places. Hope you’ll stop by here again!
Can you help answer if there was really an elf on a shelf? (Love this post. Great for helping share with our own children.) Thank You
You are welcome Rob! See Claudia’s comment for one child’s response to the story…
I still remember the time I told this story to my somewhat sceptical daughter, and her stunned response “so you mean he’s really real! !!” The true story is so much better and even more exciting than the Coca Cola version.
That is HILARIOUS, Claudia! Thanks for sharing it here.
Thanks Gary. Your synopsis is so clear and pastoral. It always excites me how connecting to the depth of Christian tradition grounds me in hope yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Also great to find your blog through a FBook colleague!
Wow, Keith, how great to hear from you! The FB connection is really helping this post, since lots of folks have been clicking the “like” button.
Hope you are doing well — I’d love to hear about where God has taken you. You can zap me an email through the “contact” page here on the blog if you want to.
Thank you for sharing this. We have three young children, Jordan is 5, Liam is almost 4, and Grace is one. We talk about Santa, and our culture really tries to fake it up when it comes to Santa during the Christmas season. But all of this has always made me uncomfortable. I don’t like lying to my kids, even if it is for pretend. But I want them to have the fun and joy that St Nick brings to the Advent and Christmas season. Telling this story sounds like a great way to tell the truth and have fun! Gotta love church history!
Merry Christmas Gary! Thanks for sharing this! I’m given a handout to parents after the Christmas Eve service and hope you are ok if I include this?
That’s great, Janet! Could you say it is from me, at Garynealhansen.com?
Absolutely! “Written by Rev. Gary Neal Hansen, Presbyterian Pastor (garynealhansen.com)”
Thanks!
Thank you, Gary, for sharing. It is a story that we need to share with the kids as well as the parents. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thank you Emmanuel! Great to hear from you.