Why is there a credit card receipt for a Sony Playstation with my dad’s signature in my parents’ drawer? After all, my parents didn’t buy it. The overweight, octogenarian guy had his elves build it.
When I first discovered Santa Claus didn’t exist, I was traumatized. I wondered how my parents, whom I trusted so much, could have lied to me for so many years. Furthermore, I was sorely disappointed to learn that such a wonderful notion of a generous old man who gives consumer goods is a fraud.
I’m not alone in having experienced this post-Santa trauma. It’s best to spare children this suffering by telling them the truth from the beginning.
Once children discover that Santa is a myth invented by their ancestors as a weapon of controlling behavior, how can they trust any institutions? How can they have confidence in religion, the government, the military and the police?
Another problem I have with the Santa delusion is that it teaches children to be greedy and obsessively lust for material objects. Remember “A Christmas Story” or that horrible Schwarzenegger flick “Jingle All the Way?” Or better yet, Tickle Me Elmo?
How can children be taught to give anything to others if Christmas gifts have a supernatural source? Teaching them about Santa makes them think, “Why should I help that homeless man or that AIDS patient in Botswana? Santa will get them change or a $20,000 medication.”
The modern image of Santa – that of a bearded, stocky, jolly old fellow riding a sleigh with anthropomorphic reindeer – was created by the 1823 anonymously published short story “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and has nothing to do with St. Nicholas, a fourth century Byzantine bishop known for his commitment to the poor.
Instead, we should focus more on St. Nicholas rather than on Santa Claus, as the emphasis of Christmas should be on giving, not on lusting goods.
I will admit that the Santa myth did make me materialistic. Each year, I counted up the number of presents and had to make sure that Santa wasn’t a Scrooge McDuck compared with the last Christmas.
The Christian world will probably never reject the tradition of Santa Claus because it is so deeply embedded in our culture. However, I do propose an alternative for the brave few willing to spare their children grief and teach them to be unselfish.
Rather than have children write letters to Santa, they should write a wish list. Each sibling gets a copy of the wish list, as do the parents. The kids get an allowance and buy the small, inexpensive gifts on their siblings’ list while parents will buy the bigger gifts (if, of course, the children behave).
They will be encouraged to give the remainder away to charity (because Santa doesn’t seem to come to poor kids’ homes) or to Salvation Army bell ringers.
Confusing? Perhaps, but so is the convoluted logic of an old man who loves all the world’s children, creeps into their houses at night and wants to spoil them like French poodles.