subtitle:  Christmas-time at our house - part 4

This is the 4th installment in my Christmas-time at our House series. 

In my last post, I started talking about Santa, and why a Christian family might want to get away from the hype of the season and focus on the HIM of the season.  For most of us, Santa Claus is part of our Christmas traditions, and has been for generations.  We don't have lots of examples of what could be done instead.

In our respective families, my husband and I had different experiences with Christmas and specifically with Santa. 

My grandma would take all of us cousins to have Breakfast with Santa every year at the BIG MALL, and then we'd watch a holiday movie together in the theatre. It was so much fun.

Then, of course, there was Papa greeting us on Christmas morning (he had to get there REALLY early because we were always up before the crack of dawn).  My sister found out the hard way (from her friends) that Papa was NOT Santa Claus!

So after my sister and I were told all about "Santa", we always knew that our gifts labelled "From: Santa" were from Mom and Dad.  Even though we knew they were really giving us the gifts, we always still had a present from Santa - usually the biggest of all the gifts, our PRIZED PRESENT, as a surprise on Christmas morning!

In my sweetie's family, at least since I've been a part of it, "Santa" was almost always Dad, and he deposited special, fun gifts into the stockings for Christmas morning. When he and his sister were younger, my sweetie would just receive a present from Santa under the tree.  This was often an unwrapped present, waiting as a special surprise.  Everyone had Santa gifts, but it wasn't the focus of the gift giving. 

As Christians, they wanted to try to steer things toward the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas Eve was not characterized by the 'hurry and get in bed before Santa comes' excitement.  Instead, as a family they went to church in the evening and celebrated the sacrament of Communion together, around one table, all at the same time.  That helped to set the tone and turn their hearts and minds toward Christ's birth as the reason for the season.

Read More...