Why did I go along with the idea that an ancient and portly white man with an army of spies is always watching you and brings a haul of material rewards for good behavior?
…if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t do Santa. At least not in the same way.
Santa may have started as magic for my kids, but by the time they were in school, it turned into anxiety — and very real questions about poverty, physics and time zones. My kids wanted to believe, since I had been the one telling them to. But they were also starting to feel silly for believing in something the logical part of their brains knew couldn’t possibly be real. The contradiction stressed them out.
I wound up telling each of them at age 8, but even then I felt like I was doing something wrong by clueing them in. In retrospect, I feel that I did something wrong in ever going along with such a weird and dubious lie — especially one that totally glosses over income inequality. How many opportunities for important conversations did I miss because I was so focused on telling them to believe in magic?
The most eye-opening essay I’ve ever read about Santa is from writer Bobbi Dempsey, who implored parents to stop making the “big ticket” gifts from Santa because it only leaves poor children (of which she was one) wondering what they did wrong to not get the extravagant presents of their more well-off peers.
I’ll take “what happens without the Lord?” for 200, Alex.
Peace on earth will come to all if we just follow the light
So let’s give thanks to the Lord above, ’cause Santa Claus comes tonight
I’ve told my kids, who now have their own, to never stop believing in the magic of Santa. As far as I’m concerned it is a childhood right. They will find out on their own, too soon as it turns out, but always keep a place in your heart for a beautiful time of the year! This doesn’t mean to give them a glut of toys, it simply means teach and understand the goodness of Christmas and the reason for the season which means including Christ. It’s his birthday! Gifts are of course part of this, but put the emphasis on what is important.
Besides, coal contributes to Global Warming…
s/
Maybe because a big, portly black man coming down your chimney would likely be thought of as a burglar.
Hmmmm.
Wasn’t Stalin a portly white guy?
Mao was portly, but slightly darker.
Kim is quite portly. Xi is too.
Is the belief in the magic of marxism better than Santa?
Lordy, they’ve been dragging out this stale, musty, leftist Xmas trope for half a century now. And the new added whiteness doesn’t make it any fresher.
You must be a tense, miserable shrew, Judi. Get help.
as opposed to a senile retarded white guy in DC rewarding bad anqueefer / cracka lives DON’T matter bad behavior?!
…you know, in a way, I agree.
“Santa Clause” is a syncretic creation whose habits come from old legends and whose appearance was created to sell Coca-Cola.
He’s nice, but I like to tell THIS story at Christmas instead…
“10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
Luke 2:10-14
…and he brings the Gift of Salvation too.
I’ll take THAT for me and mine over Santa’s whole sack ANY day…
…but usually, liberals LIKE Santa.
…here’s why…
“God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle-aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well-being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is a very hard thing to get into God’s heavenly country club.
Santa Claus is another matter. He’s cute. He’s non-threatening. He’s always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without thought of a quid pro quo. He works hard for charities and he’s famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus.”
-P.J. O’Rourke
https://buffalonews.com/news/p-j-orourke-cops-an-attitude/article_4acb5701-a202-53f0-aa55-d4aa4ababc04.html
…so not sure about Grinch here. Just another miserable person who wants everyone as miserable as HE is, I suppose…
On a side note, the first part of the first sentence is relevant in another way: “Why did I go along with the idea that an ancient and portly white man with an army of spies is always watching you”. Sounds like the FBI
I pray the Ghost of Christmas Past pays her a visit to show her where she went astray. She prbably didn’t get much-wished-for-toy at some point, so she has to Grinch up her own kids’ innate sense of hope and wonder.
And those “physics” questions?? She’s never heard of omnipresence. As in “God”.
So poor children that others have but can’t support are my problem now too?
Maybe some people shouldn’t have more kids than they can care for.
…besides which: People who diminish the excitement, anticipation, wonder, joy, and all-around sense of charity felt by most of humanity — whether they celebrate the Christ in Christmas or not — at this season, is a shameful humbug.
Yes, Dill-rod, you should (not) be burdening your children with poverty issues. That is effectively child abuse. Perhaps a little more attention on the math and physics is in order, as it makes the magic of Christmas more amazing. After all, it is as SNS tells it.
I dunno, the Salvation Army has turned Xmas into a hate holiday. All whites are racists and this Xmas season apologize and pay your alms. My monetary giving has ended since the Salvation Army does discriminate – against the hand that feeds them. My 2 children get money for Xmas – n one else. Santa? Well, he’s jut another sinner like the rest of us. Christ wasn’t born 12/25, what’s the reason behind not knowing when he was born? God is wise. Look what man has turned the birthday of Jesus into. Rearrange the word Santa and it turns into Satan.
This is what you get when corrupt government prints fake cash by the trillion$ and hands it to idiots freeing them up from their appropriate routines.
It explains why McDonalds can’t find bodies to fill their jobs even at $19/hour.
And for sure, Santa owes somebody reparations
Wait a minute! Are they saying that Santa isn’t real? Well then, how to they explain my lived experience in childhood when I clearly heard Santa’s sleigh land on our roof on Xmas eve?
That is a bridge too far.
The same people who bitch about Santa Claus also usually tout, at the same time, the infallibility and benevolence of socialist government. We are now in a society where big brother, or at least his minions at the FBI, Facebook, Twitter, etc. etc. are watching you, and it probably won’t be long before being on the naughty list has real world consequences besides not getting that new XBox you wanted. People like Sanders, AOC and their ilk tout the magnificence of socialism even though socialism has proven to be a failure time and time and time again – at some point children grow up and know that Santa is basically a harmless make believe while socialism frequently leads to real world horror. Santa Claus judges your actions in order to determine if you end up on the naughty or nice list; leftists judge you on your skin color in order to determine which list you belong on and how you will be punished. Leftists promise you safety in exchange for giving up some or a lot of your rights – and as Australia and Canada are proving, deliver nothing in exchange for giving up your freedom except maybe lockdowns, forced vaccinations and quarantine camps. Santa doesn’t want anything in return – although if you leave some milk and cookies (or scotch in the case of our family Santa) that would be great, while socialists want everything and give nothing.
I prefer Santa Claus because he only pesters us once a year, and then disappears somewhere where he can’t be found. Let a socialist in the door, and history proves that these people are impossible to get rid of.
They’re kids, let them grow up as kids you dumb ass. It is you causing any future psychological problems. And it’s obvious that you too are sick in the head.
https://www.newseum.org/exhibits/online/yes-virginia-there-is-a-santa-claus/
Maybe more parents need to teach their kids this.
Yes, just let the skinny white old dude with dementia hand out free shit.
By the same logic, a fat Black man or woman or It would also be wrong. As would Mexican, Asian etc. Or you could just shut up and stew in your own pathetic misery.
It is not my desire to hurt or denigrate anyone, but, casting the seed of truth can feel like your being targeted when ideas, precepts and traditions, which you have given little to no critical thought, are exposed (attacked from your point of view). I am guilty of the same process and now, as gently as I can, without sugar coating, share what I now understand. I cannot control how you receive these thoughts, that is for you to handle through study or, as many will, rejection out of hand. There is a meme that states along the line to not hate truth because it makes you uncomfortable, but, to hate the lie that made you comfortable. This “hate” is not the visceral and vengeful “hate” in the vernacular of modern times, but, to have no regard for it and put it away.
Many of the same religious people who deride “catholicism”, deny that their “protesting” religion is the daughter of a tree which can bare only evil fruit. “Christ-Mass” and all its trimmings are the fruits of an evil empire, yet, the majority of religious followers and atheists of the world join together in this feast-evil.
One of the most insidious aspects of this entire farce, the conditioning of children to think everything they loved as a child, associated with their religion, is a lie. When you consider that the process of sharing the seed of YHWH’s Word is our job, then, what kind of seed are you planting when your child finds out that those they trust most (parents) have been lying to them regarding a fat man with ‘god’ like attributes, egg pooping rabbit and tooth fetish fairy? How easy will it be to deny some Italian guy named hey-soos when they get pressured by academia (so called) and a world where the de-facto stance is that you’re stupid for holding onto that last shred of religion.
We should be raising up children with the full knowledge of His Word, from Genesis to Revelation, all the promises and covenants which YHWH has made, kept and by His Word, will be kept VERY SOON. Instead of self serving and empty childish fables which sow the seeds of doubt, why not give them a foundation in Apologetics of varying subjects in the Sciences relating to YAH’s Word. Groups like “Is Genesis History?” deserve our support for seeking and teaching theories relating to Biblical Creation, et al. So many professing “believers” gripe about ‘God’ being taken out of schools, but, put little effort (and substance) into fighting against the ways of the world.
Would Messiah King Yahshua consider these fables to be millstone worthy? Instead of planting the seeds of YAH’s eternal Way of Truth in Life, we (myself included) teach (taught) our children vapid and vain lies which will, at minimum, set their feet on sand, instead of The Immovable Rock of Truth.
YHWH bless thee, and keep thee: YHWH make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: YHWH lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace
And to all the racists, have a very white christmas.
We need to teach children, especially financially disadvantaged children, that if you want a pony, old “white” guys with lots of toys, always need “a massage”.
— The Heroes of Waco
Perhaps the liberal lady would be happier if Santa Claus was a perverted pedophile/pederast.