Santa vs. No Santa

I know it's early to be thinking about Christmas but lately I've been revisiting a decision that I need to make. Long before we even had a child, I often thought about if I should raise my children believing in Santa Claus or not. I realize that for some people this is a no brainer but for me it's a big decision. I did not grow up believing that Santa was real. I grew up believing that Santa Claus was a wonderful and fun symbol of Christmas, however, I did not believe that he was a man that came into our home on Christmas Eve and left presents for us. It's not like my mom and dad sat us down and said there is no Santa Claus but they never tried to make us believe he was real either. There is a reason for this. My mom once heard about a young man that when he found out that Santa Claus wasn't real started questioning if God and Christ were real. It struck my mom rather hard and that's when she made the decision that she wasn't going to go to any great lengths to make us believe in something that, afterall, is not real. Greg's family, on the other hand, does the Santa thing full blown. After Thanksgiving dinner the kids all get to write a letter to Santa telling them what they want for Christmas. I also think that one of the adults actually collects the letters and tells the kids that they will mail the letters to Santa. Of course, Christmas morning brings presents from Santa. To each his own and I have no problem with the way his family does things, it just may bring some challenges if we choose to not teach our children that Santa is real.

I've heard people say that children need something to believe in that they can't see because it helps their creativity and imagination. On one hand, I don't know if I want to teach my children to believe in something that is truly not real. On the other hand, I worry that I may be taking a fun part of childhood away from them. However, I have never felt that something was taken away from me. Christmas always has been and is still to this day my favorite time of year and favorite Holiday. My memories about Christmas center around the time I was able to spend with my family. We always went as a family and looked at the Christmas lights around town and then we got to have hot chocolate afterwards. We had a family party with my Grandma and Grandpa Leavitt and all my aunts, uncles and cousin on that side of the family. We always did a service project as a family to help out a family that didn't have a way to provide Christmas for themselves and it was always tradition to have a chili dinner on Christmas Eve at Aunt Joys house. This is what I remember and love about Christmas. I know I can't take life too seriously but I feel very strongly about my responsibility of raising a child. I want my children to to know, understand and love the true meaning of Christmas. Our Savior.