The carol goes thus, ” He knows when you are sleeping. He knows when you are awake . He knows when you have been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. In this era of privacy and confidentiality , is that not too much personal information for any “jolly” guy to know about you and your personal business. He magically and mysteriously comes down the chimney to leave presents, even though many of us do not have fireplaces or chimneys. . I do, but that is not the issue at hand. .Anyone or anything coming down my chimney attempting to do anything in my home while I am fast asleep, does qualify to be treated as an invader and dealt with accordingly.
Somehow or other I am always taken aback, by the fact that for someone who is not real, most parents have no problem lying to their children and telling them that Santa Claus is. Yet most of these same parents would tell their children not to lie, and even mete out severe punishment when the child is discovered lying. Not wanting to give my children the gift of hypocrisy, I never told them that Santa Claus was real. And I definitely did not lie to them about all those toys I had to pay for. Therefore, one might ask if we parents are preserving a the innocence of children or conditioning them to accept deception?
Allow me to briefly lift my head, adjust the mouse and calmly state that my intention is not to be the Grinchess who stole Christmas, I nevertheless need to utter the truth in the hope that parents etc. will think about why they do ,what they do and why tell the children that Santa is real. That being said, let us cut our way slowly via the bottom of the stocking, and peer down the rabbit hole a little.
Part of the origin of Santa Claus relates to Saint Nicolas , a bishop, who would gave gifts to young people. He was supposedly, in the fourth century a bishop of Myra, a city in the southern Mediterranean seacoast of what is now Turkey. ? Also, it has been said that “Saint” Nick wanted something in return. Maybe he should not have been called a “saint”. That is the origin of Santa Claus being known as Saint Nick.
Parents are primarily responsible for much of what is introduced into the lives and belief systems of their children. Needless to say, but certainly known , is the fact that when we ignore that responsibility, bad things happen later down the road. Bad things that were connected to areas we never even thought about.
Have you ever noticed that the word, “Santa” and the word “Satan” are the same word, with the letters just rearranged?
Am I reaching, teaching or preaching? ? Whatever, your response, I challenge you to create another word from the word “Santa” so quickly, easily and obviously. Furthermore, one of the names for Satan is “Old Nick”. Yes, a nickname for the devil in Christian tradition is “Old Nick”.
Regardless of what your beliefs may be, Santa distracts people from the Christ in Christmas. Not likely a coincidence that likewise, Satan distracts people from Christ. An odd parallel. I plead for forgiveness if connecting the dots is getting a little too close for comfort.
In my youthful years , I remember being told and also hearing people tell their children especially on December 24, that
if Santa caught them awake while he was in the house, he would throw ashes in their eyes, go back with the gifts. Now, that is certainly does not sound too jolly. It is apparent that the goal was to scare the child into going back to bed and staying there. At least until in the morning when this “Santa” character had already left the presents.
Now ponder on it for a moment, even if you are laughing and shaking your head. Would you really trust a stranger who can come in your house, come down your chimney, know what is going on in your household, throw ashes or whatever in your children’s eyes, leave some gifts and disappear out of sight by magic? A stranger who seems to know a lot about what your children are doing and not doing. Apparently that means Satan (oops I meant Santa, I guess) is watching your children or has somebody else watching them. There is a name for such behaviour.
If you want to enjoy Christmas? That is your call. In like manner as it is your call to tell your children, the truth about Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Easter (Ishtar), Catholic Mass, the Easter Bunny, Halloween and the tooth fairy. All that apply.
Why are so many people reluctant to simply tell the truth? Truth deviation. truth aversion, truth avoidance all set a dangerous precedent during the formative years of a child. I guess that maybe is the overall point of my article. To get parents to take a look at why they do what they do, why they believe what they believe, why they so easily accept what they accept and why they are so ready to pour it into the minds of their children.
Aleuta continua— The struggle continues.
