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Happy Saint Nicholas Day!
This is a remix (refreshed) version of a post I shared last year, and since today is actually St Nicholas Day, I felt it was appropriate to share it again. Enjoy
I was all ready to capture the moment on my camera. My sons wonder, and delight did not disappoint. Until he screamed. “Santa gives the best gifts!” What!? No … stop the music!!! NOT Santa, MOMMY! Mommy is the best gift giver I silently screamed. My heart shattered, tears, and sadness clouded my vision in that moment.
My perspective on Christmas changed over twenty years ago, when my son was three. I worked hard to find the perfect gift and was more excited than a kid in a candy store. My husband even had to hold me back from giving the gift early. I imagined my son’s squeals of delight when he came into the room on Christmas morning to see what wonderful treasure I had found.
You need to understand: Gifts – are my jam, they’re my love language. Not just because I want gifts, but because I love giving them. It brings me much joy seeing the pure delight on a person’s face when they open the special gift I found just for them.
Traditions are a funny thing; we all have them and pass them down to our children and hope they do the same with theirs. However, we never quite think about what happens with traditions when we blend families with different ones. You see, in my husband’s family, they always set out an unwrapped gift on Christmas morning that was a gift from Santa. In my family, there were wrapped gifts and stockings attributed to Santa. My sister and I knew it wasn’t Santa, but we let my parents do their thing; it was the traditions they had carried over from their childhood into our family.
My husband and I were raised in church, so we knew ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’, not Santa. However, the traditions and memories we have as children simply carried forward.
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Everything changed that Christmas, albeit at first for the wrong reasons. My heart hurt because Santa got credit for something I had done. I wanted my son to love ME for the gift I had given him, not Santa. I wanted the credit, not Santa. Truth be told I was being selfish. I should have been more upset that my son wasn’t thanking God for the gift of His son Jesus. God truly is the best gift giver.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son… (John 3:16 NIV).
That year, everything changed. Santa was no longer going to be the focus for Christmas, and he wasn’t going to get credit for anything else. My sister-in-law pointed me toward a great Christian resource about celebrating different holiday traditions with Christian beliefs and values at the center.
From then on, we shared the truth of Santa and Jesus with our kids. The very next year, we started celebrating Advent and focusing on the importance of Jesus, His birth, and the events that surrounded it. We also told them about a man named Nicholas, who later became known as Santa Claus. A man who loved God and exhibited generosity towards people. As I researched Nicholas, I had a new-found admiration for who he was and how the tradition of Santa began. Even to this day, I love to collect Santa’s depicting different countries and traditions.
We taught our children to be sensitive to the traditions of other families during the holiday seasons, and yet, we still had fun celebrating in our own way as we kept the focus on Jesus. To this day, our family celebrates St. Nick Day on December 6th. Stockings are filled with our family’s traditional items, and we honor a man who followed in the footsteps of Jesus and gave sacrificially to others.
For this gift giver, it’s a win-win. Gifts early in December and gifts again on Christmas. Though my kids are grown, we still make every effort to celebrate this fun advent tradition as a family. We incorporated other traditions in the spirit of giving and blessing others; just as Nicholas did when he pointed people to Jesus. However, we keep our eyes focused on the real reason for the season … Jesus!
God is the original gift giver and His son Jesus is the reason for the Christmas season.
…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23b NIV).
I would love for you to share with me in the comments below about some of your favorite holiday traditions.
May we all turn our hearts and focus upon the wonderful gift God sent in the form of a baby, His son, Jesus. Christmas season is a season of Hope and Belief. A Season of awe and wonder. It is a season where we can focus on the One who gives the best gifts ever!
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Debbie Kitterman is a natural born encourager who is on fire for God. She is passionate about equipping individuals, so they can go deeper in the relationship with God, reach their God-potential and claim their Kingdom inheritance. Debbie is a wife, mother, author, pastor, speaker and the founder of “Dare 2 Hear,” a ministry that trains individuals to hear the voice of God. She travels to churches internationally and is the founder and teacher of d2htraining.com, an online course designed to equip the believer in releasing God’s heart. Her writing and teachings inspire faith and build bridges for people to believe and expect the impossible. She is also an ordained Foursquare pastor, currently serving with her husband, John, as senior pastor of Restoration Church in Lacey, Washington. Learn more at: www.debbiekitterman.com
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Thank you for sharing your family’s tradition with us, Debbie. That sounds like fun – two December holidays to receive gifts. My 3 adult sons were disappointed too when we stopped doing stockings. Maybe we will have to revive that tradition. I know the grandkids would love it. I can see how it shifts the focus away from Santa and towards the Reason for the season!
You are most welcome Laurie! It is so much fun to have two December holiday traditions. I am sure the grandkids and your adult sons would love if you revived the stocking tradition. We had a book we read to the kids when they were small “Santa are you for Real?” that really explained who St nick really was and also the meaning behind who he was. Let me know if you decide to revive the tradition. Blessings
I love this, Debbie! When our daughter was born 8 years ago, we realized we better figure out how we were going to handle Santa. We’ve been honest with our kids, and we embrace the spirit of kindness that comes with giving gifts! I didn’t know about December 6 . . . I’m adding this to the Advent teachings we do over dinner! Thank you, friend! And your gifts have blessed me indeed. I still think of you everyday when I hold my keys with the chain that reads, “Be the Gift.” You are a blessing!
Thank you Stacey! I love how you have chosen to embrace the things that matter most to your family. The book my sister in law gave me was “Celebrating the Christian year” by Martha Zimmerman. I’m sure you could still find a copy floating around somewhere. There are so many other holidays I didn’t know anything about too. I hope your advent teaching on St Nick Day went well. Oh, I almost forgot, we also read a book to the kids when they were small called “Santa are you for real?”(not the board book) which gave great background.
I am so very happy to hear that my gifts have blessed you and continue to do so every time you hold your keys. YAY 🙂 Blessings and Merry Christmas!
We made the decision years ago to not do Santa. I wish I had thought of doing Advent activities to take his place! Love the idea of celebrating St. Nick’s Day with stockings. I’ll have to mull that one over. We now have grandkids and our daughter decided to blend in with her husband’s family and do Santa.
We are gingerly taking steps to not offend but focus on Jesus as the reason for the season. Doing advent with the grands sounds like the perfect solution!
Jerralea, I can completely understand why the decision would be made to not include Santa. I pray as you mull it over God will give you a peace about what to do as you move forward. We chose what we eflt best would work for our family and I know God will lead you to do the same. Merry Christmas!
I love this! And I love that God uses all kinds of things to grant us the wake-up calls we need, even a child giving credit to Santa for something we want credit for!
I was a brand-new believer when we were starting our family, and I was passionate about all things Jesus, leading my kids to know him and to know truth. Because of this Santa was on the periphery of Christmas but never at the centre of it. Just yesterday my 25 year old daughter commented that it was because of this there was never confusion in her young mind that Christmas was a time of sacred celebration.
Thanks Helena! Yes, it is so true, God does use a lot of things to give us wake-up calls doesn’t He. LOL It sounds like the choice you made for your family worked out beautifully and that your daughter appreciates it and will make a similar choice for her family as well. Blessings and Merry Christmas!
One of my favorite traditions is that we put all of the Christmas books up in the attic with the decorations every year and they come down and stay under the Christmas tree to be read by twinkle light. It makes them a little more magical. laurensparks.net
Oh Lauren, that is so much fun! That makes the Christmas books so much more special when you only get access to them during the Christmas season. Thank you for sharing this wonderful tradition with me. I love it. Merry Christmas
Thank you so much for hosting again this week. You always do so much for bloggers! Have a relaxing week! I am off to see some posts. Looks like a lot of inspiration tonight.
a pleasure as always Marilyn!
Santa fills the stockings in our house, but all the gifts under the tree are from “real” people, it’s been that way for a long time for a couple reasons. I didn’t want Santa to be too big a deal (if they ask us if Santa is real we tell them about St Nicolas). I also didn’t want to be unfair to other kids who believe in Santa. Why does Santa being one family an iPad and the other family new mittens? This year we’re planning on making a birthday cake for Jesus and throwing him a party, including a childrens movie on the nativity.
Katrina – what a fun family tradition and a great way to handle the questions when and if they come. We too wanted to be sensitive to other families and children that didn’t share our same beliefs. It is hard to explain to difference to kids in the price and size of gifts given in the name of Santa. I love the idea of baking a birthday cake for Jesus! How fun and I am sure it will be memorable too. Merry Christmas
Sharing the truth about Jesus and the real man, St. Nicolas, was how we raised our children as well. They “played pretend” about Santa, but it was more of a game to them.
Elizabeth, it’s so fun to hear about your families tradition which are very similar to ours. I am not sure my kids ever play pretended about Santa, but I will have to ask them. I love the imagination of kids. Thank you for sharing and Merry Christmas.
Such a beautiful post. I give cards and gifts as a sign of thanks for others. Thanks for hosting and I hope that you have a wonderful week.
Thank you Patrick! and thanks for sharing your traditions as well. Have a great week too.
We love a long time of opening gifts one by one and exclaiming or laughing over every little thing while eating cheesy potatoes, ham and pull apart bread. My eldest now has us on google docs to make it more organized – I try!
Sue, I love this family tradition. Taking time to really open and admire the gifts given, and the added food makes it perfect. Don’t you just love how God has gifted our children…so much so that your eldest is taking her organization skills and using it for Christmas, I am not so sure I am organized like that, Thanks for sharing! How was your speaking engagement up here a few weeks ago? I pray you had a great time! Merry Christmas
This is such a great post, even as a remix. We make or break the reason for the season when we decide what our Christmas looks like when our kids are young. I look back now and wish I had done things differently but find that even so, my sons know exactly what the reason for the season is. Great words today, my friend!
Thank you Mary. 🙂 I too look back and still wish I had done some things differently, but the truth is just as you said. They know the truth and that is what counts. Merry Christmas