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Health & Fitness

How Did YOU Find Out?

The Christmas version of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" ... Will your kids believe again?

You know the moment. That single, sudden moment while in, what seems like a frivolous conversation with friends, one person will place a blinding spotlight on a never-thought-of concept.

That’s how it happened. My moment. Talking with a few friends on how, as parents, we emulate Santa: to wrap or not, Shelf on the Elf or no elf on no shelf, what we stuff in the stockings—and then came the “how you found out” stories.

One friend found her beloved uncle chomping on the cookies she left out for the big man, while placing her presents under the tree. Another was simply told by an older sibling. And then, there’s my story.

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Where one morning, I noticed the Tooth Fairy never confiscated my molar and, even more to my dismay, never left me that dollar I was counting on to buy some more Now & Laters and Bublicious from the candy shop down the road. When I approached my mother and asked her thoughts on why the Fairy never appeared, she replied, “Now, I think you know why.”

Well, yeah. I probably did know. But I didn’t want to, not yet. I wanted to pretend a little longer in the magic (at least long enough to get my dollar.) So my shoulders shrugged, and she replied, “There’s no such thing as the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny, or—Santa Claus.”

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Not sure what happened after she stated the word “Claus.” I picture her ending her sentence and simply going on about her business; maybe catching up on utility bills, or washing the dishes, or maybe quickly grabbing the phone to brag to the neighbor on how she finally dropped the bomb on her daughter and will never have to wake up before dawn for gifts or a tooth. Yeah, I’m not sure what happened next, but that’s my story. That’s how I found out there was no such thing as Santa.

After minutes of these story exchanges, one woman said how a couple at our church doesn’t concentrate on Santa with their kids. They just don’t make a big deal out of him. No “Shelf on the Elf,” no Santa cookies, no making sure they get at least one smiling picture with Santa for that year. Really? At first my thoughts were “Aw, those poor kids!” But she continued.

Their reason was that, as a society, we teach children that Santa is real and alive. That he’s magical and produces miracles such as delivering every boy and girl in the entire world toys in just one single night. That he flies in the sky by reindeers with red glowing noses. That tiny elves with tiny fingers in factories on top of the frozen world assemble all those billions of toys. And then, one day, when parents become weary of the story of Santa, of keeping up his magic, when children become of the age when other children will make fun of him for believing, they finally confess the truth. The truth that seems like common sense, but the story was what we were told by the people who love us most—so we believed. And some of us fought for that belief against those who didn’t believe.

So what about this other story. What about this story of a baby born immaculately to a woman in a manger? Who grew into a man that walked on water, turned water into wine, and raised from the dead. A man that answers our prayers. What if a child believes this story, but, one day, his prayer isn’t answered by this man we call Jesus? Will someone say to him, “Now, I think you know why.” Will he fight for that belief? Or will his shoulders shrug, waiting for “the truth” to be revealed?

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Jesus: The Real Reason for the Season.” However, taking a look at the perspective of a child really made me think about our Santa traditions at home. That maybe we need less Santa, and more Jesus. Focus less on the big guy, and more on the One who loved and died for us: the real Truth.

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