Should Christians include Santa in Christmas?

Santa Claus is an enduring figment of western society's collective imagination, designed to deliver a certain kind of annual euphoria to children and moral leverage to parents. The historiography of jolly ol' St. Nick is about as varied and complicated as that of the U.S. Civil War, but certain historical outlines become fairly obvious upon observation (see the video below). But, this post is not about the history of Santa, as it is largely irrelevant. What matters to the question of whether Christians should include Santa in Christmas is what Santa is now.

Santa as narrative

"Santa" is more than a crimson-clad cookiephile; he's the personification of an entire narrative. His story includes Mrs. Claus, tiny working elves, a flying sleigh and reindeer, moral omniscience, and a magical toy factory at the North Pole. He has a jolly laugh, rosy red cheeks, and a twinkle in his eye. He has a grandfatherly sweetness about him that children can trust. Santa is a sweet and fun story for children.

A brief History of Santa Claus

What is most convenient about the modern (American) Santa is that he is essentially secular. That is, he appeals to most people, regardless of religious belief. Everyone loves Christmas, with its gift giving, festive music, and diversion from the otherwise-depressing winter solstice. But, not everyone loves Jesus or the Christian religion. (This should be no surprise to anyone.) Santa provides a secular narrative backbone to the cultural tradition of Christmas. This is necessary, because traditions do not survive without stories. At least for young children, who are credulous by nature, Santa keeps the tradition of Christmas alive in an increasingly secular culture. Without some associated story, we would all lose Christmas.

Secular Christmas?

Is a secular Christmas so bad? After all, the Bible doesn't command that we celebrate Christmas. While Jesus' birth is described in the Bible (Luke 2:16ff), it doesn't mention the exact date. In fact, we're not even certain of the year, much less the month, of Jesus' birth. [1] If Christmas were completely secular to begin with, it is not clear that it would be immoral to celebrate it, so long as we avoided pagan Sun worship and the excesses of greedy consumerism. It could be a secular, civic institution like Thanksgiving. It would, of course, not be called Christ-mas. Perhaps it would be called "Festivus," as in the sitcom Seinfeld. If Christ had never been any part of Christmas, it would not necessarily be wrong to celebrate a gift giving solstice festival.

"Festivus" is an entirely secularized version of

Christmas that was invented by George Castanza's

father. The reason it doesn't work is that it doesn't

have a compelling narrative.

 Are we lying to our children?

Is it immoral to perpetuate the myth of Santa Claus with children? Again, not necessarily. The distinction between fiction and non-fiction is not so clear for young children anyway. Do 3-year-old little boys know that Bob the Builder, Dora, Barney, and Ronald McDonald aren't real? It seems unlikely that a young child would even understand the category of "not real." At the point that a child does begin to understand the concept of "not real," parents who want to keep the myth alive must take increasingly drastic steps to conceal the truth, until it becomes too absurd to keep it up. Then, the story ends. It is at this point--when the child begins to understand "not real"--that parents are faced with a real moral dilemma. How far is too far to push the myth? When is the age of [parental] accountability? [2]

The problem with Santa

There is a problem with the Christian use of Santa, however. By comparison to the Incarnation of Christ, the narrative of Santa is paltry (pitiful, small, slight, inconsequential, puny, measly, etc...[3]). The intrusion of the divine upon the mundane in order to sacrificially save those who rejected him as Father and Creator is a narrative without equal, and yet Christians have too often substituted the relatively meager Santa story. How many Christian children know as much about the birth and life of Jesus as they know about Santa, the reindeer, and the tiny elves? How many parents who have walked on the roof of their homes to sound like Santa have gone to equal lengths to make the Gospel come alive?

Why spend so much effort keeping up the Santa story and so little teaching children about the magnificently beautiful Incarnation? Has familiarity bred contempt for the story of the Incarnation? Have we lost the ability to tell good stories? Or, have we quit reading and reflecting upon the Incarnation? It is beyond the scope of this post to diagnose the cause, but the prognosis is clear -- substituting Santa for the far superior and historically real Incarnation of Jesus inhibits our children's ability to appreciate the beauty of God's narrative.

Christmas is a fun and memorable holiday, which is tailor-made for children. What an opportunity Christian parents are given every single year to communicate the Gospel to their children. Why wouldn't parents, teachers, and other children's workers take maximum advantage of this holiday to penetrate their young hearts and minds with the glory of God's gospel?

The problem is not Santa per se but that the Santa narrative is an unnecessary adulteration of a better story. (For a reminder of the story, please listen to and reflect on the video below.)

This is a particularly poignant telling of the Gospel

by Christian theologian R.C. Sproul of Ligonier

Ministries. After hearing the Gospel it is simply

difficult to care much about Santa.

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[1] That's not to say that we aren't certain of his birth itself. The fact of Jesus' birth, death, and life enjoys a great deal of historical support, not the least of which is the historical document of the Bible itself. The historical evidence suggests that Christians celebrated the birth of Jesus (the Incarnation) very early, but the date of December 25 was instituted later, because that date happened to be the date of a winter solstice festival, which was a time to worship the Sol Invictus (The Unconquerable Sun).  Some Christians bemoaned this assimilation of that date into Christian tradition while others accepted it as an opportunity to baptize a pagan holiday. The Catholic Encyclopedia has a well-documented account of the historiography of the Christmas holiday.
[2] I'm of the opinion that, when a child does have a firm grip on "real" and "not real," at whatever age that may be, keeping up the act becomes increasingly immoral.
[3] Thank you, thesaurus.com.