Quote:
Originally posted by Eclipse
Agree 100%! People look at me like I am crazy when I say I don't do a tree or other things at Christmas. This year Christmas day is going to be a day of service, meditation and reflection for me. That's it. You guys who gave the information about St. Nicholas are right, but the problem comes in when we add to the story. The story of the real life St. Nicholas stands on it's own, but people had to add to it. Now, instead of doing things in the spirit of/in memory of a person that is long gone, we make up a character that lives in the North Pole and flies through the night. How does that help anything?
Kids are excited about their birthdays (I know I was!). I wondered what I was going to get, who was going to come to my party,etc. Heck, even now I REFUSE to work on my birthday! LOL I don't think kids need something made up to appreciate the wonder of Christmas.
To say that God make himself a little lower that the angels, wrapped himself in skin and came to earth as a baby for ME is more wonderful that any flying reindeer with red noses! For GOD who has all power in his hands to suspend that power and become totally dependant on another so he could identify with me more is more awesome than a jolly ol' elf.
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This is a beautiful post.
And this is what I feel. If you want to celebrate Christmas as a holy day, celebrate as a holy day.
But denying one pagan/non-religious symbol but keeping all the others seems a little hypocritical to me.
Anyway, back to the original question.
No, I don't believe Santa is bad for kids. I believed in Santa when I was small. I don't think anyone told me he didn't exist, I think I just grew out of him. Little clues here and there made me realize at a young age that he wasn't real. It wasn't so much believing in him as it was the idea of him. It makes kids happy...so if you celebrate it the non-religious way as I do (since I don't believe in organized religion), then who cares, it doesn't harm the child.
Now, if you have a teenager still believing in him then you might have problems, but there's proably much more going on that him or her still believing in Santa.