Saint Nicholas as an Alternative to Santa Claus

Thanks so much for the great discussion and comments on Why We Say No to Santa Claus. For those who also omit Santa from Christmas, it's wonderful to know we are not alone. I had intended to finish this post before the weekend, but just didn't get to it.

December 6th is St. Nicholas Day, although we will be including the story of Saint Nick as part of our Christmas Day, he does have his very own day. There is lots of great info out there on the web. Here is a quick view how we plan to have Saint Nicholas stand in for Santa Claus.

Nicholas was an early Christian who had received a great inheritance and used it to help others. There was a poor man with three daughters who did not have enough money for their dowries, and therefore they were destined to be sold into slavery since no man would marry without receiving a dowry for taking a bride. Nicholas anonymously gave three bags of gold for the daughters' dowries.

The legend has it that he threw the bags of gold in through an open window. However, some stories say he threw them in through the chimney. When families began observing the Feast of Saint Nicholas, they would tell their children that Saint Nicholas would bring the gifts of money through the chimney, and in the process get cinders on his clothes. He was then called "Sinterklass" in northern European countries.

In the "New World," trying to break from "old world" customs and traditions, the person of Santa Claus was born and associated with December 25th instead of December 6th.

As Ladybug gets older, we will tell her the story of Saint Nicholas, of his good deeds of helping other people, and why we need to give to others. We will share with her that Santa Claus is based on the real person of Saint Nicholas, but that he is not real. We will also stress the importance of having fun and playing make-believe, and that if someone else wants to believe that Santa Claus is real, it's okay, and that we are not to spoil their fun.

I am looking for good children's books about Saint Nicholas, so if you have any recommendations, please let me know! This year's newest VeggieTale DVD is about Saint Nicholas and I have only seen snippets of it. But I am a big fan of VeggieTales and the messages that they share.

We will still do Christmas presents and Christmas stockings (my mom asked about that). But we will not be pretending that some magical person/elf snuck into our house while we were sleeping. Ladybug will know that Mama and Daddy bought the presents for her. We will most likely keep it to three presents, as I mentioned in a post last week. Another blogger (can't remember who, sorry!) wrote that they do put out stocking for Saint Nicholas and that "he" fills them with coins. We might incorporate that in future years.

When well-meaning people ask if she is ready for Santa Claus, for now we just smile and nod. If they are a close friend, family member or someone from church, we might share that we don't have Santa at our house. We won't go out of our way to avoid Santa Claus. We won't be offended if someone mentions him in our presence.

One reason I want to share all of this here is so that close friends and family who might happen to read my blog will understand how we will be celebrating Christmas. I mentioned last week all the reasons why we don't do Santa Claus. We're pretty firm on those.

Hubby and I really do enjoy making "new" traditions for our little family. That's part of being a family and celebrating the holidays. We don't do things exactly the way they were when we grew up, but we incorporate some of our favorite traditions and include new ones as they fit in with our philosophy of parenting and with our Christian faith. We look forward to teaching Ladybug about giving and receiving, about helping others, and that Christmas is, most importantly, about Jesus.


Photo Credit: stock.xchng

December 6

Happy 5th Birthday to our beautiful daughter in heaven. We still miss you, that won't ever change. It's hard to imagine what life would be like with both you and Ladybug here.

Every day, we are thankful that you are with Jesus and that we will see you again someday. We are also thankful that Lori is now with you and you can take care of each other. We're looking forward to the day we'll all be together again.

Why We Say No to Santa Claus

(I don't know why this post has been difficult to write. I don't want to offend anyone who includes Santa Claus in their Christmas celebration. I simply want to share what we will do as a family.)

We don't "do" Santa Claus. There. I said it.

Sometimes it's difficult to make a decision that isn't popular. After all, four-fifths of America get excited about Santa Claus, having pictures taken with him, making wish lists and writing letters, setting out cookies, milk and reindeer food. And that's just the adults.

Just before Christmas last year, I took a poll of the readers of my humble blog regarding if Santa was included in their Christmas celebrations. Hubby and I were just in the beginning stages of trying to decide how we will talk about Santa and what we will celebrate in our family.

Very briefly, here are the reasons that will not be including Santa Claus in our celebration of Christmas:

1. We want to keep Jesus at the center of our celebration. Carrien wrote last year about how they don't exchange gifts at all but focus on what gift they will GIVE to Jesus for His birthday. I like that!

2. In spite of all the arguments that make-believe is part of the magic of childhood, we just can't shake the thought that we would be lying to our child if we said that Santa brings presents to all the good girls and boys. I don't want to teach my child that lying is acceptable, nor do I want to give her a reason to doubt Mama and Daddy.

3. We want to teach Ladybug that giving is more important that receiving, at any time of year. I really do not like the "gimme, gimme" attitude that I see in so many children when it comes to Christmas.

4. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, sweetie. All the pretending to sprinkle reindeer food then sweeping it away after the kids go to bed, remembering that Santa uses one specific kind of wrapping paper, which presents did Santa bring last year = too much to keep straight!

5. And today on Twitter, Casey reminded me of another reason to omit Santa at Christmas. Kids can be afraid of him! Think about it from a kid's perspective. Your parents tell you that a strange old man sneaks into your house while you sleep. Then they want to take a picture of you sitting on some stranger's lap. A stranger who might look and/or smell funny. That can be scary to a kid!

I'm sure there are other reasons that I am not thinking of right now.

However, not including Santa Claus presents a conundrum in today's American culture, doesn't it? We will be teaching Ladybug the story of the real-live Saint Nicholas. More on that tomorrow.

Special thanks to the following Twitter friends who helped me gather my thoughts today: @monicabrand, @carrien_laughs, @CBerbs, @girlymamamel, @erinclosingtime, and @Trysha_.

Keep Christmas Simple - Three Gifts

Keeping Christmas giving simple can be tough, especially when you love your kids (and who doesn't!) and see so many fun things that you would love to play with for them to play with. There are a lot of great toys out there!

This year, we will be giving Ladybug (2.5 years old) three gifts to reflect the three gifts that the Wise Men brought to Jesus (Matthew 2).

But did you know that there is another story that tells of giving three gifts? It's the story of Saint Nicholas, on whom the modern-day Santa Claus is based. You can read more about Saint Nicholas here.

The quick version of the story is that a poor man had three daughters and had no money for their dowry. The girls were destined to be sold into slavery because no man would marry them without a dowry. The story tells that Nicholas threw three bags of gold into an open window so that the girls could have a dowry and be married.

I will share more tomorrow about how we incorporate Saint Nicholas into our Christmas celebration as an alternative to Santa Claus.

In the meantime, limiting ourselves to only three Christmas gifts works for me, not only as a way to remember two Christmas stories, but as a way to make sure we're not overwhelmed with budget-busting expenditures this year!

Top Ten Things I See

I'm typing this at 5:30 am. I snuck out of bed in hopes for some quiet time, but I hear that Ladybug is already awake (mostly due to a cough).


Here are ten things that I see as I type on my laptop in the living room.

1. the Christmas tree

2. toys stacked that need to be put away (since Ladybug has played with very few toys since the tree went up, we are putting away a lot of toys)

3. two big stacks of books that will be staying

4. two egg carton caterpillars, one egg carton ant, and one egg carton ladybug

5. my Bible

6. my Steelers coffee mug

7. Ladybug's pink blanket for when she naps in the living room

8. my pink wrap (shawl) for when I get cold

9. the TV and DVD player

10. our Lambie (who is wearing a halo that Ladybug made in Sunday School) and P.L. (Pocket Lambie, yes, we are so creative with names)



For more Top Ten lists, visit ohamanda.com

Advent - Hope

Come, Thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

The theme for the first week of Advent is Hope. Not only hope of the coming of the Baby Jesus, but hope in his return, His promised second coming. Jesus tells His disciples in John 14 that He is going to prepare a place for them and that He will return to take them there.

As Christians, we know that this world is not our home. Heaven is our true home. Yes, we are to live our lives here on earth and spread the Gospel while we are here, but this life is temporary. Our home in heaven is eternal.

For me, thinking about eternity is difficult. The only existence that I know is one that is marked by time, by the passing of minutes and hours and days. Eternity will not have minutes or hours or days. That's a difficult concept to grasp.

Yet I long for my eternal home. Why? First, it is there that I will be constantly in the presence of the Lord without all the distractions of this world. And second, because we will be reunited with our loved ones. I long to be with our first daughter. I miss my friend. I cannot wait to be with them again.

When the crap of this world gets us down, we have hope that this is NOT all there is. If not for the hope of eternity with God, how can we make it through the tough stuff of life? How do you face another day when you can't make sense of tragedy? HOPE. I don't know how a person can face another day without hope.

I encourage you to take time to reflect during this Advent season and not rush into all the busyness of the Christmas season. Reflect on what it means to have hope.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm counting my blessings today. I hope you are too!!




And don't forget to have some Pumpkin Pi!