Getting Into Trouble

Let me give proper warning, this is about to be a "rant". It has to do with that Elf on the Shelf® thingy. From their webpage:

The Elf on the Shelf® is a special scout elf sent from the North Pole to help Santa Claus manage his naughty and nice lists. When a family adopts an elf and gives it a name, the elf receives its Christmas magic and can fly to the North Pole each night to tell Santa Claus about all of the day's adventures. Each morning, the elf returns to its family and perches in a different place to watch the fun. Children love to wake up and race around the house looking for their elf each morning.

When I first heard about this I was disturbed. The more I think about it, the more disturbed I get.

There are spies in the living rooms of children all over America (and presumably the world). They are taking down the names and activities of the children in those houses and reporting them to the north Pole. What an awful idea. It perpetuates what, to me, is the biggest problem with Christmas as we celebrate it: You have to be good to get the gifts of Christmas.

The only reason some children are "being good" right now is that there is this Elf taking the information back to Santa. They want the presents. Talk about taking Christ OUT of Christmas. Using the "X" is an appropriate symbol for Christ used for centuries. Xmas is not anti-Christ. The idea of needing to be good to get what God is offering is the underlying idea that is enhanced by the Santa Claus story we have developed.

I don't know about you, but I got the presents from Santa whether I was good or bad, naughty or nice.

I think it was the first time I understood grace.

By the way, I believe in Santa. I like Santa. Not because he brings me gifts, but because he is a bringer of grace. Let's tell THAT story as well.

Don't Stop Believing

Just saw this for the first time this year.


It sums up why I don't get underwear for Christmas.

Santa is our culture's only mythic figure truly believed in by a large percentage of the population. It's a fact that most of the true believers are under eight years old, and that's a pity.
-- Chris Van Allsburg

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.