Why I Hate Santa Claus.

I have spent much of my adult life trying to sort out the truth.

  I have had some real crazy misunderstandings and misguided thoughts, and unfortunately most of it has had an element of the truth, but then gets off into some other distorted weirdness.  

I often get a little wild when I discover I've been lied to or think I've been deceived in some way, just ask my poor kids.
  If you want to see mom lose her mind........ 

 I know, I know it's human nature we all do it and it hurts everyone, and we even deceive our own selves, get over it.  I will not get over it, I will spend my life seeking the TRUTH, and here is why; the TRUTH is too sweet to cover up and distort, and especially

 especially 

especially 

 the TRUTH about CHRISTMAS!!!

The TRUTH of the Christmas story is so SWEET and full of MYSTERY and WONDER and BEAUTY and GRACE, it is so AMAZING, it it the BEST STORY EVER TOLD, and it's alllllll TRUE. 

 It's history, and it's future, and it's all our HOPE; wrapped up in a little tiny baby bundle!!! 

 There is so much JOY to be had in the TRUTH of Christmas that we don't need to add one little tiny thing, or one big fat phony thing.

But somehow what has happened is we thought that we had a funner story to teach our kids to believe in.  So rather than the TRUTH,  we made up some crap about a creepy guy in a red suit that watches if we are good or bad or naughty or nice and keeps a tally all year, and we put our kids on this stranger's lap, which defies every good thing we ever taught the little people about stranger danger, for a cute picture that terrifies them, but they will endure it because they want to be good and get presents.

  How do we explain to our kids that kids without parents or with poor parents or kids from Third World countries don't get much for Christmas, or maybe they get nothing........do we just tell them that those kids must have been bad.  I don't know, it just goes from fun to really sick and twisted and wrong.

And then at a certain age we sit them down and tell them it's all been a lie and crush all their hopes and dreams, or worse, a friend tells them, and then they wonder what else we have lied to their sweet little hearts about, but, they don't want to tell us that they know the TRUTH of the lie because they are afraid if they tell us they KNOW, then we will stop playing this whole charade and they will never have fun on Christmas or get another gift as long as they live. There just seems like a lot of fun  gone wrong.

The TRUTH of HISTORY, the real Christmas story, is the best story in all the world throughout all of time. Jesus is the best gift ever given and He was a gift given to all the world by GOD himself.  Jesus is the gift and He is the gift that just keeps giving throughout eternity.  

Why in the world would we want to change that, or add to it or take away from it?

We can celebrate and decorate and give generously and eat and drink and be merry, because He is so worth all our PRAISE and CELEBRATION.
 

The story never gets old or boring, it gets better and better every year, every single year the GIFT gets better and there's more to unwrap and there's more to share and learn and enjoy about this gift that God gave to us.  Why in the world would we not want to tell the story every year and tell it with such awe and wonder and tell more and more and more as the kids grow and learn and understand this precious GIFT.
 

God will never never never sit us down and tell us that we have outgrown the fairy tale.  He will never tell us it's over, move on and grow up.

We have been robbed as adults because of the strain and stress and burden of Christmas and we "do it all for the kids." UGH!  How messed up is that?

  We need to shift our focus and realize that as the years go by and we believe in the TRUTH of Christmas year after year it only gets better and better; we unwrap more and more of this gift, given to us by almighty God, this gift called IMMANUEL, God with us.  We get to spend ETERNITY unwrapping and discovering and being in awe and wonder of this gift of GRACE that He gave us in His son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

John 3:16

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Here's the best part.  This gift from GOD is not dependent on our behavior, if we have been good or bad or naughty or nice.  The gift from God has already been sent to us and paid for in FULL, by God.  We don't have to earn it, we can't lose it, and we can't break it or outgrow it.  We never have to worry if we can afford it, because we never will be able to......  

All we have to do is BELIEVE in the TRUTH of CHRISTMAS, and RECEIVE this gift given to us by God. The more we believe, the more there is, the more there is to share, and the more we share, the more there is again.  He is the best gift. We get to enjoy this gift forever, the gift is not just about JESUS, it is JESUS.

 Let's celebrate like there is no tomorrow, and teach these kids how to really enjoy Christmas. 

We don't need santa, we need Jesus.

I say shop away and eat up a storm and thank God for every single gift and bite that we get to enjoy to celebrate JESUS birthday.

So, I know the title may be a tiny bit harsh, and honestly, we did the whole santa thing with our older kids and they turned out almost fine... we even go along to a certain extent with the little ones so they aren't ruining other kids' family fun, we enjoy movies like Elf, and fun little Christmas stories, and we aren't throwing eggs at the santas around town or at school,  we just don't give him the time of day.....because we have so many better things to talk about and celebrate.

 One last disclaimer...I know kids may read this...but if they are old enough to read it or be on facebook, you better tell them santa is fake....if not, I just did it for you. 
You are welcome.

MERRY CHRISTMAS
FOR
REAL!!!