As a kid, I grew up enjoying the fun and friendly notion of Santa. One Christmas tradition brought us annually to the mall for a night of dinner, presents, and of course holiday pictures with Santa Claus. As the oldest of four boys, I was the one trying to convince my younger brothers that Santa was not nearly as scary as he looked. On Christmas Eve, I remember getting really excited when Santa would drive down our street in the fire truck and spread Christmas cheer for all the children in the neighborhood. He gave out Candy Canes, and the firemen gave out plastic helmets. Candy and helmets, what’s not to like? As I got older, it was only a matter of time before ‘that kid’ in class with the older brother ruins Santa for everyone. By the time I hit junior high, God began to open my eyes to the beauty of Jesus. I began to recognize that Jesus and Santa seemed to share a holiday and questions of curiosity began to funnel through my mind. Who is Santa really? How does he fit into the whole Christmas story? Where did he come from? And how should I respond to Santa? As I’ve studied these questions over the years, here are a few of the answers I’ve found.

First of all, Santa Claus as we understand him culturally is actually based on a real person known in church history as Saint Nicholas. While we don’t have much information about Saint Nicholas, ancient records have compiled enough information to understand the type of person Nicholas was. Nicholas was born in the 3rd century in Patara, which is now Turkey. His parents were wealthy and devoutly Christian. At a young age, Nicholas’ parents died but not before they were able to instill in Nicholas a passion for their faith and their love for Jesus. Nicholas received that passion and put it to use by taking some of his large inheritance and giving gifts and helps to the poor, and children in particular. Some accounts say that Nicholas would actually fill socks full of treats and presents and hang them in houses for children.

As Nicholas got older, he gained the respect and admiration of many and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, which was interestingly enough a city that Paul visited on his journey in Acts 27:5-6. Nicholas was one of the many pastors who gathered at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. to help defend the deity of Christ from Scripture. After Nicholas died on December 6 343, he was canonized as a saint. At every anniversary of his death, there was a holiday complete with gifts given in his memory. This celebration of his life continued on until it eventually merged with the celebration of Christmas as both holidays were celebrated in such close proximity on the calendar. This only added to his popularity as an historic saint in both Catholic and Orthodox traditions and thousands of churches were named after him. During the Reformation, however, the idea of canonizing and venerating saints with holidays was challenged and all protestant countries chose not to include him except for Holland where he became known as Sinterklass. Dutch immigrants brought the tradition of Santa Claus to America.

This compiles what we know to be historical of the life of Saint Nicholas. There were, however, several elements of folklore that likely blended in to the celebration of Saint Nicholas over time. One such myth was about a holy man near the North Pole who would enter people’s homes through their chimneys and leave them mushrooms as gifts. Legend has it that the reindeer would eat some and become intoxicated, which may have led to the idea of flying reindeer and Santa coming down the chimney. Another such folklore involved a belief that Saint Nicholas would cast demons out of homes as they were terrorizing children, which may have led to the idea of Saint Nicholas visiting all of the children’s homes. The Dutch later added a component of sending letters to the North Pole in order to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

Clearly, our cultural celebration of Santa Claus has taken on a much different look than the historical account we have of the man Saint Nicholas. What we do know is that Saint Nicholas loved Jesus deeply and cared to bless people, and children in particular, generously. This is the Santa I want my kids to know about.

With cultural issues like these, I have found this grid helpful to process through everything: reject, receive, redeem.  You can either reject Santa Claus altogether, receive Santa Claus without hindrance, or redeem Santa Claus by helping your kids process Santa truthfully and age appropriately while not avoiding Santa at all costs.

We choose to redeem Santa. He’s for sure not the point of Christmas, but he loved the Jesus whom we celebrate on that day. We want to do what Saint Nicholas would have wanted us to do and that is, take the focus off of him in everything and put it on Jesus. That’s where he would have wanted the attention. Santa is an opportunity to do two things: enjoy letting your kids be kids and laugh and dress up and have fun while also helping them decipher between what’s true and what’s just folklore. As a parent, I want my kids to know that they can come to me for anything and know they will get the truth in love. I won’t keep secrets from them, but we will do surprises, and I want them to know the difference. And there’s a way to do this well, that points to Jesus, and allows kids to be kids while knowing that their parents will always help them distinguish between what’s true and what isn’t. That’s what we plan to do with Santa.

What will you do?