I’ve written already about my Christmas-with-kids dilemma (Santa or Jesus?). I have two little ones who can’t stop talking about Santa. William
says he dreams about Santa. They want to read books about Santa. Every day, one
of them asks, “Will Santa come to my house?”

The Santa business is fun. It’s fun to hang stockings and
talk about presents and get ready for Christmas morning. I just worry that the
excitement surrounding Santa will overshadow the story of the baby in the manger.

One reader commented on my post “Santa or Jesus?”  that a major difference between Santa and Jesus is that Jesus is a part of our family all year long, not just at Christmas. Eventually, Santa will fade out as it becomes clear to our children that old men in red suits don’t fly around the world depositing gifts on December 24^th. Jesus, in contrast, will remain.

In the car yesterday, Penny was singing, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” I noted the similarities between Santa and Jesus. They both can see us when we’re sleeping and know when we’re awake. They both know when we’ve been bad or good. But Santa is a rather cruel taskmaster. The song does begin with a warning: You’d better watch out!

How glad I am that Jesus is not the same as Santa.

Jesus came precisely because we would never be good enough to earn God’s favor. Jesus came to give us new life before we managed to clean up our lives. Jesus came and said, I do away with the list of all the things you’ve done wrong. You might deserve coal in your stocking, so to speak, but instead I give you an abundance of gifts. They aren’t based upon your goodness. They are based upon my love for you.

The gift of the Incarnation is the gift of God’s presence in our everyday lives–our messy, sinful, glorious, mundane lives.