Tags
Christmas gifts, Christmas traditions, Elf on a Shelf, Ephesians 2:4-8, Gift from God, Psalm 33, Santa, Solomon's prayer
The Elf on the Shelf appeared in 2005 in a book by Carol Aebersold and Chanda A. Bell, where they wrote a story about their family Christmas tradition of having a magical elf who appears at Thanksgiving and spends his days watching what children do and reporting back to Santa at the North Pole each night. This is how Santa knows who has been naughty and nice. As the elf returns each morning, he moves to a different place, creating a fun opportunity for parents to have a game of hide and seek with their children.
When I first heard of this, it seemed harmless enough. Toys coming to life, like the ones in Toy Story. Or from our days in England, Mousie from the Greene Knowe books by Lucy Boston, where the wooden carved mouse came to life at night and helped the children learn more about the history of the house. This is just teaching about using your imagination.
I admit that Santa visited our home when our children were little too. I was raised believing in Santa, and just passed the tradition on to my children. For me, it was fun to have Santa bring “special” presents. He brought gifts that made the children squeal with surprise and delight, the toys or games that were hard to get or slightly extravagant. My thoughts were that as Christ, the best gift we would ever receive, appeared in unexpected form, that giving unexpected gifts from Santa mirrored this. I hid paper that was different for wrapping and tried to disguise my handwriting on the tags. I thought it was all harmless tradition, until one of my children asked me why it was o.k. for me to lie.
That brought me up short. I didn’t think of it as lying, but from a child’s view it was easy to see that it certainly was. How could I expect them to always tell the truth, when it was acceptable for me to lie. Wow, talk about a moment of conviction. I tried rationalizing, saying the tradition of Santa came from Saint Nicholas, who was pointing to God. He gave to the poor in secret, so God would get the glory.
But in reality, Santa is an idol, made in the image of God.
The Lord looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds. (Psalm 33:13-15)
Our Father in heaven is the omniscient one, who not only sees our deeds, but our hearts. Solomon prayed, “ then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind,” (2 Chronicles 6:30) He knows the sin that lives there. But unlike Santa, he does not punish our sin with “bad” gifts. God does not ask us to be good enough to earn “good” gifts. He freely gives us salvation, eternal life with Him, the most precious gift we could ever receive.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-8)
God’s gift of Jesus is the perfect gift. All of our gift giving should be pointing to this. Do you really base what gifts you or “Santa” bring your children on their behavior? Or do you imitate God and give them gifts because you love them? If you do, be sure to tell them so. Don’t let Santa or an elf steal God’s glory from the Christmas story.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Diane