I’m proud of you guys. It’s difficult doing what you feel is right, especially when it goes against societal expectations. My parents did not do Santa with me and I didn’t miss it one bit! In fact, for various reasons I’m so thankful they didn’t. I don’t hate on people who do, but my husband and I agree with you. It is amazing to me that parents who don’t celebrate Santa get SO much hate from other parents. Love the videos. Keep them coming.
I really appreciate you guys sharing this. For several years, I too have started to feel convicted about Santa Claus. I even also noticed that Santa has the same letters as Satan. And this year too, I noticed the omnipresent thing, which only Jesus is omnipresent and omniscient. It’s strange to me that we mix Jesus with Santa. Especially since song that Jesus alone deserves glory in worship songs and stuff, but we as Christians are being hypocritical because we are also giving glory to Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I’ll share a story with you. So I started to feel weird about Santa Claus a few years ago. But, the first thing I thought of was how strange it was that parents take their kids to this stranger at the mall usually, and have their kid sit on this strangers lap. A lot of times you see the kid doesn’t want to, they are crying and the parents will force it. I started to wonder if there was something to that. Like, perhaps the kid could feel that the person in the costume didn’t feel right. I started to think that it gave those with child attraction (pedofiles) an excuse to have children sit on their lap. I wrote a song about it, and how it reminded me of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Well, I tried to push it aside, because I grew up believing in Santa and all that and I didn’t want to be the person who ruins Christmas. And one year, my sister and I went to a sleigh with Santa and we climbed on to take a picture with Santa. Very creepily, the Santa suggested to me that I, “sit on his lap.” And he did it in an inviting sexual type of inuendo. I got so grossed out and internally said, “I knew it! I knew I didn’t like you! You are such a pervert!” And so ever since then, I have not gone back about my convictions about Santa Claus. When I see him, I just see something that has nothing to do with God, but instead a creep and a imposter, stealing the glory from Jesus. Of course, like you guys, it’s not an overnight transition. I still have a tree and decorate with winter decorations like trees, snow, candles, pine, evergreen. I see nothing wrong with decorating for the winter season. But, I don’t have anything related to the North Pole. No stockings, no santa stuff, etc. I try to focus on Jesus, reading the story of his birth, nativity scenes, movies about the nativity, etc. I still give gifts and receive gifts because to me that just an act of kindness. Also, I hosted something called a “star party,” last year. And it was the theme of the Star showing in the sky the night of Jesus birth. I decorated with stars, and we decorated Star shaped cookies, and we had games. We played a gift game where each person brought something they already owned, and meaningful to them to give as a gift, sort of like how the wise men brought prized possessions. Then, I had a star projector and I turned all the light off and projected the stars onto the cieling and we all sang carols about Jesus, like silent night, holy night, hark the harold angels sing, etc. And I also read the story of Jesus birth. Everyone said that the party was wonderful and it filled something in them that was missing. They felt how wholesome it was and they said they really needed it. (This compliment came from two unbelievers). So I felt that Jesus was glorified and we didn’t have to be boring and also got to be a witness at the same time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts about how Christmas got weird for you. I can’t help but to believe that the Holy Spirit is working and tugging on the hearts of those who want to truly follow Him. ❤
I totally agree with everything you said 100%!! It is creepy to have your kids sit on a man’s lap and all the kids are crying and don’t want to go near him or most of them any way 😢 Also the way you you decorate is what I do too! I try to get everything related to Jesus I don’t have one Santa Claus in my house.
Hi, im african and i love the stars theme.. i was thinking thats how i would decorate.. but the truth is when anything is adopted by many and idolized, it eventually becomes a stumbling block .. being a parent is not easy
Wow! That is so awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. I am 72 and still remember the look on my little girl's face when she was about 3 years old and I tried to get her to sit on a Santa's lap at my parent's home. She clung to me and had the most terrified look on her face. I believe small children have a close connection to God, but that over time it is dulled because they are inundated by Santas, Easter bunnies, tooth fairies, elves, super heroes, etc. Oh, if only we exalted God Who is worthy to His rightful place. If we shared the wonders of Him, His love, His creation, His provision, His salvation like the bible says, as we sit, stand, walk along the way, each and every day! This year I placed a rugged cross I made on top of my Christmas tree. I placed an ornament upon it that simply said, "BELIEVE". I wanted to use it as an opportunity to share with my 3 granddaughters that God created the very tree that was made into the cross that Christ hung upon to die in payment of our sins. Unfathomable love...Amazing grace!
So inspiring! I really apreciate you sharing this! I actually started questionning alot of things about christmas this year… why a tree, why santa, why lights? Nothing really made sense. But Chritmas is really happy, how not celebrate? Recentering on Jesus and his birth is really what should be put front and I think that my concludion!!! Thank you for your ideas!!
Dude this is so funny. You are aware that "Santa" means Saint? Santa comes (very likely) from european interpretaions of Saint Nicolaus, a Bishop that lived around the fourth century. To take a word and say it's bad just because it's an anagram of a supposedly bad thing is braindead
Another great topic you guys have been killing it lately! Love what the Lord is doing with your channel. We are young parents also navigating through these same issues and it’s been rough figuring out a balance but I think that we as parents tend to over complicate things when it really doesn’t need to be so complicated. My husbands parents did Santa with him while my parents never did Santa so we knew the gifts were from them or family members. I still knew about Santa, took pictures with him and participated in all the Christmas festivities and never saw my Christmas as less fun as any other kids, in fact, I believe it’s what kept me and my siblings humble as children. Because we knew it was my parents we were always so happy and content with any gift and would never ask for anything outrageous because we knew how hard our parents worked. Santa has made children (in my opinion) greedy, selfish and entitled. It’s robbed the true meaning of Christmas and as you guys mentioned, normalized parents lying to their children which btw always starts out as a small lie, and then you have reindeer poop on your front lawn somehow lol to each his own but for us as Catholics we celebrate St Nicholas feast day as he was an amazing saint but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is all about JESUS! We do a novena to the baby Jesus, sing songs about Jesus, put Jesus on the manger on Christmas Day and sing happy birthday and give Him thanks for all we have. We attend church on Christmas Day, and keep gifts at a minimum. My daughter sees Santa at the mall and says hi, and I explain that he is pretend, as she gets older I will explain the whole cultural component etc. All in all I think we need to focus on making this day holy, can it still be fun? Sure! But if we want our children to truly understand the reason for the season, we need to stop being afraid of being the “lame parents” and what others will think. I think our children in the future will thank us for it. God bless you guys ❤️
What an amazing, fearless video. Thank you for making it !!! Everything you're saying resonates with me, and has for sometime. I've been feeling like a bad person for feeling this way. Now, that was before understanding the reasons, to this extent... Thank you. thankful to hear this.
The name "Santa Claus" comes from a dialect of Dutch, where the word was "Sante Klaas". He is based on a real person named St. Nicholas (Klaus) for short. My children, now grown, enjoyed believing in Santa Claus but they always knew that he was not a real person who sneaks into your house via the fireplace. I taught them he represents the spirit of Christmas. Go look up St. Nicholas to see what he did. My kids, now grown, never thought I lied to them. Like Sutton, they just thought it was a way to make Christmas fun and exciting...filled with joyful anticipation. I do believe though, that it has gotten way too commercial and stressful. Be sure to instill the real reason for the season.
the pagan Romans started off a pretty bad trend at this time of year: a day of lawlessness and perversion where people would gather in debauchery and perversion having orgies and breaking every law they could. They even allowed children to be involved. This pagan holiday carried on until the early church thought of a way to combat it by introducing christmas a day to celebrate CHRIST who came to save us from all of that... This has over time has been once again perverted by the enemy introducing idolatry (groves) in the form of christmas trees and coveting gifts that are placed under the christmas tree all delivered by "santa"....(its all in the name) After CHRIST had defeated satan on the cross stripping him of the keys of death (what satan had held over GOD humanity being separated from HIM due to sin) satan returned John 14;30 with one plan in mind to keep us all from CHRIST by distracting us with everything worldly the father of lies aim is to present sin as the coolest thing ever! robbing us of CHRIST who is our inheritance! our victory, our everything! HE is all that we need and the enemy doesn't want you to know that.... whats interesting is that in the end times satan demands to be worshiped as he is the spirit behind idolatry it becomes more apparent when it will be required to have his mark in order to partake in the things of the world. The bible doesn't teach when CHRIST was born but everyday is a good day to celebrate our LORD.
As a Dutch mother I know all about Sinterklaas. And yes the assumptions of him being a true historic person but it is celebrated in the exact same way as Santa. Making the children believe in someone who knows all about you and only gaves you presents ween you are good etc. We were always honest to our children, told them he did not exist and that we bought the presents. We were not always loved for that but isn’t that the way of Christ? The Bible even says that if Will be persecuted like Him is we are true believers. So Nate and Sutton please follow the quidance the Holy Spirit is leading you to. And thank you for being so honest and real on this channel.
Thank you for sharing your hearts . I grew up not doing Santa . My family just doesn’t . I don’t have kids so I might not be to helpful but I don’t feel like I missed out on anything .
Loved this video. Continue to walk away from the world's version of Christmas and you will find yourself running. Our oldest is 13 and we have 3 more down to 7...we still get them gifts and and stocking stuffers...but we never talked of Santa when they were younger. When they were younger they would ask if Santa was real...and our response was, "What do you think?" And kinda left it at that but always came back around to Jesus. No tears were ever shed. They also valued their gifts because they knew where they actually came from and were always so grateful. Their favorite part of Christmas is to pick a gift for each other...so I would say, continue that tradition. They have turned into the most anticipated part of Christmas morning! You guys are awesome parents. Continue to walk in the still small voice. Merry Christmas.
I'm glad you guys made this video! I was just thinking about this! I like the idea of just making it a smaller thing, like the tooth fairy. I like the idea of going back to the original concept and letting him fill a stocking, leaving cookies for him at night and letting all the gifts be from the parents. Then when my kids figure it out, I want to pull them aside and teach them about the real St. Nik and how he helped the orphan children. Now that they know, they become the "new St. Nik" helping with Christmas each year. They bring joy and gifts to others as the hands of the Savior without others seeing them for their good works. That way St Nik becomes a tool to point to following the Savior (which was his goal in real life) rather than eclipsing Him. I like that you guys don't want to lie to your kids. My mom had this art down. She never told me the tooth fairy was or wasn't real. When we asked she would say "what do you think?" I think this strikes a good balance between keeping the fun but not lying to your kids. The ability to believe that there is more to life than you see can be a good skill and has personally helped me with my faith in God. Fairy tales can have a similar effect. Good luck you guys! Whatever you decide for your cute family will be great I'm sure! :)
LOL. Thanks as always for sharing. I like how you chose to celebrate and are open to ideas. I loved staring at the manger scene my parents had lit up that they put out each Christmas. Also, pray and ask the Lord how he wants to be celebrated and how to worship him. God bless! God has feelings, too. :)
OMG, The parallels you gave blew me away. I knew of a few but you showed me more that I did not know and WOW!!!! You are definitely onto something there. It is about time that we as believers began taking a stand for righteousness. I commend you and pray you continue...
thank you so much for sharing this. I don't have kids and am unmarried, but I love watching y'alls content because it gives me food for thought and things to pray about. :)
I’m really sorry for all the comments! Apparently I’m very passionate about this this year. I think handing out gifts to others is great and involving the kids in getting them and giving is best. Even more giving to random people!
My children are 23 and 27 now, but we did the whole Santa thing. I remember being so stressed about not getting them enough for Christmas and I now I look back wishing I had been so materialistic!
I feel like as their parents we feel like we can never give them “enough” cause we love them so much but we just have to keep in mind that our love for them IS enough! They don’t need materials to know we love them 🥰
Great points I've never even thought about! Thank you all for walking through this journey and showing me what to do. I would have to agree with everything I think I want to keep Christ first and my Christmas and my future kids Christmas as well.
I find you very refreshing. I’m 66 and have watch the greed in this world how people can get away with anything. Our Lord doesn’t deserve such disrespect so thank you Nate . I understand completely. God Bless 🙏🏾❤️✌🏾🌹💐
It gets deeper guys, brace yourself as God will be revealing to you a lot more about Christmas in the coming years...if you're obedient. Praise the Lord❣
Thank you for making this video! I was just talking to my husband about how we will explain Santa to our daughter. And a big point was “thou shall not lie” and I remember when my brother found out the truth of Santa he was so angry at our parents. Thank you thank you thank you for sharing this!
I think it’s great that y’all are processing this fir other parents that watch your channel! My joys are 22 & 25. We always just downplayed Santa and “ up played “ Jesus! We still give our kids 3 gifts… bc baby Jesus received 3 gifts. We read the Bible story and had a cake for baby Jesus! And we spend lots of time with family and our kids always looked forward to that!!
I am 14 years old and my parents have not raised me and my siblings believing in Santa. Christmas is still my favorite holiday of the year, and I personally have no memories being sad about Santa not being real! We have lots of traditions but we have never had any that incorporate the make believe Christmasy things, including Santa. Our family has also taken trips for Christmas instead of gifts! We've made so many great memories doing that. :)
When I was young, our family did Christmas like anyone else. I understood that Santa want real but on Christmas I used to be so afraid of the dressed up Santa Claus and always cried. The Lord spoke to my mom one year and she felt conflicted just like you all… and since I was 7 we’ve just had a fun family day and eaten good food together without all the “traditions”. We continue to openly have conversations as a family about it…. It certainly is the harder way as it can also puts you at odds with extended family, which is tough. And you always need to be able to give the reasons behind your conviction when people ask… My younger brother grew up without “christmas” and Santa. It was so strange to watch him tell his friends off for loving Santa😂 but as I said… it’s a conversation we have every year. It’s important to know the origins of our traditions and the spirit that is behind it all… remember it’s a spiritual battle. Always. And there’s a reason why people say they want to keep the spirit of Christmas alive. Well done for being bold and sharing your story, however unpopular it may be. Keep having the conversation and asking the Lord for truth. Proud of you for not ignoring it! Also😂😂😂 15:52😂
We always opened up our family gifts of Christmas Eve and then got one “Santa” gift and stocking on Christmas morning. Way less time opening presents on Christmas Day and then we were able to focus on Jesus, go to church and spend lots of time with family! I loved hearing your thoughts on Santa and hadn’t heard/thought of many of those parallels!
I love this video! And it's an absolute reminder from you guys for my husband and I. We actually have been through this conviction several years ago of everything that was stated in your video. We have three boys 7,9, and 11 now. And ever since they were toddlers we did not focus on Santa. We focused on the real meaning of Christmas which is Jesus birth. However, we do fun little things such as elf on the shelf and we also only did three presents for each child. We do the birthday cake and watch a movie clip about Jesus and listen to worship songs. As they get older it's easier because they have learned what has been taught by us. Of course with the guidance of the holy spirit. And we are even thinking as well next year a family trip which was crazy y'all mentioned in your video. Thanks for the video and I hope our feedback helps and gives you guys validation. Love y'all keep doing what you're doing.
Y’all are all spot on. I’m 50 years old and was raised not celebrating it and neither did our now grown children. If folks want to celebrate true Biblical holidays celebrate the ones the Bible speaks of. Most kiddos just care about the gifts and nothing else. Great video!
Amen! The LORD called us out of 'Christmas' 7 years ago! We are growing in the LORD'S feasts as well! So beautiful! I think it is a good reminder that the Isrealites thought they were having a Feast unto Yahweh when they worshipped the golden calf. He also says do not worship me the way the pagans worship their God's. When I started looking into the roots of Christmas it quickly became apparent we had been sold a lie. It was no wonder my heart felt torn every Christmas. Leaving Christmas didn't happen over night; it was a gradual process for our family. The LORD was gracious with us and His mercy was definetly extended to us during that process. So thankful for Him! ❤️
We have raised 7 children and never once celebrated Christmas with gifts and everything that goes with it. So much less stress and actually focus on the birth of Christ and the ultimate gift He gave us as unworthy sinners by dying on the cross for our sins! Your exactly right about giving them what they need throughout the year instead of the mad rush to get things they don't really need just for the sake of keeping up with the tradition.
My parents never did the Santa thing. They told us right away that he was a character. I still enjoyed all the movies and Santa-themed things as a kid and actually appreciated that my parents were honest with me.
We have 5 kids and we always get weird looks and asked "why" when we tell people we don't do Santa, Easter bunny or the tooth fairy. People think we are ruining the kids' "fun". Our kids are always super excited, can't sleep and wake up early. My son loves when he loses a tooth because he tries to come up with "booby traps" to try and catch us putting money under his pillow. It's a shame the world thinks you have to lie in order to have a good time.
We also always make the season more about the giving than the receiving. We give to neighbors, we donate to shelters, we make the holiday about giving instead of receiving and we make memories more than anything.
Every day during the month of December I send out a way for my friends and myself to give Christmas away, like writing a message on a sidewalk or on your car window, like “Live to Give” leaving some money in the pocket of a coat at a thrift store, etc
since being married to my husband who was raised christian we've never included santa in our christmas celebrations. i think satan has definitely used it as a counterfit focus over jesus. it also confuses kids on the principles but it subliminally teaches the desire of 'wanting excess' with gifts + 'earning' these gifts through works of good and bad. we've chosen to give gifts to teach our kids god loves a cheerful giver, but we also keep it minimal to try reduce the risk of expectation + disappointment with gifts as all gifts should be appreciated. as well as the fact you're lying to your kids, santa isn't real... there's just so many convictions around it and im so grateful my hubby's family is more than happy standing upon this truth :)
Santa was created by Coca-Cola brand. They brainwashed kids to be good sheeple. Don't believe or trust anything that is fake. Tricking children about Disneyland characters is wrong. Think about the pedophile peter pan robbing children in the middle of the night. Evil
I haven't seen any of your videos in about a week and for some reason, I randomly dreamt about you guys last night. Sutton and I were playing with the boys on the trampoline and having so much fun. I woke up and realized sadly I've never met you guys.
I did Santa with my firstborn as I wasn't a Christian then. After I gave my life to God, I started feeling off about Santa and decided before my second child was old enough to know that I wasn't going to do Santa anymore. My daughter, who was 8/9 at the time, was already questioning if he was real, so I sat her down and told her the truth and from then on I decided I wasn't going to lie to my kids anymore about Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy. I got a LOT of backlash from my family as I was "depriving" my kids of the magic of Christmas/Easter. My son grew up not ever having Santa come to our house or the Easter Bunny. Instead, "Mama Claus" left gifts in the stockings. Mama Claus being me. I still loved the concept of my kids' excitement waking up to find surprises in their stockings but instead of putting it on Santa, they knew it was from me. My kids are now 19 and 26 and we still do stockings when we are all together. It's a tradition that will keep going because Santa is taken out of the equation. :) We also made birthday cakes for Jesus for many years!
I've had this feeling for a long time but get shot down when sharing my thoughts. I think you have made the right decision. At the end of the day its a lie and it takes the focus of the importance of the day
Growing up we rarely did gifts Sometimes there was a Christmas service, often family getting together. When I got married, and while dating I attended my husband’s family Christmas. We usually started out singing Christmas songs, then They had school aged children and younger quote verses, poems, and/or sing. After that the Grandparents passed gifts out to the children and adults. So the children learned when Christmas time came they were getting gifts! Since my husband has gone to be with the Lord, we exchange names and try to give something they can use. Usually read the Christmas story. I think it’s been too commercialized, personally, but maybe it’s been my upbringing. Y’all are seeking to do what is right and pleasing God. It’s never easy to be different, God will show you the way! Thank you for sharing! You are great parents!❤
We have 3 small boys, like you all. Our oldest is 6. We have chosen not to do Santa except as a fun character in movies and books. Instead we focus on Jesus and time together as a family. They still open gifts from us Christmas morning, but it isn’t very much to help them with contentment. They chose gifts for each other this year as well! It was a big hit and really drove home the joy of giving. Our families and most friends do not celebrate this way. They judge us for ruining the magic of the season. But we have much peace around our choices. The hardest part is knowing how to help our kids respond to others regarding Santa. So many adults ask them questions about santa. Not to mention other children. It’s a Source of so much anxiety for me as a mom. We are teaching them not to lie, but like you all, we never want to come across as better than anyone. Let’s just say I breathe a sigh of relief come mid-January when the Santa talk goes away for a while. It truly shouldn’t be this way. Especially in our churches.
I love this! I love these ideas y’all mentioned & things you are doing. And yeah more and more Christian RUclipsrs are posting about not doing Santa Claus or doing it differently then the rest of the world. I love it!
We have five kids from 14 to 1. We don’t push Santa, we just don’t really talk about him as if he’s real. We love watching all the movies though. This year we picked out two Angel Tree recipients and gave each lots of gifts. Everyone helped pick things out. That really fulfilled the desire we have to give gifts, but allowed the focus to be on giving. We also gave each of our own kids one gift each, while normally they would get three to five gifts. It was a different experience that we all benefited from. They got stuff in their stockings, a couple gifts from grandma, and a few things from other people as well. So, it was still more abundant than we would have preferred. We also let the children do a “secret Santa” gift for each other. I took each of them shopping by themselves and they had to pick out something one of their siblings would like. And it was a secret. Talk about personal growth 😂 it was hard for some of them to pick something special for their sibling, and to not tell them right away. All in all, we are trying to focus on giving, and being a gracious receiver, which is difficult for many Christians. But, Christ is the ultimate gift and one must receive it, right?
As someone who grew up never believing in Santa Claus, I can say I never thought I had a less fun Christmas than my friends who did believe. I’ve always loved Christmas! Knowing my parents didn’t want to lie to me even to make something possibly more fun was one of the ways they lived out their faith in front of me. I knew my parents loved me & gave me gifts to show their love to me & to demonstrate the true gift that Jesus gives in salvation!
Happy Holidays guys!!!! I admire yall for thinking of these things and trying to work on the convictions you are feeling. We never did Santa or any of that stuff....but we moved to Tennessee to be closer to my in laws and they do it. We don't judge them at all.....but my 8 yr old son came to me after our Christmas gathering on Saturday and said "I noticed something lastnight but not sure if I should tell you." I told him he can tell me anything....and he opened up. He said "well lastnight when santa came into the house I noticed that one of the adult guys was missing and im pretty sure he was the "santa" i was kinda shocked he had put 2 + 2 together before I got him told. So anyway I explained to him that yes the guy he thought was missing is the one who was "santa" he just laughed. We just tell him santa isn't real, and explain that Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas, and any gifts we get can remind us of the ultimate gift we all are blessed with, Jesus born in a stable but he didn't stay there he grew up, and gave his Life for all of us. We pick out a gift for each other. Blessings on yall and your little family ❤❤❤❤
The beginning made me chuckle (i cant be loud cuz i will wake people up here at the hotel where i work)🤣🤣🤣 Speaking of santa... A few years ago I actually learned that scrambling santa into satan from a DREAM!!!! And i was like "aww there is no way, its just one of my weird dreams as usual" and sure enough... it was. Ive never had that happened before where i learn a real truth from a dream before. Other than life situations (ex boyfriends and things of that nature) but yeah it was real profound.
Loved this video! We have done the same thing with our boys about Santa. I did not mention Santa good or bad when my boys were toddlers. We told them Christmas is Jesus' birthday and we celebrate his day partly with giving gifts as Jesus received gifts. But they know the gifts are from us. I also do the same on other special days - they know Mama is the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy too. :) Thanks for sharing - you both are encouraging and good examples as parents.
My kids are 19 and 16 now. We did do the “Santa Claus” thing. Haha! We did choose to do a few things differently though. We never used the “you better be good Santa is watching “ trick. We never really even talked about “him” until they wanted to make a list. But the moment they started questioning if he was real or not we immediately told them that it was really daddy and mama eating the cookie and drinking the milk and buying the gifts. 🤣🎄
This is such a hard topic for me because I grew up doing the whooooleeeee Santa thing, and was heartbroken when I found out he wasn’t real. However, my little brother is disabled (he’s 23 yrs old and still believes in Santa, elves, the North Pole, etc) and he probably will believe for the rest of his life. It brings so much joy, magic, and childlike spirit to a family full of all adults- because we all have to continue to “believe” for him 🥹♥️ Now I’m about to give birth to my first child, and my hubby and I are contemplating how we want to handle Christmas/Santa with our son. We absolutely have to continue Santa for my disabled little brother, but I don’t know how this’ll affect how we handle Christmas in our own household… ♥️ tricky situation!
There is a Santa Claus in our area who when he takes breaks he comes out to where all the families are waiting in line and tells them the real Christmas story.
After watching y’all’s other vid about money. I was so convicted of all the toys I had to buy all my nieces and nephews and my own kids, I’ve made up my mind that next year is going to look totally different! We will either do a toy swap with toys they already all have and find a family in need to donate funds to! That sounds so much more heart warming for me personally. Rather handing a bunch of expensive toys to multiple kiddos who have so much stuff they can’t distinguish between any of it to even play with it all much more be grateful for any of it.
Love this! My husband and I decided 30 years ago when starting our family of 4 that we would celebrate St. Nicholas Day (we lived in Germany at the time) on Dec 6th and give gifts to our children because of our great love for them and then celebrate Christmas Day in honor of the birth of Jesus and give one gift each to encourage their relationship with the Lord. We had different traditions that we did for each day like using Santa figurines to represent St. Nicholas and we had a book about the true story of St. Nicholas. Yes, we got flak from family & friends, it wasn't always easy. Love your heart for wanting to honor the Lord.
The kids and I this Christmas watched a video on who the real Saint Nick was. He loved Jesus and that's the Santa we talk about. We also love the Lord and try to live completely for Him. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I'll be praying for you guys and for wisdom as you navigate through this. ❤️
I love what my family did, we kids were a part of gift giving from a young age. The joy was always more through God than Santa. I never believed in Santa and know I didn’t miss out on anything :))
My oldest is 16 and I didn’t do Santa when he was younger. I felt that by lying to him, once he found out about Santa, that he would think it’s okay to lie. So I always told him the true reason we celebrate Christmas. Now, years later, I really think I stole the magic of Christmas. It’s a tough fence to be on.
Yeah you did. Now you have to answer to him for why he is mossing those magical memories. Sad. All in the name of Jesus… you think Jesus would have wanted to remove magic from the little children? He loved the little Children THE MOST. Such twisted logic the church has pushed on believers.
I completely agree with Sutton as being raised with Santa and having fun with it. I never want my kids to think I'd lie about things. I know I'm not that person but everyone is different. I'd definitely like to have a minimal Christmas in terms of gifts and focus on giving, being with family and friends, and celebrating Jesus. Today's culture has definitely had the emphasis on 'me' as opposed to what it's really about. Great video guys!
To encourage y’all-I decided when I was pregnant with my first, that we weren’t going to “do the Santa thing”. My biggest reason was that I did not want to be teaching my children that this imaginary character had attributes that only our holy and loving God has. I always addressed/treated Santa (in books, or in public etc) like any other costumed character or cartoon (ie. Mickey Mouse, Princesses etc), which was a character that was make believe and fun. I also always taught them that every family has different traditions and some families “play the Santa game” and not to ruin the game (ie. Tell other kids that Santa is make believe) for their family. My oldest is 12 now, and my children absolutely have not missed out on anything with this perspectives. They still get filled stockings Christmas morning, they still each get a big present/surprise Christmas morning (along with their wrapped gifts), we make cookies, we even take photos with/visit Santa (the same way we do other characters at theme parks, birthday parties etc). It’s always been fun and “magical” for the kids, even though in my home Santa never has gotten the credit for the magic. As a single parent, my girls have found joy in being part of the “magic” and have started stuffing my stocking, doing surprises for others, looking forward to giving and serving for Christmas etc. …I’m 12 years into it with 3 kids, and there hasn’t been even a moment where I regretted not putting on the charade of Santa! To God be the Glory!
My kids have never believed in Santa, but we've talked about the real person who inspired him and about how the traditions came to be. This hasn't removed any of the joy or "magic" of Christmas from our family.
I grew up never believing in Santa and as an adult I kind of wish I did get to but I’m also very glad I never did. Christmas was always magical and fun. And Santa movies were still all fun to watch and once my mom even told me a gift was from Santa and I told her “momma, santa is not real”. I also just had a baby and have been having an internal debate whether to go with the santa thing or not so I’m glad you made this video!
I think you can let kids have fun with the Santa thing but when/ if they ask if he’s real, tell them he is not and it’s just for fun. Of course, always teaching about Jesus, our Lord. 😀
I do Santa. I teach my kids that Santa gives gifts because he loves Jesus just like we do. We read the story of St. Nicholas, and we read the Polar Express (book, not movie. The movie is awful). One of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments has Santa worshipping Jesus in the manger. I have never taught them that Santa won't come if they're naughty. Santa is an example of giving without expecting anything in return...well, except cookies. 😉 My oldest believed wholeheartedly and really struggled when she realized mom is Santa. It made me realize how much effort I put into maintaining it with her. I have younger children (8 and 10 years younger than her), and I put a lot less effort into it with them. As a kid, I received gifts "from Santa" at my dad's house but not mom's. I guess I never wholeheartedly believed, and no adult in my family ever told me Santa wasn't real, but I figured it out and wasn't traumatized.
I’m late watching this but I just wanted you to know about a tradition I started with my kids this year and it’s called Shepard on the search. It’s a Christian alternative for elf on the shelf 😊
I am so glad you two made this video! I have had so much hate and backlash for telling my children who are 7 and 5 that Santa isn’t real. I’ve been accused of ruining Christmas for them and the “magic”. My thought was that my children would question the existence of Jesus too once they found out I was lying about Santa. Just sad we as parents are shamed for not lying to our children and for telling them the truth. God Bless you two and your beautiful family. ❤️
Nathanael said after we filmed the video that he had that thought about Jesus once he found out Santa wasn’t real. Good for you for going against the grain!
Never taught our children to believe in Santa either. For this very same reason. Also, they get three gifts each. We wanted the gifts to be Jesus focused too, so they each get three… like Christ did. ❤
So you don’t want them to believe in Santa who is made up, but you do want them to believe in a Jesus who is also made up. Make it make sense. You lot have mental illness
100% agree!! My kids know of Santa as a fun Christmas fantasy story, but Santa isn't getting credit for all my Christmas shopping!!lol Jesus is the real reason for Christmas day and Who we live for all year ♡♡
My husband and I decided prior to having children over 23 years ago to not do Santa…. We always taught our children that every good and perfect gift comes down from God above and if you are blessed with things it’s not because you deserve it or have earned it but from His goodness. Over the years we have done Happy Birthday Jesus, scavenger hunt to find their presents, numbered their presents under the tree, so that they did not know if it was their gift until Christmas day. They always woke up with excitement in their heart to see what God had bless them with! We also focused on them giving to others…. I was just talking to my daughter and she said she did not miss out on anything at Christmas and if so glad that I raised her with the truth of Christmas!!
Growing up in a Christian home my parents had a pretty balanced approach to Santa and Christmas in general. There was two books I remember my mom reading to me and my siblings during the advent and Christmas season. The first is “Saint Nicholas The Real Story of the Christmas legend”by Julie Stiegemeyer and the Second was “Jotham’s Journey” by Arnold Yteeide Which is the first book in a 4 book series each telling a historical fictional story of the coming of Jesus from a young child’s perspective living in Bible times. These are now some of our favorite memories of story books and helped me and my sibling to remember the true meaning of Christmas. We also had the family rule to surprise each other with random gift if we thought of them not sticking to the traditional calendar. Love you videos and will be praying for wisdom for your family. You guys are doing great! @nateandsutton
I am convicted by the same issue and I think this year was my 2 year olds last “Santa” Christmas I even phased him out this year as much as I could. It’s so hard because we are inundated with images of Santa
Sorry to be so long winded, but as I was thinking about your young family, I remembered what a teacher friend of mine did with her family, starting in their kid's elementary years : At Halloween, they all sat down and discussed what they would like to have for dinner on Thanksgiving - one year the kids chose TV dinners since they had never had one before - so that is exactly what they did! At Thanksgiving they chose Christmas - example, one year it was strawberry topped waffles with whipped cream. At New Years, they chose sack lunches one year. Get the idea? Now that their kids are adults, they choose a different country for each holiday and research, prepare and serve foods from that country including that country's traditions. The Christmas her kids remember most is the year they rented a cabin and had to make Christmas out of what they found there. (tin foil or catalog picture ornaments - the tree just a branch they found outside. It was never about the presents. I admired their family so much.
Hey Nate and Sutton! Merry Christmas! Can you guys make a video about speaking in tongues? I went to a church where I saw people speaking in tongues I wasn’t sure what to think of it. It kind of freaked me out.
That happened to me in my first church too… I was going to an Assemblies of God church - I eventually got ok with it, but initially it was very different for me
@@lorisullivan327 hi Lori! I wanted to know how to know when someone is speaking in tongues that they actually are speaking in tongues and not faking it. I know in the Bible it says there needs to be an interpreter present to translate what the person is saying that is speaking in tongues, but I was wondering if there’s anything else that would verify that the person speaking in tongues is actually speaking in tongues really. I know as Christian’s we have to be careful with what churches we join and use discernment.
@@christianlivingwithliz6884 Hi 👋🏻... I have a prayer language that I use, not around other people necessarily when I pray… it’s between the Lord and me. I kind of leave it up to the Holy Spirit to determine whether or not other people are speaking out of emotion, or if it’s something that the Holy Spirit is orchestrating. I just choose not to get in the way of that… the Bible speaks in acts about tongues of fire, where people spoke in other tongues that were discernible and identifiable by other believers. I’m sure that still happens, and yes, that type of thing needs to be interpreted. But if you’re talking about a prayer language- that’s a different thing… there are churches that support both sides… there is a book by Mahesh Chavda “the hidden power of speaking in tongues” and just to prequalify: it’s not to be on power trip or anything selfish, it’s for a believer’s edification and to look to walk closer to the Holy Spirit 🧡 God bless you on your search
Tell him about St. Nickolas! That's how Santa got started, but it's been twisted horribly and now Santa is what you've discovered. Also, there's a lot of Elf on the Shelf substitutes like Shepherd on the Search or Wise Man seeks the star. Also The Giving Manger is really cool! All that said, we grew up never celebrating Christmas, because my parents believed it was pagan. I love the 3 gift idea!
My friend is teaching her daughter that Santa is just a game that they play around Christmas time. Her daughter always explains to me that Santa is just pretend and it's mommy and daddy that give her gifts. I like the idea of telling my kids that it's pretend and we can have fun with it but we need to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas.
I have a doubt, is it true that Jesus’s birthday its not really on December? And a little story, I live in Costa Rica, so Santa is not all that big here BUT I don’t remember asking Santa for presents and stuff what I DO remember is finding out my mom was the one going home after work, putting me to bed and telling me I had to be asleep or Santa wouldn’t leave my gifts, I pretended I was asleep so I saw my mom very tired after work, getting ready to go pick my presents (we didn’t even have a car so it was a long bus ride) and THAT made me appreciate my mom even more! Then I just asked my dad for the gifts I wanted and he would give me one of all I asked so it was always a surprise! Also, some people here (some Catholics) say that Baby Jesus is the one bringing presents to the kids and to ask Jesus for the gifts instead of Santa… and see Santa mostly as a “character from the US” (I know it’s not originally from there)
100% agree!! My kids know of Santa as a fun Christmas fantasy story, but Santa isn't getting credit for all my Christmas shopping!!lol Jesus is the real reason for Christmas day and Who we live for all year ♡♡
We decided not to celebrate Santa in our family and have received mostly negative responses. But, like you, we didn’t want the focus to be on getting a present from Santa for being good. That totally takes Jesus out of the equation. We decided to approach it like play-kids play pretend all the time. (Pretend to be an animal or a dinosaur in our case.) So we’ve said “Santa is just a pretend game people like to play. They pretend he comes down their chimney and gives them toys. But some people are REALLY into this game so we won’t spoil it for them by telling them Santa isn’t real.” I don’t want to have that kid who tells all the others he’s not real. My favorite interaction that happened this year was when a grandparent asked our son “What did you ask Santa for this year?” And our 3 year old respond with a long pause, looked confused, and said “Mommy and Daddy getting me a dinosaur.” 😂 We told him we buy gifts as we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. We do 4 gifts (something you want, need, wear, and read) then go on a trip together. This year on Christmas Day, we ate breakfast and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we played a game between every present opened. The winner gets to open their present first followed by everyone else. Then we play another game and that winner gets to go first that time. So we’re playing games together all day while opening presents. We have toddlers so the games looked like hide and seek, Monkey Around game, and activities like dancing, making a craft, baking cookies, etc. It allows us to spend uninterrupted time together having fun and talking about why we are spending our day like this. We talk about Jesus, what He’s done for us, and get excited! And now we have a fun trip to look forward to in a couple weeks!
I would tell them the truth. If you don't tell them, they're going to hear it from other kids at either church, school or familly friends. You have an awesome family!
Just a suggestion for Elf on the shelf they actually have one called Sheperd on the Search such a cute Christian elf on the shelf lol just thought I’d share ☺️
I have 2 girls one 6 and 4 year old! We never have taught them about Santa and when my oldest was younger I heard talk about Santa with her cousins and I told her “mama Santa isn’t real, Jesus is the one who is our provider and he can bless you with gifts for Christmas but always remember it’s about Him and his birth coming into the world for us and continued to tell her that and my second daughter as well and they both understand and actually had family argue because we don’t teach them about Santa but my daughters don’t care they will educate their cousins why they don’t believe! Sorry for the long message. We also have happy birthday Sign up during Christmas we got a cake for Jesus sang Him happy bday! The girls draw him cards
My oldest 5 yr old knows Santa is not real but still likes the character of Santa. We don’t focus or make a big deal about Santa but we enjoy the character and idea of Santa while knowing he isn’t real. I have no problem with that. We do focus of Jesus, the birth and the story of salvation.
Hi! I have followed you guys for a very long time now and think its great how open you guys are with these big picture family struggles. I wanted to give you guys a 3rd option if you will, in Spanish tradition gifts are actually given on Jan. 6th (Epiphany day, which is 12 days from Christmas day, i.e. the 12 days of Christmas) and when children are young they are told that the Three Wise Men (aka the Magi) are the ones that bring the gifts (just as they brought the gifts to baby Jesus). I thought you guys might like this option as it is strongly rooted in Christianity and leaves Christmas day open to focusing on the birth of Jesus. Additionally, either if you want to tell the children from the start or later people will often refer to themselves as "Pajes" which were the Magi's helpers. I believe this still keeps the excitement of the Three Wise Men because it includes a little layer of mystery while still centering on the fact that a specific person thought of this gift for another. Nevertheless, I can understand the difficulty in doing this in the United States were other children will receive all their gifts on Christmas day. Personally, my family will give one gift on Christmas day and the rest on Jan. 6th, which helped reduce the "disappointment" as a kid that others had gotten their gift, but made it all the more exciting when on Jan. 6th you finally got to open your gifts. Lastly, I wanted to say that I really liked your idea of only giving three gifts since Jesus got three gifts. Also (sorry for the unsolicited advice) I think that seeing Santa as Satan rearranged is reading into it a little much, it does come from the Dutch dialect of for St. Nick, and in Spanish language "Santa" actually means Saint. Not trying to appear mean by any means please believe that, just thought you guys would like knowing the history and etymology.
I had my first child 6 months ago and my husband and I have decided to not only not lie about Santa but to be honest about him not being a real entity. Sure, st Nick was a real human. But he is no longer alive and flying around. Christmas is 100% about Jesus. The story of Jesus and his unconditional and self sacrificing love. I think we will do a very modest amount of gifts with an emphasis on buying for others. I want to teach my child about donating things that others need that we take for granted as well as volunteering. You guys are great! It’s so important to listen and follow your conviction. True Joy is found in the Lord not in myths or copious amount of material possessions. Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the holiday no matter how you celebrate. I pray you all experience the love of Jesus❤
Love it. We started late in the game. I never told my 3 Santa was real,trust me I got back lash from family, secondly I regret putting my kids in public school or giving them a phone. But we do trips every other year, stockings on Christmas, church. My kids are grown and public school and phones will be a strong hold against them.
We straight up tell them that it is a fairytale and that people who don’t know Jesus celebrate Santa on Christmas and then we explain to them that it’s Jesus birthday is on Christmas.
I heard it once said that whatever you can do to get your kids to be excited about a religious holiday, you do it. As they grow, they'll learn more about the seriousness about our religious traditions and they will be more likely to embrace it because the holiday evokes warm and happy memories. It never occurred to me not to do Santa with my kids, as we had him as a child and I came from a strong Christian family. I did have friends who were new Christians who chose not to do Santa in an effort to keep the focus on Jesus, but there's certainly no indication that it helped their kids to follow Christ more closely. Truth be told, now that our kids are all grown, the opposite could be said for many of these friends. That could be because they were newly converted and didn't realize the amount of work that goes in to raising Godly children; I don't know. I am perfectly content that we did Santa (not the you have to be good to get gifts Santa, but more like the historical Nicholas) and focused on the fact that God gave us Jesus as a gift and that Saint Nicholas (Santa) also gives us gifts so we can remember the greatest gift that was given to us.
I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and did not grow up celebrating Christmas. When I was raising my kids, I struggled with some of the same issues you are having. I should mention I was no longer a Jehovah’s Witness. The man I married was Catholic, had celebrated growing up, so really took the lead on how it was handled. I never really felt comfortable, but didn’t know how to avoid the ‘Santa is bringing you presents’ thing. I did infuse the holiday with as much concentration on, giving to others, giving to those less fortunate, and helping others, as I could. However, my kids, who have children around the ages of yours, have gone a different direction, and I like it. They introduce the Santa story, as it is, a story. They explain that parents play along to make it feel as real as they can, and that giving to others is the intention of this element of the holiday but we make it fun by having Santa surprise us with gifts on Christmas morning. They don’t go to sit on Santa’s lap, although you obviously could. They would just know it is all pretend. There is a complication with other kids as the children get older, but they explain, as they get older that different families celebrate in different ways. Some children are told about Santa being a story when they are young, like they do in their family, And other families tell their children later, because they think it will be more fun, saying Our family thinks doing it this way is more fun. Just a thought I wanted to share. Love the thought you put into how you live your lives. It’s easy to get so caught up in the things to do that you dont look at the big picture. Really proud of you all for looking at your big house for what it is to you, overall. Beautiful, but also a financial burden. Easy to see others doing it and hide behind, ‘this is normal, its what everyone is doing’. God Bless
I became a born again Christian as an adult. My parents are not Christian, and they always are ready to put up Santa decor and watch movies and sing songs about Santa, but they do not acknowledge or celebrate Jesus on Christmas. That has been my observation/ experience.
Our sons are only 2 years old and 5 months old, so we’re just figuring this all out too, but our current plan is to treat Santa like a character. Our children will see the decorations (though we don’t have Santa decorations at our house), and read the books, but we will always explain that’s it’s a pretend story people like to tell around Christmas time. We do give gifts and fill stockings, but they are from us, not Santa. We keep it simple with 4 gifts (something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read), although I love the idea of doing 3 gifts just like Jesus’ 3 gifts! I’ll have to think about that one! And thanks for mentioning the birthday cake. I will definitely be incorporating that next year! What a sweet tradition! Of course people aren’t thrilled with our choices. My mom was horrified to find out that our kids would not be sitting on Santa’s lap for photos (such a weird tradition! No thank you). But actually, in our playgroup (where the dozen or so families are Catholic, like ourselves), most people grew up believing in Santa, and most of us have decided not to do Santa with our children, which I think is interesting!
Also, if your kids think the elf is fun, look into Mary on the Mantle! She gets ready for baby Jesus each day leading up to Christmas, and has a note each morning with an act of kindness that the children can do. We wanted to begin this this year, but our toddler really just wanted to snuggle his Mary doll in his room for bedtime, so maybe next year! You can also buy a baby Jesus doll for Mary to have with her on Christmas morning, and the book that goes along with it is really sweet.
A few suggestions that we used when our kids were little: 1. We also did a birthday cake for Jesus but the kids helped to make/decorate it. They were more invested when they did the work themselves. 2. We had a figurine of Santa kneeling at the Baby Jesus' manger. It brought to mind the scripture "that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (even Santa bows to Jesus). 3. If you look at Santa as Saint Nicholas, his heart's desire was to give gifts to children to honor the birth of Jesus our Savior. 4. As a grandma now, we have a Fisher-Price Nativity set that I use to tell the Christmas story. The grandkids get to set the pieces in place as I tell the story. (When our granddaughter was around 5 or 6, and it came to the giving of gifts from the Wise Men, she said "Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh." It's become a family joke now and we all call it out! LOL A few times I've put the different Nativity set pieces in gift bags that are numbered, then everyone draws one, and then tell their part of the story from the figures they've chosen. BTW - I start the story with the story of Adam and Eve - and how he was the first Adam and because of some bad choices allowed death into our world - separating us from God. But God promised a final Adam (Jesus) would come to save us all from death and give us everlasting life. It gives a broader perspective to Christmas and the importance for Jesus to come to be our Savior. Blessings, Janell
My parents did Santa with us growing up. I did it with my kids. But we also knew about the real St. Nicholas that gave to the less fortunate. He was a real person. My kids always knew about where the idea of Santa came from. We also do a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas. I think you can do a mix of things. Nothing wrong with talking about the real St. Nicholas and the ideas of Santa came from that and it’s more for entertainment purposes.
@@nateandsutton Amazon actually carries a number of the figurines of Santa and Baby Jesus - even ornaments for your Christmas tree. Prices vary on what size you would want. I have even seen them in thrift shops. Hope you find a good one for your needs. Blessings, Janell
Even as a kid I didn't like Santa Claus, or the idea of some strange person showing up once a year thinking he can give gifts to make me like him LOL I was equally as skeptical of the characters in costume at Disneyland LOL I remember my sisters response to her daughter when she asked about Santa after hearing about it at school. My sister's (genius) response was to tell the story about an amazing person who used to give gifts to children at an orphanage on Christmas and that the people she see's dressed up are doing it in honor of that person (similar to seeing people dressed as Abraham Lincoln lol). She also explained that some kids believe it's the same person giving those gifts every year, just like some kids believe Mickey at Disneyland is the same Mickey from the movies, and to be respectful and not ruin other kid's Christmas. With our son we're focusing on the fun of giving gifts and putting heart and thought into what we give others. My son was legit more excited watching me open the gift he picked out than he was opening his own gifts LOL So that's a Christmas Win in my books!
I’m so thankful there are others with the same convictions! I think it has a lot to do with the time we are in and the Lord truly sanctifying his bride. The more bold we are and stand for the truth and what’s right, despite what the “world” says we should do. We are CALLED to be DIFFERENT from the world! Sooo with all that said, it makes it so much easier for some of us who have that conviction but not brave or bold enough to step out, afraid of backlash, to have others to support and encourage oneanther in doing what’s right!
My family and some friends would do the nativity story with them with felt Mary and Joseph. Set up the"scene" starting around December first like an advent calendar, but something that they can clearly see. Celebrating the birth of Christ leading up to Christmas. They made it fun so that we all would enjoy it.(whatever creative way you want to do it)
We give the kids gifts . They know it’s from us . And the grown ups did a secret Santa this year . You get a name trough mail. And you choose how much money it wil costs . And on Christmas Day you give your present on your secret person . So fun . I m religious, my family not . I try to engage them in the real deal of Christmas. But they celebrated it because of the joy it brings .
I’m proud of you guys. It’s difficult doing what you feel is right, especially when it goes against societal expectations. My parents did not do Santa with me and I didn’t miss it one bit! In fact, for various reasons I’m so thankful they didn’t. I don’t hate on people who do, but my husband and I agree with you. It is amazing to me that parents who don’t celebrate Santa get SO much hate from other parents. Love the videos. Keep them coming.
Yes! It’s interesting!
I really appreciate you guys sharing this. For several years, I too have started to feel convicted about Santa Claus. I even also noticed that Santa has the same letters as Satan. And this year too, I noticed the omnipresent thing, which only Jesus is omnipresent and omniscient. It’s strange to me that we mix Jesus with Santa. Especially since song that Jesus alone deserves glory in worship songs and stuff, but we as Christians are being hypocritical because we are also giving glory to Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
I’ll share a story with you. So I started to feel weird about Santa Claus a few years ago. But, the first thing I thought of was how strange it was that parents take their kids to this stranger at the mall usually, and have their kid sit on this strangers lap. A lot of times you see the kid doesn’t want to, they are crying and the parents will force it. I started to wonder if there was something to that. Like, perhaps the kid could feel that the person in the costume didn’t feel right. I started to think that it gave those with child attraction (pedofiles) an excuse to have children sit on their lap. I wrote a song about it, and how it reminded me of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Well, I tried to push it aside, because I grew up believing in Santa and all that and I didn’t want to be the person who ruins Christmas. And one year, my sister and I went to a sleigh with Santa and we climbed on to take a picture with Santa. Very creepily, the Santa suggested to me that I, “sit on his lap.” And he did it in an inviting sexual type of inuendo. I got so grossed out and internally said, “I knew it! I knew I didn’t like you! You are such a pervert!” And so ever since then, I have not gone back about my convictions about Santa Claus. When I see him, I just see something that has nothing to do with God, but instead a creep and a imposter, stealing the glory from Jesus.
Of course, like you guys, it’s not an overnight transition. I still have a tree and decorate with winter decorations like trees, snow, candles, pine, evergreen. I see nothing wrong with decorating for the winter season. But, I don’t have anything related to the North Pole. No stockings, no santa stuff, etc. I try to focus on Jesus, reading the story of his birth, nativity scenes, movies about the nativity, etc. I still give gifts and receive gifts because to me that just an act of kindness.
Also, I hosted something called a “star party,” last year. And it was the theme of the Star showing in the sky the night of Jesus birth. I decorated with stars, and we decorated Star shaped cookies, and we had games. We played a gift game where each person brought something they already owned, and meaningful to them to give as a gift, sort of like how the wise men brought prized possessions. Then, I had a star projector and I turned all the light off and projected the stars onto the cieling and we all sang carols about Jesus, like silent night, holy night, hark the harold angels sing, etc. And I also read the story of Jesus birth. Everyone said that the party was wonderful and it filled something in them that was missing. They felt how wholesome it was and they said they really needed it. (This compliment came from two unbelievers). So I felt that Jesus was glorified and we didn’t have to be boring and also got to be a witness at the same time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about how Christmas got weird for you. I can’t help but to believe that the Holy Spirit is working and tugging on the hearts of those who want to truly follow Him. ❤
I totally agree with everything you said 100%!! It is creepy to have your kids sit on a man’s lap and all the kids are crying and don’t want to go near him or most of them any way 😢 Also the way you you decorate is what I do too! I try to get everything related to Jesus I don’t have one Santa Claus in my house.
Hi, im african and i love the stars theme.. i was thinking thats how i would decorate.. but the truth is when anything is adopted by many and idolized, it eventually becomes a stumbling block .. being a parent is not easy
Wow! That is so awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. I am 72 and still remember the look on my little girl's face when she was about 3 years old and I tried to get her to sit on a Santa's lap at my parent's home. She clung to me and had the most terrified look on her face. I believe small children have a close connection to God, but that over time it is dulled because they are inundated by Santas, Easter bunnies, tooth fairies, elves, super heroes, etc. Oh, if only we exalted God Who is worthy to His rightful place. If we shared the wonders of Him, His love, His creation, His provision, His salvation like the bible says, as we sit, stand, walk along the way, each and every day!
This year I placed a rugged cross I made on top of my Christmas tree. I placed an ornament upon it that simply said, "BELIEVE". I wanted to use it as an opportunity to share with my 3 granddaughters that God created the very tree that was made into the cross that Christ hung upon to die in payment of our sins. Unfathomable love...Amazing grace!
So inspiring! I really apreciate you sharing this! I actually started questionning alot of things about christmas this year… why a tree, why santa, why lights? Nothing really made sense. But Chritmas is really happy, how not celebrate? Recentering on Jesus and his birth is really what should be put front and I think that my concludion!!! Thank you for your ideas!!
Dude this is so funny. You are aware that "Santa" means Saint? Santa comes (very likely) from european interpretaions of Saint Nicolaus, a Bishop that lived around the fourth century. To take a word and say it's bad just because it's an anagram of a supposedly bad thing is braindead
I’m still sad about how Nate didn’t help Sutton when she had to go to urgent care and take the kids with her when she was sick.
Another great topic you guys have been killing it lately! Love what the Lord is doing with your channel. We are young parents also navigating through these same issues and it’s been rough figuring out a balance but I think that we as parents tend to over complicate things when it really doesn’t need to be so complicated.
My husbands parents did Santa with him while my parents never did Santa so we knew the gifts were from them or family members. I still knew about Santa, took pictures with him and participated in all the Christmas festivities and never saw my Christmas as less fun as any other kids, in fact, I believe it’s what kept me and my siblings humble as children. Because we knew it was my parents we were always so happy and content with any gift and would never ask for anything outrageous because we knew how hard our parents worked. Santa has made children (in my opinion) greedy, selfish and entitled. It’s robbed the true meaning of Christmas and as you guys mentioned, normalized parents lying to their children which btw always starts out as a small lie, and then you have reindeer poop on your front lawn somehow lol to each his own but for us as Catholics we celebrate St Nicholas feast day as he was an amazing saint but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day is all about JESUS! We do a novena to the baby Jesus, sing songs about Jesus, put Jesus on the manger on Christmas Day and sing happy birthday and give Him thanks for all we have. We attend church on Christmas Day, and keep gifts at a minimum. My daughter sees Santa at the mall and says hi, and I explain that he is pretend, as she gets older I will explain the whole cultural component etc. All in all I think we need to focus on making this day holy, can it still be fun? Sure! But if we want our children to truly understand the reason for the season, we need to stop being afraid of being the “lame parents” and what others will think. I think our children in the future will thank us for it. God bless you guys ❤️
What an amazing, fearless video. Thank you for making it !!! Everything you're saying resonates with me, and has for sometime.
I've been feeling like a bad person for feeling this way. Now, that was before understanding the reasons, to this extent...
Thank you.
thankful to hear this.
The name "Santa Claus" comes from a dialect of Dutch, where the word was "Sante Klaas". He is based on a real person named St. Nicholas (Klaus) for short. My children, now grown, enjoyed believing in Santa Claus but they always knew that he was not a real person who sneaks into your house via the fireplace. I taught them he represents the spirit of Christmas. Go look up St. Nicholas to see what he did. My kids, now grown, never thought I lied to them. Like Sutton, they just thought it was a way to make Christmas fun and exciting...filled with joyful anticipation. I do believe though, that it has gotten way too commercial and stressful. Be sure to instill the real reason for the season.
the pagan Romans started off a pretty bad trend at this time of year: a day of lawlessness and perversion where people would gather in debauchery and perversion having orgies and breaking every law they could. They even allowed children to be involved. This pagan holiday carried on until the early church thought of a way to combat it by introducing christmas a day to celebrate CHRIST who came to save us from all of that... This has over time has been once again perverted by the enemy introducing idolatry (groves) in the form of christmas trees and coveting gifts that are placed under the christmas tree all delivered by "santa"....(its all in the name) After CHRIST had defeated satan on the cross stripping him of the keys of death (what satan had held over GOD humanity being separated from HIM due to sin) satan returned John 14;30 with one plan in mind to keep us all from CHRIST by distracting us with everything worldly the father of lies aim is to present sin as the coolest thing ever! robbing us of CHRIST who is our inheritance! our victory, our everything! HE is all that we need and the enemy doesn't want you to know that.... whats interesting is that in the end times satan demands to be worshiped as he is the spirit behind idolatry it becomes more apparent when it will be required to have his mark in order to partake in the things of the world. The bible doesn't teach when CHRIST was born but everyday is a good day to celebrate our LORD.
A pretty good watch. ruclips.net/video/wvMLvpsNJeg/видео.html
Thank you for posting this. I was thinking the same thing but couldn’t really articulate. You did a good job getting the point across.
In the Netherlands we still have 'sinterklaas', but on 5 december with presents mostly for kids:) but the story has also got a little weird.
As a Dutch mother I know all about Sinterklaas. And yes the assumptions of him being a true historic person but it is celebrated in the exact same way as Santa. Making the children believe in someone who knows all about you and only gaves you presents ween you are good etc. We were always honest to our children, told them he did not exist and that we bought the presents. We were not always loved for that but isn’t that the way of Christ? The Bible even says that if Will be persecuted like Him is we are true believers. So Nate and Sutton please follow the quidance the Holy Spirit is leading you to. And thank you for being so honest and real on this channel.
Thank you for sharing your hearts . I grew up not doing Santa . My family just doesn’t . I don’t have kids so I might not be to helpful but I don’t feel like I missed out on anything .
Loved this video. Continue to walk away from the world's version of Christmas and you will find yourself running. Our oldest is 13 and we have 3 more down to 7...we still get them gifts and and stocking stuffers...but we never talked of Santa when they were younger. When they were younger they would ask if Santa was real...and our response was, "What do you think?" And kinda left it at that but always came back around to Jesus. No tears were ever shed. They also valued their gifts because they knew where they actually came from and were always so grateful. Their favorite part of Christmas is to pick a gift for each other...so I would say, continue that tradition. They have turned into the most anticipated part of Christmas morning! You guys are awesome parents. Continue to walk in the still small voice. Merry Christmas.
I'm glad you guys made this video! I was just thinking about this! I like the idea of just making it a smaller thing, like the tooth fairy. I like the idea of going back to the original concept and letting him fill a stocking, leaving cookies for him at night and letting all the gifts be from the parents. Then when my kids figure it out, I want to pull them aside and teach them about the real St. Nik and how he helped the orphan children. Now that they know, they become the "new St. Nik" helping with Christmas each year. They bring joy and gifts to others as the hands of the Savior without others seeing them for their good works. That way St Nik becomes a tool to point to following the Savior (which was his goal in real life) rather than eclipsing Him.
I like that you guys don't want to lie to your kids. My mom had this art down. She never told me the tooth fairy was or wasn't real. When we asked she would say "what do you think?" I think this strikes a good balance between keeping the fun but not lying to your kids. The ability to believe that there is more to life than you see can be a good skill and has personally helped me with my faith in God. Fairy tales can have a similar effect. Good luck you guys! Whatever you decide for your cute family will be great I'm sure! :)
LOL. Thanks as always for sharing. I like how you chose to celebrate and are open to ideas. I loved staring at the manger scene my parents had lit up that they put out each Christmas. Also, pray and ask the Lord how he wants to be celebrated and how to worship him. God bless! God has feelings, too. :)
OMG, The parallels you gave blew me away. I knew of a few but you showed me more that I did not know and WOW!!!! You are definitely onto something there. It is about time that we as believers began taking a stand for righteousness. I commend you and pray you continue...
I really love and appreciate your videos. You both had great ideas! God bless your family!
Thank you so much!
The Chosen is out already?! Merry Christmas fellas...you guys inspire my relationship life!
thank you so much for sharing this. I don't have kids and am unmarried, but I love watching y'alls content because it gives me food for thought and things to pray about. :)
Thank you for sharing this. This was the first year we didn’t do Santa with our kids for these same reasons. ❤
You’re definitely not alone in this!
I’m really sorry for all the comments! Apparently I’m very passionate about this this year. I think handing out gifts to others is great and involving the kids in getting them and giving is best. Even more giving to random people!
My children are 23 and 27 now, but we did the whole Santa thing. I remember being so stressed about not getting them enough for Christmas and I now I look back wishing I had been so materialistic!
I feel like as their parents we feel like we can never give them “enough” cause we love them so much but we just have to keep in mind that our love for them IS enough! They don’t need materials to know we love them 🥰
Great points I've never even thought about! Thank you all for walking through this journey and showing me what to do. I would have to agree with everything I think I want to keep Christ first and my Christmas and my future kids Christmas as well.
I find you very refreshing. I’m 66 and have watch the greed in this world how people can get away with anything. Our Lord doesn’t deserve such disrespect so thank you Nate . I understand completely. God Bless 🙏🏾❤️✌🏾🌹💐
I can’t wait to get off work and comment on this video!! Good stuff.
It gets deeper guys, brace yourself as God will be revealing to you a lot more about Christmas in the coming years...if you're obedient. Praise the Lord❣
Thank you for making this video! I was just talking to my husband about how we will explain Santa to our daughter. And a big point was “thou shall not lie” and I remember when my brother found out the truth of Santa he was so angry at our parents.
Thank you thank you thank you for sharing this!
I think it’s great that y’all are processing this fir other parents that watch your channel! My joys are 22 & 25. We always just downplayed Santa and “ up played “ Jesus! We still give our kids 3 gifts… bc baby Jesus received 3 gifts. We read the Bible story and had a cake for baby Jesus! And we spend lots of time with family and our kids always looked forward to that!!
I am 14 years old and my parents have not raised me and my siblings believing in Santa. Christmas is still my favorite holiday of the year, and I personally have no memories being sad about Santa not being real! We have lots of traditions but we have never had any that incorporate the make believe Christmasy things, including Santa. Our family has also taken trips for Christmas instead of gifts! We've made so many great memories doing that. :)
When I was young, our family did Christmas like anyone else. I understood that Santa want real but on Christmas I used to be so afraid of the dressed up Santa Claus and always cried. The Lord spoke to my mom one year and she felt conflicted just like you all… and since I was 7 we’ve just had a fun family day and eaten good food together without all the “traditions”. We continue to openly have conversations as a family about it…. It certainly is the harder way as it can also puts you at odds with extended family, which is tough. And you always need to be able to give the reasons behind your conviction when people ask…
My younger brother grew up without “christmas” and Santa. It was so strange to watch him tell his friends off for loving Santa😂 but as I said… it’s a conversation we have every year. It’s important to know the origins of our traditions and the spirit that is behind it all… remember it’s a spiritual battle. Always. And there’s a reason why people say they want to keep the spirit of Christmas alive.
Well done for being bold and sharing your story, however unpopular it may be. Keep having the conversation and asking the Lord for truth. Proud of you for not ignoring it!
Also😂😂😂 15:52😂
Love it ❤ what camera do you use? Or camera lens?
We always opened up our family gifts of Christmas Eve and then got one “Santa” gift and stocking on Christmas morning. Way less time opening presents on Christmas Day and then we were able to focus on Jesus, go to church and spend lots of time with family! I loved hearing your thoughts on Santa and hadn’t heard/thought of many of those parallels!
I love this video! And it's an absolute reminder from you guys for my husband and I. We actually have been through this conviction several years ago of everything that was stated in your video. We have three boys 7,9, and 11 now. And ever since they were toddlers we did not focus on Santa. We focused on the real meaning of Christmas which is Jesus birth. However, we do fun little things such as elf on the shelf and we also only did three presents for each child. We do the birthday cake and watch a movie clip about Jesus and listen to worship songs. As they get older it's easier because they have learned what has been taught by us. Of course with the guidance of the holy spirit. And we are even thinking as well next year a family trip which was crazy y'all mentioned in your video. Thanks for the video and I hope our feedback helps and gives you guys validation. Love y'all keep doing what you're doing.
Y’all are all spot on. I’m 50 years old and was raised not celebrating it and neither did our now grown children.
If folks want to celebrate true Biblical holidays celebrate the ones the Bible speaks of.
Most kiddos just care about the gifts and nothing else. Great video!
Amen! The LORD called us out of 'Christmas' 7 years ago! We are growing in the LORD'S feasts as well! So beautiful! I think it is a good reminder that the Isrealites thought they were having a Feast unto Yahweh when they worshipped the golden calf. He also says do not worship me the way the pagans worship their God's. When I started looking into the roots of Christmas it quickly became apparent we had been sold a lie. It was no wonder my heart felt torn every Christmas. Leaving Christmas didn't happen over night; it was a gradual process for our family. The LORD was gracious with us and His mercy was definetly extended to us during that process. So thankful for Him! ❤️
@@iwillforeverpraisethee Amen!
We have raised 7 children and never once celebrated Christmas with gifts and everything that goes with it. So much less stress and actually focus on the birth of Christ and the ultimate gift He gave us as unworthy sinners by dying on the cross for our sins! Your exactly right about giving them what they need throughout the year instead of the mad rush to get things they don't really need just for the sake of keeping up with the tradition.
@@rosaliehalteman7589 those poor fuckin kids 😭 hope they celebrate with gifts now as adults and give themselves what they didn’t growing up
Can’t wait for Sutton to leave Nate. Grabbing my popcorn.
Santa Claus is Saint Nicholas.
My parents never did the Santa thing. They told us right away that he was a character. I still enjoyed all the movies and Santa-themed things as a kid and actually appreciated that my parents were honest with me.
omg I've felt this exact same way
We have 5 kids and we always get weird looks and asked "why" when we tell people we don't do Santa, Easter bunny or the tooth fairy. People think we are ruining the kids' "fun". Our kids are always super excited, can't sleep and wake up early. My son loves when he loses a tooth because he tries to come up with "booby traps" to try and catch us putting money under his pillow. It's a shame the world thinks you have to lie in order to have a good time.
We also always make the season more about the giving than the receiving. We give to neighbors, we donate to shelters, we make the holiday about giving instead of receiving and we make memories more than anything.
Every day during the month of December I send out a way for my friends and myself to give Christmas away, like writing a message on a sidewalk or on your car window, like “Live to Give” leaving some money in the pocket of a coat at a thrift store, etc
since being married to my husband who was raised christian we've never included santa in our christmas celebrations. i think satan has definitely used it as a counterfit focus over jesus. it also confuses kids on the principles but it subliminally teaches the desire of 'wanting excess' with gifts + 'earning' these gifts through works of good and bad. we've chosen to give gifts to teach our kids god loves a cheerful giver, but we also keep it minimal to try reduce the risk of expectation + disappointment with gifts as all gifts should be appreciated. as well as the fact you're lying to your kids, santa isn't real... there's just so many convictions around it and im so grateful my hubby's family is more than happy standing upon this truth :)
Santa was created by Coca-Cola brand. They brainwashed kids to be good sheeple. Don't believe or trust anything that is fake. Tricking children about Disneyland characters is wrong. Think about the pedophile peter pan robbing children in the middle of the night. Evil
peter mckinnon intro, love it!
Wow this is so eyeopening and surprising! I definitely want to show this to be husband and discuss what the next Christmases to come will look like.
I haven't seen any of your videos in about a week and for some reason, I randomly dreamt about you guys last night. Sutton and I were playing with the boys on the trampoline and having so much fun. I woke up and realized sadly I've never met you guys.
Santa doesn't mean Satan, it is Latin for Saint...short for the Turkish St. Nicholas of the early Catholic Church.
I did Santa with my firstborn as I wasn't a Christian then. After I gave my life to God, I started feeling off about Santa and decided before my second child was old enough to know that I wasn't going to do Santa anymore. My daughter, who was 8/9 at the time, was already questioning if he was real, so I sat her down and told her the truth and from then on I decided I wasn't going to lie to my kids anymore about Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy. I got a LOT of backlash from my family as I was "depriving" my kids of the magic of Christmas/Easter. My son grew up not ever having Santa come to our house or the Easter Bunny. Instead, "Mama Claus" left gifts in the stockings. Mama Claus being me. I still loved the concept of my kids' excitement waking up to find surprises in their stockings but instead of putting it on Santa, they knew it was from me. My kids are now 19 and 26 and we still do stockings when we are all together. It's a tradition that will keep going because Santa is taken out of the equation. :) We also made birthday cakes for Jesus for many years!
I've had this feeling for a long time but get shot down when sharing my thoughts. I think you have made the right decision. At the end of the day its a lie and it takes the focus of the importance of the day
Growing up we rarely did gifts
Sometimes there was a Christmas service, often family getting together.
When I got married, and while dating I attended my husband’s family Christmas. We usually started out singing Christmas songs, then They had school aged children and younger quote verses, poems, and/or sing. After that the Grandparents passed gifts out to the children and adults. So the children learned when Christmas time came they were getting gifts!
Since my husband has gone to be with the Lord, we exchange names and try to give something they can use. Usually read the Christmas story. I think it’s been too commercialized, personally, but maybe it’s been my upbringing. Y’all are seeking to do what is right and pleasing God. It’s never easy to be different, God will show you the way! Thank you for sharing! You are great parents!❤
We have 3 small boys, like you all. Our oldest is 6. We have chosen not to do Santa except as a fun character in movies and books. Instead we focus on Jesus and time together as a family. They still open gifts from us Christmas morning, but it isn’t very much to help them with contentment. They chose gifts for each other this year as well! It was a big hit and really drove home the joy of giving. Our families and most friends do not celebrate this way. They judge us for ruining the magic of the season. But we have much peace around our choices. The hardest part is knowing how to help our kids respond to others regarding Santa. So many adults ask them questions about santa. Not to mention other children. It’s a Source of so much anxiety for me as a mom. We are teaching them not to lie, but like you all, we never want to come across as better than anyone. Let’s just say I breathe a sigh of relief come mid-January when the Santa talk goes away for a while. It truly shouldn’t be this way. Especially in our churches.
I love this! I love these ideas y’all mentioned & things you are doing. And yeah more and more Christian RUclipsrs are posting about not doing Santa Claus or doing it differently then the rest of the world. I love it!
We have five kids from 14 to 1. We don’t push Santa, we just don’t really talk about him as if he’s real. We love watching all the movies though. This year we picked out two Angel Tree recipients and gave each lots of gifts. Everyone helped pick things out. That really fulfilled the desire we have to give gifts, but allowed the focus to be on giving. We also gave each of our own kids one gift each, while normally they would get three to five gifts. It was a different experience that we all benefited from. They got stuff in their stockings, a couple gifts from grandma, and a few things from other people as well. So, it was still more abundant than we would have preferred. We also let the children do a “secret Santa” gift for each other. I took each of them shopping by themselves and they had to pick out something one of their siblings would like. And it was a secret. Talk about personal growth 😂 it was hard for some of them to pick something special for their sibling, and to not tell them right away. All in all, we are trying to focus on giving, and being a gracious receiver, which is difficult for many Christians. But, Christ is the ultimate gift and one must receive it, right?
As someone who grew up never believing in Santa Claus, I can say I never thought I had a less fun Christmas than my friends who did believe. I’ve always loved Christmas! Knowing my parents didn’t want to lie to me even to make something possibly more fun was one of the ways they lived out their faith in front of me. I knew my parents loved me & gave me gifts to show their love to me & to demonstrate the true gift that Jesus gives in salvation!
Happy Holidays guys!!!! I admire yall for thinking of these things and trying to work on the convictions you are feeling.
We never did Santa or any of that stuff....but we moved to Tennessee to be closer to my in laws and they do it. We don't judge them at all.....but my 8 yr old son came to me after our Christmas gathering on Saturday and said "I noticed something lastnight but not sure if I should tell you." I told him he can tell me anything....and he opened up. He said "well lastnight when santa came into the house I noticed that one of the adult guys was missing and im pretty sure he was the "santa" i was kinda shocked he had put 2 + 2 together before I got him told. So anyway I explained to him that yes the guy he thought was missing is the one who was "santa" he just laughed. We just tell him santa isn't real, and explain that Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas, and any gifts we get can remind us of the ultimate gift we all are blessed with, Jesus born in a stable but he didn't stay there he grew up, and gave his Life for all of us.
We pick out a gift for each other.
Blessings on yall and your little family ❤❤❤❤
The beginning made me chuckle (i cant be loud cuz i will wake people up here at the hotel where i work)🤣🤣🤣
Speaking of santa...
A few years ago I actually learned that scrambling santa into satan from a DREAM!!!! And i was like "aww there is no way, its just one of my weird dreams as usual" and sure enough... it was. Ive never had that happened before where i learn a real truth from a dream before. Other than life situations (ex boyfriends and things of that nature) but yeah it was real profound.
The right path isn't never the easy path.
Loved this video! We have done the same thing with our boys about Santa. I did not mention Santa good or bad when my boys were toddlers. We told them Christmas is Jesus' birthday and we celebrate his day partly with giving gifts as Jesus received gifts. But they know the gifts are from us. I also do the same on other special days - they know Mama is the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy too. :) Thanks for sharing - you both are encouraging and good examples as parents.
My kids are 19 and 16 now. We did do the “Santa Claus” thing. Haha! We did choose to do a few things differently though. We never used the “you better be good Santa is watching “ trick. We never really even talked about “him” until they wanted to make a list. But the moment they started questioning if he was real or not we immediately told them that it was really daddy and mama eating the cookie and drinking the milk and buying the gifts. 🤣🎄
This is such a hard topic for me because I grew up doing the whooooleeeee Santa thing, and was heartbroken when I found out he wasn’t real. However, my little brother is disabled (he’s 23 yrs old and still believes in Santa, elves, the North Pole, etc) and he probably will believe for the rest of his life. It brings so much joy, magic, and childlike spirit to a family full of all adults- because we all have to continue to “believe” for him 🥹♥️ Now I’m about to give birth to my first child, and my hubby and I are contemplating how we want to handle Christmas/Santa with our son. We absolutely have to continue Santa for my disabled little brother, but I don’t know how this’ll affect how we handle Christmas in our own household… ♥️ tricky situation!
There is a Santa Claus in our area who when he takes breaks he comes out to where all the families are waiting in line and tells them the real Christmas story.
After watching y’all’s other vid about money. I was so convicted of all the toys I had to buy all my nieces and nephews and my own kids, I’ve made up my mind that next year is going to look totally different! We will either do a toy swap with toys they already all have and find a family in need to donate funds to! That sounds so much more heart warming for me personally. Rather handing a bunch of expensive toys to multiple kiddos who have so much stuff they can’t distinguish between any of it to even play with it all much more be grateful for any of it.
Love this! My husband and I decided 30 years ago when starting our family of 4 that we would celebrate St. Nicholas Day (we lived in Germany at the time) on Dec 6th and give gifts to our children because of our great love for them and then celebrate Christmas Day in honor of the birth of Jesus and give one gift each to encourage their relationship with the Lord. We had different traditions that we did for each day like using Santa figurines to represent St. Nicholas and we had a book about the true story of St. Nicholas. Yes, we got flak from family & friends, it wasn't always easy. Love your heart for wanting to honor the Lord.
The kids and I this Christmas watched a video on who the real Saint Nick was. He loved Jesus and that's the Santa we talk about. We also love the Lord and try to live completely for Him. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I'll be praying for you guys and for wisdom as you navigate through this. ❤️
I love what my family did, we kids were a part of gift giving from a young age. The joy was always more through God than Santa. I never believed in Santa and know I didn’t miss out on anything :))
My oldest is 16 and I didn’t do Santa when he was younger. I felt that by lying to him, once he found out about Santa, that he would think it’s okay to lie. So I always told him the true reason we celebrate Christmas. Now, years later, I really think I stole the magic of Christmas. It’s a tough fence to be on.
Yeah you did. Now you have to answer to him for why he is mossing those magical memories. Sad. All in the name of Jesus… you think Jesus would have wanted to remove magic from the little children? He loved the little Children THE MOST. Such twisted logic the church has pushed on believers.
I completely agree with Sutton as being raised with Santa and having fun with it. I never want my kids to think I'd lie about things. I know I'm not that person but everyone is different. I'd definitely like to have a minimal Christmas in terms of gifts and focus on giving, being with family and friends, and celebrating Jesus. Today's culture has definitely had the emphasis on 'me' as opposed to what it's really about. Great video guys!
To encourage y’all-I decided when I was pregnant with my first, that we weren’t going to “do the Santa thing”. My biggest reason was that I did not want to be teaching my children that this imaginary character had attributes that only our holy and loving God has. I always addressed/treated Santa (in books, or in public etc) like any other costumed character or cartoon (ie. Mickey Mouse, Princesses etc), which was a character that was make believe and fun. I also always taught them that every family has different traditions and some families “play the Santa game” and not to ruin the game (ie. Tell other kids that Santa is make believe) for their family. My oldest is 12 now, and my children absolutely have not missed out on anything with this perspectives. They still get filled stockings Christmas morning, they still each get a big present/surprise Christmas morning (along with their wrapped gifts), we make cookies, we even take photos with/visit Santa (the same way we do other characters at theme parks, birthday parties etc). It’s always been fun and “magical” for the kids, even though in my home Santa never has gotten the credit for the magic. As a single parent, my girls have found joy in being part of the “magic” and have started stuffing my stocking, doing surprises for others, looking forward to giving and serving for Christmas etc. …I’m 12 years into it with 3 kids, and there hasn’t been even a moment where I regretted not putting on the charade of Santa! To God be the Glory!
My kids have never believed in Santa, but we've talked about the real person who inspired him and about how the traditions came to be. This hasn't removed any of the joy or "magic" of Christmas from our family.
I grew up never believing in Santa and as an adult I kind of wish I did get to but I’m also very glad I never did. Christmas was always magical and fun. And Santa movies were still all fun to watch and once my mom even told me a gift was from Santa and I told her “momma, santa is not real”.
I also just had a baby and have been having an internal debate whether to go with the santa thing or not so I’m glad you made this video!
I think you can let kids have fun with the Santa thing but when/ if they ask if he’s real, tell them he is not and it’s just for fun. Of course, always teaching about Jesus, our Lord. 😀
I do Santa. I teach my kids that Santa gives gifts because he loves Jesus just like we do. We read the story of St. Nicholas, and we read the Polar Express (book, not movie. The movie is awful). One of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments has Santa worshipping Jesus in the manger. I have never taught them that Santa won't come if they're naughty. Santa is an example of giving without expecting anything in return...well, except cookies. 😉
My oldest believed wholeheartedly and really struggled when she realized mom is Santa. It made me realize how much effort I put into maintaining it with her. I have younger children (8 and 10 years younger than her), and I put a lot less effort into it with them.
As a kid, I received gifts "from Santa" at my dad's house but not mom's. I guess I never wholeheartedly believed, and no adult in my family ever told me Santa wasn't real, but I figured it out and wasn't traumatized.
I’m late watching this but I just wanted you to know about a tradition I started with my kids this year and it’s called Shepard on the search. It’s a Christian alternative for elf on the shelf 😊
Yes I heard about the three gifts I definitely want to do that when the kids can comprehend it
I am so glad you two made this video! I have had so much hate and backlash for telling my children who are 7 and 5 that Santa isn’t real. I’ve been accused of ruining Christmas for them and the “magic”. My thought was that my children would question the existence of Jesus too once they found out I was lying about Santa. Just sad we as parents are shamed for not lying to our children and for telling them the truth. God Bless you two and your beautiful family. ❤️
Nathanael said after we filmed the video that he had that thought about Jesus once he found out Santa wasn’t real. Good for you for going against the grain!
Never taught our children to believe in Santa either. For this very same reason. Also, they get three gifts each. We wanted the gifts to be Jesus focused too, so they each get three… like Christ did. ❤
So you don’t want them to believe in Santa who is made up, but you do want them to believe in a Jesus who is also made up. Make it make sense. You lot have mental illness
100% agree!! My kids know of Santa as a fun Christmas fantasy story, but Santa isn't getting credit for all my Christmas shopping!!lol
Jesus is the real reason for Christmas day and Who we live for all year ♡♡
Well Santa is as real as your god, so if they question cult religions it just means they can think for themselves.
My husband and I decided prior to having children over 23 years ago to not do Santa…. We always taught our children that every good and perfect gift comes down from God above and if you are blessed with things it’s not because you deserve it or have earned it but from His goodness. Over the years we have done Happy Birthday Jesus, scavenger hunt to find their presents, numbered their presents under the tree, so that they did not know if it was their gift until Christmas day. They always woke up with excitement in their heart to see what God had bless them with! We also focused on them giving to others…. I was just talking to my daughter and she said she did not miss out on anything at Christmas and if so glad that I raised her with the truth of Christmas!!
Growing up in a Christian home my parents had a pretty balanced approach to Santa and Christmas in general. There was two books I remember my mom reading to me and my siblings during the advent and Christmas season. The first is “Saint Nicholas The Real Story of the Christmas legend”by Julie Stiegemeyer and the Second was “Jotham’s Journey” by Arnold Yteeide
Which is the first book in a 4 book series each telling a historical fictional story of the coming of Jesus from a young child’s perspective living in Bible times. These are now some of our favorite memories of story books and helped me and my sibling to remember the true meaning of Christmas. We also had the family rule to surprise each other with random gift if we thought of them not sticking to the traditional calendar. Love you videos and will be praying for wisdom for your family. You guys are doing great! @nateandsutton
My parents always told me that it was baby Jesus the one who bring the presents
We still did presents for our kid but told her it was from mom and dad not Santa lol
I am convicted by the same issue and I think this year was my 2 year olds last “Santa” Christmas I even phased him out this year as much as I could. It’s so hard because we are inundated with images of Santa
OMG so true about Santa being the misspelling of Satan. Just like dog is the misspelling of god 🙄 Absolute lunacy.
Sorry to be so long winded, but as I was thinking about your young family, I remembered what a teacher friend of mine did with her family, starting in their kid's elementary years : At Halloween, they all sat down and discussed what they would like to have for dinner on Thanksgiving - one year the kids chose TV dinners since they had never had one before - so that is exactly what they did! At Thanksgiving they chose Christmas - example, one year it was strawberry topped waffles with whipped cream. At New Years, they chose sack lunches one year. Get the idea? Now that their kids are adults, they choose a different country for each holiday and research, prepare and serve foods from that country including that country's traditions. The Christmas her kids remember most is the year they rented a cabin and had to make Christmas out of what they found there. (tin foil or catalog picture ornaments - the tree just a branch they found outside. It was never about the presents. I admired their family so much.
Hey Nate and Sutton! Merry Christmas! Can you guys make a video about speaking in tongues? I went to a church where I saw people speaking in tongues I wasn’t sure what to think of it. It kind of freaked me out.
That happened to me in my first church too… I was going to an Assemblies of God church - I eventually got ok with it, but initially it was very different for me
@@lorisullivan327 hi Lori! I wanted to know how to know when someone is speaking in tongues that they actually are speaking in tongues and not faking it. I know in the Bible it says there needs to be an interpreter present to translate what the person is saying that is speaking in tongues, but I was wondering if there’s anything else that would verify that the person speaking in tongues is actually speaking in tongues really. I know as Christian’s we have to be careful with what churches we join and use discernment.
@@christianlivingwithliz6884 Hi 👋🏻... I have a prayer language that I use, not around other people necessarily when I pray… it’s between the Lord and me. I kind of leave it up to the Holy Spirit to determine whether or not other people are speaking out of emotion, or if it’s something that the Holy Spirit is orchestrating. I just choose not to get in the way of that… the Bible speaks in acts about tongues of fire, where people spoke in other tongues that were discernible and identifiable by other believers. I’m sure that still happens, and yes, that type of thing needs to be interpreted. But if you’re talking about a prayer language- that’s a different thing… there are churches that support both sides… there is a book by Mahesh Chavda “the hidden power of speaking in tongues” and just to prequalify: it’s not to be on power trip or anything selfish, it’s for a believer’s edification and to look to walk closer to the Holy Spirit 🧡 God bless you on your search
Tell him about St. Nickolas! That's how Santa got started, but it's been twisted horribly and now Santa is what you've discovered.
Also, there's a lot of Elf on the Shelf substitutes like Shepherd on the Search or Wise Man seeks the star.
Also The Giving Manger is really cool!
All that said, we grew up never celebrating Christmas, because my parents believed it was pagan.
I love the 3 gift idea!
My friend is teaching her daughter that Santa is just a game that they play around Christmas time. Her daughter always explains to me that Santa is just pretend and it's mommy and daddy that give her gifts. I like the idea of telling my kids that it's pretend and we can have fun with it but we need to remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas.
I have a doubt, is it true that Jesus’s birthday its not really on December?
And a little story, I live in Costa Rica, so Santa is not all that big here BUT I don’t remember asking Santa for presents and stuff what I DO remember is finding out my mom was the one going home after work, putting me to bed and telling me I had to be asleep or Santa wouldn’t leave my gifts, I pretended I was asleep so I saw my mom very tired after work, getting ready to go pick my presents (we didn’t even have a car so it was a long bus ride) and THAT made me appreciate my mom even more! Then I just asked my dad for the gifts I wanted and he would give me one of all I asked so it was always a surprise! Also, some people here (some Catholics) say that Baby Jesus is the one bringing presents to the kids and to ask Jesus for the gifts instead of Santa… and see Santa mostly as a “character from the US” (I know it’s not originally from there)
100% agree!! My kids know of Santa as a fun Christmas fantasy story, but Santa isn't getting credit for all my Christmas shopping!!lol
Jesus is the real reason for Christmas day and Who we live for all year ♡♡
We decided not to celebrate Santa in our family and have received mostly negative responses. But, like you, we didn’t want the focus to be on getting a present from Santa for being good. That totally takes Jesus out of the equation. We decided to approach it like play-kids play pretend all the time. (Pretend to be an animal or a dinosaur in our case.) So we’ve said “Santa is just a pretend game people like to play. They pretend he comes down their chimney and gives them toys. But some people are REALLY into this game so we won’t spoil it for them by telling them Santa isn’t real.” I don’t want to have that kid who tells all the others he’s not real. My favorite interaction that happened this year was when a grandparent asked our son “What did you ask Santa for this year?” And our 3 year old respond with a long pause, looked confused, and said “Mommy and Daddy getting me a dinosaur.” 😂 We told him we buy gifts as we celebrate Jesus’ birthday. We do 4 gifts (something you want, need, wear, and read) then go on a trip together. This year on Christmas Day, we ate breakfast and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we played a game between every present opened. The winner gets to open their present first followed by everyone else. Then we play another game and that winner gets to go first that time. So we’re playing games together all day while opening presents. We have toddlers so the games looked like hide and seek, Monkey Around game, and activities like dancing, making a craft, baking cookies, etc. It allows us to spend uninterrupted time together having fun and talking about why we are spending our day like this. We talk about Jesus, what He’s done for us, and get excited! And now we have a fun trip to look forward to in a couple weeks!
I would tell them the truth. If you don't tell them, they're going to hear it from other kids at either church, school or familly friends.
You have an awesome family!
Just a suggestion for Elf on the shelf they actually have one called Sheperd on the Search such a cute Christian elf on the shelf lol just thought I’d share ☺️
I have 2 girls one 6 and 4 year old! We never have taught them about Santa and when my oldest was younger I heard talk about Santa with her cousins and I told her “mama Santa isn’t real, Jesus is the one who is our provider and he can bless you with gifts for Christmas but always remember it’s about Him and his birth coming into the world for us and continued to tell her that and my second daughter as well and they both understand and actually had family argue because we don’t teach them about Santa but my daughters don’t care they will educate their cousins why they don’t believe! Sorry for the long message. We also have happy birthday Sign up during Christmas we got a cake for Jesus sang Him happy bday! The girls draw him cards
My oldest 5 yr old knows Santa is not real but still likes the character of Santa. We don’t focus or make a big deal about Santa but we enjoy the character and idea of Santa while knowing he isn’t real. I have no problem with that. We do focus of Jesus, the birth and the story of salvation.
They make a christian version of the elf on a shelf. It's a shepard looking for baby Jesus. Look it up.
Hi! I have followed you guys for a very long time now and think its great how open you guys are with these big picture family struggles. I wanted to give you guys a 3rd option if you will, in Spanish tradition gifts are actually given on Jan. 6th (Epiphany day, which is 12 days from Christmas day, i.e. the 12 days of Christmas) and when children are young they are told that the Three Wise Men (aka the Magi) are the ones that bring the gifts (just as they brought the gifts to baby Jesus). I thought you guys might like this option as it is strongly rooted in Christianity and leaves Christmas day open to focusing on the birth of Jesus. Additionally, either if you want to tell the children from the start or later people will often refer to themselves as "Pajes" which were the Magi's helpers. I believe this still keeps the excitement of the Three Wise Men because it includes a little layer of mystery while still centering on the fact that a specific person thought of this gift for another. Nevertheless, I can understand the difficulty in doing this in the United States were other children will receive all their gifts on Christmas day. Personally, my family will give one gift on Christmas day and the rest on Jan. 6th, which helped reduce the "disappointment" as a kid that others had gotten their gift, but made it all the more exciting when on Jan. 6th you finally got to open your gifts. Lastly, I wanted to say that I really liked your idea of only giving three gifts since Jesus got three gifts. Also (sorry for the unsolicited advice) I think that seeing Santa as Satan rearranged is reading into it a little much, it does come from the Dutch dialect of for St. Nick, and in Spanish language "Santa" actually means Saint. Not trying to appear mean by any means please believe that, just thought you guys would like knowing the history and etymology.
I had my first child 6 months ago and my husband and I have decided to not only not lie about Santa but to be honest about him not being a real entity. Sure, st Nick was a real human. But he is no longer alive and flying around. Christmas is 100% about Jesus. The story of Jesus and his unconditional and self sacrificing love. I think we will do a very modest amount of gifts with an emphasis on buying for others. I want to teach my child about donating things that others need that we take for granted as well as volunteering.
You guys are great! It’s so important to listen and follow your conviction. True Joy is found in the Lord not in myths or copious amount of material possessions. Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you enjoyed the holiday no matter how you celebrate. I pray you all experience the love of Jesus❤
Love it. We started late in the game. I never told my 3 Santa was real,trust me I got back lash from family, secondly I regret putting my kids in public school or giving them a phone. But we do trips every other year, stockings on Christmas, church. My kids are grown and public school and phones will be a strong hold against them.
We straight up tell them that it is a fairytale and that people who don’t know Jesus celebrate Santa on Christmas and then we explain to them that it’s Jesus birthday is on Christmas.
I heard it once said that whatever you can do to get your kids to be excited about a religious holiday, you do it. As they grow, they'll learn more about the seriousness about our religious traditions and they will be more likely to embrace it because the holiday evokes warm and happy memories. It never occurred to me not to do Santa with my kids, as we had him as a child and I came from a strong Christian family. I did have friends who were new Christians who chose not to do Santa in an effort to keep the focus on Jesus, but there's certainly no indication that it helped their kids to follow Christ more closely. Truth be told, now that our kids are all grown, the opposite could be said for many of these friends. That could be because they were newly converted and didn't realize the amount of work that goes in to raising Godly children; I don't know. I am perfectly content that we did Santa (not the you have to be good to get gifts Santa, but more like the historical Nicholas) and focused on the fact that God gave us Jesus as a gift and that Saint Nicholas (Santa) also gives us gifts so we can remember the greatest gift that was given to us.
I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and did not grow up celebrating Christmas. When I was raising my kids, I struggled with some of the same issues you are having. I should mention I was no longer a Jehovah’s Witness. The man I married was Catholic, had celebrated growing up, so really took the lead on how it was handled. I never really felt comfortable, but didn’t know how to avoid the ‘Santa is bringing you presents’ thing. I did infuse the holiday with as much concentration on, giving to others, giving to those less fortunate, and helping others, as I could. However, my kids, who have children around the ages of yours, have gone a different direction, and I like it. They introduce the Santa story, as it is, a story. They explain that parents play along to make it feel as real as they can, and that giving to others is the intention of this element of the holiday but we make it fun by having Santa surprise us with gifts on Christmas morning. They don’t go to sit on Santa’s lap, although you obviously could. They would just know it is all pretend.
There is a complication with other kids as the children get older, but they explain, as they get older that different families celebrate in different ways. Some children are told about Santa being a story when they are young, like they do in their family, And other families tell their children later, because they think it will be more fun, saying Our family thinks doing it this way is more fun.
Just a thought I wanted to share.
Love the thought you put into how you live your lives. It’s easy to get so caught up in the things to do that you dont look at the big picture. Really proud of you all for looking at your big house for what it is to you, overall. Beautiful, but also a financial burden. Easy to see others doing it and hide behind, ‘this is normal, its what everyone is doing’. God Bless
I became a born again Christian as an adult. My parents are not Christian, and they always are ready to put up Santa decor and watch movies and sing songs about Santa, but they do not acknowledge or celebrate Jesus on Christmas. That has been my observation/ experience.
Our sons are only 2 years old and 5 months old, so we’re just figuring this all out too, but our current plan is to treat Santa like a character. Our children will see the decorations (though we don’t have Santa decorations at our house), and read the books, but we will always explain that’s it’s a pretend story people like to tell around Christmas time. We do give gifts and fill stockings, but they are from us, not Santa. We keep it simple with 4 gifts (something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read), although I love the idea of doing 3 gifts just like Jesus’ 3 gifts! I’ll have to think about that one! And thanks for mentioning the birthday cake. I will definitely be incorporating that next year! What a sweet tradition! Of course people aren’t thrilled with our choices. My mom was horrified to find out that our kids would not be sitting on Santa’s lap for photos (such a weird tradition! No thank you). But actually, in our playgroup (where the dozen or so families are Catholic, like ourselves), most people grew up believing in Santa, and most of us have decided not to do Santa with our children, which I think is interesting!
Also, if your kids think the elf is fun, look into Mary on the Mantle! She gets ready for baby Jesus each day leading up to Christmas, and has a note each morning with an act of kindness that the children can do. We wanted to begin this this year, but our toddler really just wanted to snuggle his Mary doll in his room for bedtime, so maybe next year! You can also buy a baby Jesus doll for Mary to have with her on Christmas morning, and the book that goes along with it is really sweet.
A few suggestions that we used when our kids were little: 1. We also did a birthday cake for Jesus but the kids helped to make/decorate it. They were more invested when they did the work themselves. 2. We had a figurine of Santa kneeling at the Baby Jesus' manger. It brought to mind the scripture "that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (even Santa bows to Jesus). 3. If you look at Santa as Saint Nicholas, his heart's desire was to give gifts to children to honor the birth of Jesus our Savior. 4. As a grandma now, we have a Fisher-Price Nativity set that I use to tell the Christmas story. The grandkids get to set the pieces in place as I tell the story. (When our granddaughter was around 5 or 6, and it came to the giving of gifts from the Wise Men, she said "Gold, Frankenstein and Myrrh." It's become a family joke now and we all call it out! LOL A few times I've put the different Nativity set pieces in gift bags that are numbered, then everyone draws one, and then tell their part of the story from the figures they've chosen. BTW - I start the story with the story of Adam and Eve - and how he was the first Adam and because of some bad choices allowed death into our world - separating us from God. But God promised a final Adam (Jesus) would come to save us all from death and give us everlasting life. It gives a broader perspective to Christmas and the importance for Jesus to come to be our Savior. Blessings, Janell
Aw I love the Santa bowing to Jesus. I’ve never seen that!
My parents did Santa with us growing up. I did it with my kids. But we also knew about the real St. Nicholas that gave to the less fortunate. He was a real person. My kids always knew about where the idea of Santa came from. We also do a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas. I think you can do a mix of things. Nothing wrong with talking about the real St. Nicholas and the ideas of Santa came from that and it’s more for entertainment purposes.
@@nateandsutton Amazon actually carries a number of the figurines of Santa and Baby Jesus - even ornaments for your Christmas tree. Prices vary on what size you would want. I have even seen them in thrift shops. Hope you find a good one for your needs. Blessings, Janell
Even as a kid I didn't like Santa Claus, or the idea of some strange person showing up once a year thinking he can give gifts to make me like him LOL I was equally as skeptical of the characters in costume at Disneyland LOL I remember my sisters response to her daughter when she asked about Santa after hearing about it at school. My sister's (genius) response was to tell the story about an amazing person who used to give gifts to children at an orphanage on Christmas and that the people she see's dressed up are doing it in honor of that person (similar to seeing people dressed as Abraham Lincoln lol). She also explained that some kids believe it's the same person giving those gifts every year, just like some kids believe Mickey at Disneyland is the same Mickey from the movies, and to be respectful and not ruin other kid's Christmas. With our son we're focusing on the fun of giving gifts and putting heart and thought into what we give others. My son was legit more excited watching me open the gift he picked out than he was opening his own gifts LOL So that's a Christmas Win in my books!
Amen amen keep following the Lord's direction and calling and sharing with us all!!
I’m so thankful there are others with the same convictions! I think it has a lot to do with the time we are in and the Lord truly sanctifying his bride. The more bold we are and stand for the truth and what’s right, despite what the “world” says we should do. We are CALLED to be DIFFERENT from the world! Sooo with all that said, it makes it so much easier for some of us who have that conviction but not brave or bold enough to step out, afraid of backlash, to have others to support and encourage oneanther in doing what’s right!
My family and some friends would do the nativity story with them with felt Mary and Joseph. Set up the"scene" starting around December first like an advent calendar, but something that they can clearly see. Celebrating the birth of Christ leading up to Christmas. They made it fun so that we all would enjoy it.(whatever creative way you want to do it)
And remember why we celebrate Christmas in the first place!
We give the kids gifts . They know it’s from us . And the grown ups did a secret Santa this year . You get a name trough mail. And you choose how much money it wil costs . And on Christmas Day you give your present on your secret person . So fun . I m religious, my family not . I try to engage them in the real deal of Christmas. But they celebrated it because of the joy it brings .