To Santa or Not to Santa

"We shall find peace. We shall hear angels. We shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds." Chekov's words sum up how I feel about Christmas. It seems like we are just *this* much closer to heaven - as though it bowed down to touch Earth, so many years ago, and every winter does again. There is an exquisite magic about the entire season for me, and I've tried hard to pass this onto my children. So far, Kira seems to have the same sense of wonder about it and I couldn't be more happy.

But, I do get a little sad when I see the magic, and the faith, and the belief that is so much a part of the season co-opted by Santa Claus. Don't get me wrong, I love Santa, and he's all over the house with his little bag of toys, but the posters that say "believe" under a picture of the man with the bag, rather than under a manger feels like the wonder and majesty of Christmas being misdirected.

Last Christmas, I had to decide very clearly how I was going to handle Santa when Kira asked, point blank, (or rather asserted) that Santa was real.

My parents never told me that he was real, but "Santa" still always brought the big presents that couldn't be handled with conventional wrapping paper - doll houses and bicycles and such and we were always very excited to hear that "Santa" had one more gift for us... then ran and hugged Mom and Dad. I didn't want to completely deprive her of the fun of Santa Claus. I knew houses where Santa was nearly a swear word, and that always seemed unfortunate.

I said that Saint Nicholas was very much real and we read all about him, and the three girls he saved from slavery and all of the gifts he gave. I told her that Saint Nicholas, or Santa, gave gifts just like God gave us Jesus and that's why we give gifts to each other at Christmas time. She seemed pretty satisfied with that.

I figure, while I'm telling her that the long awaited King was born of a virgin, heralded by angels, witnessed by shepherds, worshipped by astrolgers, and is coming back one day - best not to also tell her that a guy in a red suit brings the presents. One day she'll grow up and know that Mom and Dad brought the presents, so why would I then expect her to believe in the rest. I feel like her faith is a precious thing.

So how do others of you deal with Santa? Is it a concern in your house? Did you do what your parents did? Or did you do something different?