Parents, we need to have a real talk about Santa Claus. Santa Claus is not real. There is no magical man sliding down chimneys at midnight, no flying reindeer squad, no North Pole workshop pumping out iPads. And honestly, we have reached the point where we should stop telling kids that this cartoon character is the center of Christmas.
Why? Because when we teach children that Christmas is all about Santa, we are actually hijacking the entire meaning of the feast. Christmas is not the cult of presents, wrapping paper, and sugar-coated myths. Christmas is the night when God the Father gave us His only begotten Son. It is the joy of the Christ Child breaking into the world, the Light shining in the darkness, the Word made Flesh, the fulfillment of every prophecy and every longing of the human heart. That is what we celebrate. That is what children deserve to know.
The real Santa Claus, by the way, is not a jolly mascot invented by Coca-Cola. The real Santa Claus is St. Nicholas, a Catholic bishop who loved the poor, defended the faith, punched Arius in the face for denying Christ’s divinity, and gave generously because he followed Jesus. That is a real hero you can actually teach your kids about, a saint who points to Christ and not away from Him.
So instead of building family traditions around a fictional man in a red suit, give your children something real and something eternal. Teach them that Christmas is about Christ, about the Holy Family, about the Incarnation, about God stooping down into our world out of pure love. Teach them the joy, the mystery, and the beauty of that holy night. That is infinitely better than any fantasy story you could ever make up.