Recently, I set up Google Alerts so I can keep up with anyone talking about The Santa Club.  I am not sure how I got this Google alert but a  blogger named Catherine Crawford wrote a great blog at Cafemom.com about Santa and how it can be the Biggest Parenting Lie.  I wanted to email her and send her a book, but couldn’t get her email.  So Catherine this blog is for you….

Her blog is about the problem parents are faced with when they have really smart kids and have friends or family who do not celebrate Christmas.  I hear you Catherine.  That was why The Santa Club came to be.  Jonathan, our oldest, is extremely smart.  Totally out there on some things. ( He called me the other day and told me of how amazing it was to hold someone’s brain in his hands!  He is 21 and decided to take Anatomy for fun…fun!) When Jonathan was a little boy, it was no different.  At six years old he asked the Santa Question.  The Average age is eight.  But low and behold Jonathan wanted to know before I was truly ready to answer.

By the next year Jameson had asked and both the boys knew who their Santa was.  It was also the year that the kids learned about the Jewish Holiday of Chanukah.  We have great friends who are Jewish and we were invited to their house during  Chanukah, the Festival of Lights.  What an amazing wonderful time for our kids.  Jonathan was asking a ton of questions and as we  celebrated  the miracle of the oil and the rededication of the Jerusalem Temple.  I realized that night the melding of the two distinct holidays is a blessing.

You see, as a Christian, I love reading the bible.  It has great tales of history and the first five books are as important to me as the rest of The Bible books.  That year we got to explain the difference about the Jewish Religion and the Christian Religion.  Jonathan, ever the inquisitive child, got the difference.  When we later talked about Jewish Law during Jesus’ time he understood.  To this day my entire family loves the Jewish traditions and truly believes that the Jews are God’s chosen people.  Not to mention some of my oldest and dearest friends are Jewish.

The truth of Santa explains much more than the idea of getting gifts.  It explains the Gift of Giving and why the tradition began. Which in truth began because of a Jew named Jesus.  When you answer Is Santa Real, truthfully,  then the ability to share the stories of the Jewish religion and the Christian religion is made simple.  The melding of the two Religions only enforces the belief that there is something bigger than what we see here on earth.

It really is OK  if my Jewish friends don’t worship Jesus.  And I know with them, it is ok if I do.  When did it become that if I even talk about Jesus to someone who doesn’t believe it is offensive?  Why can’t Christmas be what it has always been, the celebration of the story of Jesus Christs’ birth?  To love what Jesus stood for and to love the story is not a bad thing, even if you may not be a Christian.

Catherine, I am sorry I had to write the comment on the end of your blog.  I would have loved to have contacted you directly so it doesn’t sound like a marketing pitch when I talk about my book.  But, this book really is the way to explain Santa.  It is true, and it is amazing and it is not a lie.  Santa is real.  He may not always be fat, or always be a man…but Santa is real and the true story of Giving is real too. The Gift of Giving is what it is all about and what parent doesn’t want to explain that.

Merry Christmas everyone and for my Jewish friends Happy Chanukah,

Kelly