Santa or Jesus?

Believe! I see a lot of T-shirts and sweaters this time of year with that imperative statement.  And looking at the color, the supportive symbolism, etc., it seems to me that the thing to be believed is Santa Clause.  We adults look at each other, smile and wink.  We know Santa is not real.  (Or, if you did not know I am sorry to be the one to deliver such truth.)  We know we promote this notion for our kids.  We want our kids to believe in Santa.

We very well may want our kids to believe in Jesus as well.  And I see a number of declarative statements around about the reason for the season, as though there is something else going on at this time of year other than Santa.

But I am fascinated by adult efforts to promote both belief systems, Santa and Jesus.  I think we do a better job with Santa than we do with Jesus. 

For kids, there is tangible evidence of Santa.  We write letters to him and sometimes he responds.  We make lists of wants, wishes and needs for him and sometimes we receive those gifts.  We set out cookies, milk and a carrot and in the morning they are eaten or bitten.  We have Santa surrogates all over the place, ringing bells, posing in malls, attending parties, etc.  There are umpteen movies about him.  We know where he lives, we know what he does all year, we know who works for him, and we know his mode of transportation.  Santa has a naughty and nice list, but the consequences of being on the naughty list lasts only one year and are not painful.  Yes, there appears to be concrete evidence to a kid that Santa is real.

To my knowledge parents do not encourage kids to write letters to Jesus.  We do not encourage them to set out a baby bottle with formula, or even a pacifier for the baby Jesus.  We do not see people dressed as Jesus walking around spreading good cheer.  We make few movies about him, and none of them are comedies.  We do not know where he lives and we do not know for sure what transportation device he uses.  We tell our kids to pray, but the frequency of answered prayer is less than the frequency of gifts resulting from a letter to Santa.  We tell our kids that Jesus has a naughty and nice list too, but the consequences are eternal damnation or eternal life depending on which list you are on.  Jesus is less predictable and scarier.

And then at some point we learn that our parents lied to us.  There really is no Santa.  He is an idea, a symbol.  He is not tangible.  He is make-believe.  But we never have the same discussion about Jesus with our kids.  Is he real?  Is he tangible? 

Seems to me that if I were a kid again I would believe in Santa.  I’m not so sure about Jesus.  Is Jesus the same kind of make-believe entity like Santa, or the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny?  How would I know?  Oh I know.  There is evidence for Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny and very little evidence of Jesus.  OK.  I know which of these are likely to be real and which are likely to be just imaginary friends.  I believe.