This is Uptitude. A place of happiness and positivity. An oasis of joy in a challenging world. So you would be forgiven for thinking that adding the theme of Santa Claus to it would only further elevate the mood. While it may well do, I have a few thoughts that we should consider about the big man in the red suit. While not everybody celebrates Christmas, I have seen the rise of Christmas as a cross-cultural festival especially in Europe and the US. In fact I have many non-Christian friends who put up Christmas trees. So whether or not you who are into Santa Claus, do please let me know what you think of my little rant… 🙂
Joy and positivity are wonderful, but we do have to consider deeper more meaningful aspects of life at the same time. In fact our challenge is often to guard ourselves against forms of joy that are wonderful in the short term, but destructive in the longer term, drugs being an extreme example of what I am talking about.
Childhood memories of Christmas are certainly wonderful. Waking up to see these magical gifts just for you, for being a good boy or girl, is an amazing feeling for any child, But there is another side to be considered regarding the whole Santa Claus story and to be honest, I am not sure what the answer is, but I am pretty sure that there is a question.
So here is the Santa premise; that you as a child were good all year and are being rewarded for this. Now as we know our early years are particularly formative and shape our self image and world view to a large extent. So consider this, if the benevolence of the child is represented by what they get for Christmas, do the gifts received by a youngster of less well off parents leave him or her with a sense that they are less deserving than their more affluent friends? Does this impact their sense of the value of their efforts at benevolence or even their identity or self esteem?
This focus on material gifts of christmas also puts parents in a bit of an emotional headlock as they are socially disinclined to ruin it for everyone else by pulling out of the fairytale and feel compelled to play along with the Santa Claus charade. Don’t get me wrong, I have wonderful memories of Christmas and the magic of Santa, but there are maybe a few things that we need to keep in mind, if we want to keep it going. First of all let us not forget what the spirit of Christmas is supposed to be all about. Love for each other, the hope of peace on earth and most importantly, celebrating the birth of Christ.
Christmas is a great time to give and share. The truth is that we also give when we receive, we allow others to be generous and to experience kindness. Even with this in mind, we surely need to keep the focus on the spirit of Christmas rather than let it slip into some form of self indulgence.
Let’s be honest, the whole commercialisation of the season, with almost zero mention of Christ, Christmas has become more like ‘Oh come let us adore ourselves’. When we lose the balance of such occasions, we slip into self gratification and ego satiating pursuits that make us more dull and enmeshed in self and temporary pleasure, the opposite of Christ’s message, love of others.
Others are not just for Christmas.
It is in our thinking of others and development of virtue that we find most joy, so whatever we give to our children, in whatever way, it is my opinion anyway that it should be wrapped with the reminder that Christmas is about love, just as Christianity is about love. It is true for all faiths that rather than just getting hypnotised by the cultural goings-on, it is essential to become reflective about what it means to be a member of your faith and to consider how you can live it in a spiritual and loving way.
So if you are feeling the pressure to have your Santa measure up for the sake of your child’s self esteem this Christmas. Consider how you can take their focus more towards the true spirit of Christmas and the importance of love for humanity and for themselves at a detached level beyond the transient joy of more and more ‘stuff’. Not only will they feel more satisfied with what they receive as gifts, but you will have given them the best gift of all, love, self worth and Christmas in it’s true meaning.
Photo credit: Greg Lobinski
