Happy Day 11! I am actually quite surprised to be writing this post tonight. I had something else vaguely in mind and it isn’t a topic that I particularly thought I had opinions about. But today was a busy day (as alluded to yesterday) and I saw something on social media that made me incapable of keeping my mouth shut. So here I am… a single lady without kids… talking about Santa gifts.
The Santa Gifts Hot Take That Triggered Me
Okay, so I literally just stumbled upon this on the wild west of the internet… but someone anonymously shared an opinion that when parents don’t want the “big gift” to come from Santa (slash, they don’t get the credit from it), it’s gross. Well, I think they are gross!
Okay, maybe that is an overstatement, but I do think it is a fairly narrow-minded and not nuanced point of view. Allow me to explain.
Explain Your Judge-y Perspective Further!
Okay, first, I’m not the judgey one here. I’m not the one who called other people gross. (Even though I super wanted to.)
Quite honestly, anyone who read last year’s post about Christmas traditions should not be surprised by my opinion. I was raised in a household where Santa only brought one present. Santa always brought something special and thoughtful, something that elves would be very into creating, but not necessarily the “best” present. After all, your parents will always know you better than Santa does, even if he sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake. But he’ll bring you something pretty cool, because he knows you’re a cool kid.
He Knows If You’ve Been Bad or Good, so Be Good for Goodness Sake
And here’s the thing, and here’s why I don’t think parents giving the “big” gift to their kids is gross. Kids do not exist in a vacuum. They live in the world around them and they interact with other kids. And some families have more extra income to spend on kids. And some families have less. Kids do understand this… affluent kids can understand that other kids aren’t as lucky as them and vice versa for less wealthy kids. Kids can be taught not to brag about what luxuries they have been afforded because others don’t have the same opportunities. Sure.
But that’s not really the issue with Santa. Santa gifts are not about families having more or less – that’s a whole thing with parent gifts and parents can figure out how to tackle it. Santa gifts are tied up in virtue. Right? Santa gifts are about whether you’ve been bad or good.
Can you imagine being a little kid who has tried to be good all year? And some kid in your class gets a brand new ipad while all you get is an orange? (Disclaimer: hyperbole.) Sure, you know that kid is way richer than you are so his parents can buy him better presents, but Santa does that too? Goodbye to the magic of Christmas…
Traditions are Traditions
I know. Traditions are traditions and Santa is different for every family.
I think a lot of us grew up in fairly heterogeneous communities. This meant this whole issue wasn’t really a big thing. Every family was in the same basic socioeconomic sphere. Some were better off than others, whatever that may mean, but mostly it wasn’t a big deal if things were a little bit different from house to house. The world is different now. There can be wealthy kids and poor kids at the same school, which means kids know what each other are getting for the holidays. Why would you want to destroy the magic for someone else?
I don’t know. Why can’t we just think beyond ourselves and try to recognize how our actions can have an impact on people outside our tight group? Holiday magic is important, whatever that means for you. Let’s all just try not to take it away from other people while also creating it for ourselves. Easy-peasy, am I right?