You Ruined My Christmas

When our children were around 2 to 8 years old, we let them believe whatever they wanted in regard to there being a Santa Claus. We didn't discuss it with them whether there was a Santa or not. Nor did we discourage the children from their own discussions of Santa Claus but we didn't valid their beliefs in regard to him either.

We did however, constantly teach them about Jesus' birth and who He is. Every Christmas before unwrapping the gifts my husband would read from either Matthew 1 or Luke 2. This annoyed the children, of course. Because they just wanted to dig into those gifts. But my husband persisted nonetheless.

One year and I'm not sure exactly what year it was our son, Raymond, came to me as a child and asked me, "Mom, is Santa Claus real?" Immediately, I paused and my thoughts ran rapidly in my head. "Oh boy! Why is he asking me this? I wish he hadn't. What should I tell him, Lord? I don't want him to ever think or believe that I would not tell him the truth when he asks me something." I decided to tell him the truth. "No son. There is no Santa Claus. Your Dad and I buy the gifts, wrap them, and put them under the tree the night before Christmas." I thought he'd just start sobbing his eyes out but he didn't. He just walked away silently.

I thought that was the end of that but I was wrong! Every Christmas for a few years after that he would say this to me, "Mom, you ruined Christmas for me." Every time my heart would sink! I felt so bad. But I stuck with what I knew was right and I would reply, "You asked me and I wasn't going to lie to you. Because if I lied to you about Santa Claus, why would you ever believe me in regard to other things? It was important to me that you know beyond a doubt that I will always tell you the truth. No matter what! I repeated that same reply every Christmas. I knew it was his way of punishing me for telling him the truth. Eventually, our son thanked me for telling him the truth.

No one can trust someone who would tell even one lie. Once you tell one lie it's easy to tell another and another. Before you know it, you're lying all the time to others. It just gets easier and easier to lie. Besides God says, "he hates lies" and lies will destroy all the trust people have in you. People do not trust someone who has a pattern of lying to others. Once trust is broken it's very hard to rebuild, if not impossible. Telling the truth is more preferable!