This Christmas, why not have Santa give more than toys?

Try delivering a letter from Santa. Why? Because, like it or not, Santa has more influence over your children than Jesus, at least for Christmas.

If true in your home, you could channel Santa’s influence by having the fat man write a letter to your child, and use that letter to deliver an important message to your little one.

My friend Tracy Mansolillo describes how she used Santa to deliver a message to her son acknowledging the good things Santa noticed about him in the last year.

Every Christmas morning, in addition to all the Christmas traditions, the empty glass of milk, and plate of cookie crumbs, there were the toys but also a letter from Santa, which her son asked her to read before he opened the presents.

I think it’s a wonderful way to shift a child’s focus away from material toys to meaningful narratives; narratives of love, acceptance, and acknowledgement. Or of course, the Christ child.

You could do the same.

I guess this would be hard to start if you’ve already been delivering the goods on Christmas morning with only a “From: Santa, To: ”, but it would be a great time to start if you’re beginning your Christmas tradition with a toddler.

In any case, I think it’s a great idea from Tracy to help Christmas matter more for the right reasons.