Santa or No Santa?

For LDS parents (and indeed for all Christians), the question of whether or not to encourage children to believe in Santa is a difficult one. Parents who desire to focus on the spiritual aspects of the holiday are faced with a difficult decision. You might end up with a child who spoils the secret for all his classmates, or your children might accuse you of lying to them when they eventually find out the truth. Of course, the most important risk is that your child will consider Santa, instead of the Savior, the true symbol of the season, leading children to focus on presents and reindeer instead of rejoicing in the birth of Jesus.

Consider for a moment the origin of Santa Claus. It is generally believed that the inspiration for the legend was a Catholic Bishop who anonymously gave gifts to the poor and lived a life replete with good deeds. Over time, the life and works of Saint Nicholas, as he was eventually known, spread throughout Europe. As Christianity spread, Christian beliefs were mixed with Pagan practices, leading to such traditions as the hanging of stockings. These traditions were carried to North America by the Dutch. Eventually, a misunderstanding of his Dutch appellation, Sinterklaas, led to the adoption into English of the name Santa Claus.

It was not until the early 1900s that the modern idea of Santa Claus began to take shape, when intensive ad campaigns, particularly by the Coca Cola Company (which may be largely responsible for Santa’s red and white attire), popularized the character in his modern form. At this point he bore little resemblance to the original historical figure, and the idea gradually evolved that in order for him to provide toys for so many children, he employed elves in a workshop.

In Santa Claus we then have an excellent example of a Christian concept changed by the world over time until it has lost much of its original nobility. This serves as a warning to us: In a world where the fundamental values of Christianity are in many instances being changed to meet popular sentiment, we must hold our values firm despite the constant evolution of culture.
There is, however, still some good to be found in the ideal of Santa Claus. He is depicted as a kind, selfless old man, which can inspire us to good deeds. The men dressed as Santa who collect donations for the poor are keeping the spirit of Christmas as they work to help those less fortunate. Santa often appears at family parties, hospitals, and orphanages, bringing joy to many innocent children. In this way, then, the modern Santa can still accomplish works of Christian charity. Santa, then can be a useful tool for spreading brotherly love.

I think that the ideal of Santa Claus can be a means through which we can fulfill the commandment to love our neighbor, without too-frequent use of the sacred name or character of Jesus. So if we can teach our children of the good that the character of Santa represents, without specifying that he exists as one person, we can enjoy the season in a way that allows us to remember Him who is the embodiment of kindness and love.

Grounds for Camping

Once Jack Frost has finally scurried back to his summer home at the North Pole, it’s time to maximize your enjoyment of the summer. One great tradition in many families is the summer camping trip.

Unfortunately, most of us still resent our parents for dragging us along, so there may be a stigma attached to the idea. But if you can manage to repress those memories, getting back to nature can be a great way to bring your family closer together (so long as you remember pack your deodorant). Of course, not everyone was, er, privileged enough to grow up with this tradition. So if you’re new to the idea of family camping, or if your psychiatrist just recommends that you don’t think too much about that particular chapter from your youth, here is a simple guide to preparing for the trip.

The first step is to decide when you want to go. Holiday weekends are often the easiest to plan, since you may have an extra day off of work, but they come at the cost of dealing with packed campgrounds. And outhouses are bad enough without having to actually wait in line for the experience. Therefore, I recommend taking your camping trip the weekend before a major holiday, because most people who would have gone that weekend will put it off one more week (this also works for Disneyland trips). If you’re lucky, your boss will even let you switch your day off. It’s amazing how much work you can get done on a holiday without all your coworkers around the office.

Next, you need to figure out where you want to go. There are state websites with recreation information, of course, or you can just pack the car and drive up into the mountains, stopping whenever you get lost or run out of gas. If you’re not quite that adventurous, though, there are some important considerations in choosing a campsite. As you consider where you will camp, remember the acronym WASTE.

Water is essential, and bringing your own will take a lot of space in your vehicle. So it’s best to make sure your designated campground has a source of drinkable water (unless you want to camp out in the latrine instead).

Animals in the area can be fascinating to watch, but they also carry disease, so you don’t want them rummaging through your food or sharing your sleeping bag. So be sure to look for reports of animals in the area; otherwise you might find a skunk in your tent one evening like my dad once did (seriously).

Shade is very important for a summer campsite. When you park the car and climb out for a look, it may seem like a pretty clearing, but once you get your tent set up in the summer heat, without shade it will become an oven that will only magnify the fact that you haven’t bathed in days. Trees also give the advantage of breaking up the wind, while only marginally increasing the risk of a squirrel dropping acorns on your head as you come out in the morning.

Toilets are one of mankind’s most important inventions, and as such should not be overlooked in the search for the perfect campsite. While flushing toilets are relatively rare in campgrounds, an outhouse with a door is still better than digging a hole behind some bushes which may or may not be poison oak.

Ease of access is also important to consider, especially with gas prices today. You might be surprised at how many campgrounds can be found an hour away or less from civilization, which is also handy when one of your children eats a stinkbug on a dare and you need to go call the doctor.

Once you have the time and the place selected, you can sit down and create a packing list. Obviously you need to make sure you pack enough food for the family, but don’t forget that you also need a way to cook it. This includes pots and pans, a camp stove, and also dishes and utensils (scooping hot chili from a pan with your hand can leave scars—just ask my cousin Chet).

As far as clothing goes, just remember that the higher up you are, the colder it will get at night. You might want to pack a few extra sweatshirts and blankets if you have teenagers who are too cool to bring anything but shorts and T-shirts. Being able to say “I told you so” is just as satisfying on vacation.

Don’t forget to pack adequate entertainment, especially for the kids. Just because you can sit and listen to the chirping of birds all day doesn’t mean a ten-year-old can. Try to bring books and games, even if you have to conveniently “forget” the extra batteries for the electronics the kids will inevitably bring (which reminds me: when selecting a camping site, try to find a place without cell phone reception, so the kids don’t spend the entire trip sending text messages to friends).

Well, there you have it. Just follow these simple steps to ensure that you will have a camping experience that’s just as memorable as the ones you had when you were young, but without the post-traumatic stress disorder. And remember: the more you rough it on vacation, the more luxurious your whole life seems when you return.

A Man’s Guide to Inexpensive Holiday Decorating

As the Christmas season approached this year, I found myself conflicted between a desire to decorate my home and a desire to avoid, as much as possible, the commercial aspect of the season. Add to that the cost of decorations ($15 for a box of ornaments?) and I decided to decorate using items I found around the house. Throughout the process, I learned several valuable lessons, which I will now share for the benefit of others who may be considering a little economical decorating.

I began by preparing to hang lights on the outside of my house. Now, my neighborhood has traditionally been pretty competitive when it comes to getting decorations up early, which culminated in one guy down the street hanging his lights during the Fourth of July weekend (a stray bottle rocket and the ensuing electrical fire soon put an end to that competition). As I pulled the knotted string of lights out of the basement, I found that the plastic hooks used to hang them were all missing but one. Reflecting on my desire to save cost, I used a truly innovative method of hanging the lights, which I call “Ball-O-Lights Hanging over the Porch.” The neighbors apparently realized that there’s no way to compete with that, so they wisely decided to stick with the “traditional” methods of hanging lights, no doubt jealous of my resourcefulness.

With the outdoor decorating done, I now focused my efforts on making the interior of my home as festive as possible. I had always purchased real trees before, but I had no desire to spend $50 on something that would be thrown out in 3 weeks. Then I considered that an artificial tree would be a money-saving investment in the end. So I took a trip to the store to find a good one.

When I got there, the trees were pretty picked over. All they had left was a 12-foot, flocked monstrosity with a price tag that surely had an extra zero. So, after poking around the store for a while, I suddenly realized that the Savior wasn’t born in a sub-arctic climate anyway. So I bought a plastic palm tree for $6.95 and brought it home, rejoicing that I wouldn’t have to spend three hours setting it up every year.

The first thing I needed for the tree was tinsel. I remembered that my tinsel had been torn up the previous year by the cat, so I needed to find a substitute. Thinking about what purpose tinsel serves, I decided that it’s just supposed to sit there and look shiny. So I found some aluminum foil in the kitchen drawer and wove it festively through the leaves of my plastic tree. Then, standing back to take a look at my handiwork, I could see that the tree needed some more color. Thinking that red would complement the green of the leaves and produce a true Christmas feel, I grabbed a red permanent marker and drew some ornaments of various shapes on the foil. The effect was truly breathtaking.

Next I needed some stockings to hang over the fireplace, but those used in previous years were, thanks again to the cat, so full of holes as to be useless. Well, I had a couple pairs of red-striped socks that I had used for playing soccer, so they were covered with grass stains. I hung them from the mantel, and the room was beginning to truly feel like it belonged at the North Pole.

Next I decided to construct a Christmas village on the coffee table, like so many I had seen at neighbors’ houses over the years. Where fake snow and porcelain houses worked for them, cotton balls and action figures would surely work just as well for me. Add a few houses made from building bocks, and it was truly marvelous.

I looked around the living room and felt that it still needed a little something. Aha! I needed a nice Christmas wreath to hang on the wall. I had noticed my neighbor bringing in a real tree earlier, so I went over to his driveway and gathered up all the little branches that had fallen off their tree as they brought it in the house. These I wove in a lovely ring using clear tape. I then found a red push pin with which to hang it over the fireplace.

I looked around the room one more time as I heard a car door open and close. “Just in time,” I thought to myself as my wife and son came in from an afternoon of Christmas shopping.

I could tell she was pleased with my efforts as she stood there speechless, a tear of wonder in her eye.