I Don't Love Santa

     WARNING:  I may sound like a scrooge in this post.  I was reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to my kids last night.  Halfway through, I realized that we don't talk a lot about Santa Claus in our house.  We aren't the anal Christians who banish Santa because we fear that he's a Trojan horse for rampant consumerism, or a piece of Christian traditionalism turned pagan mythology. 

     We do mention Santa occasionally, but we just don't make a big deal of him.  We did get a picture taken with Santa, but we don't go to great lengths to include him in our Christmas celebration.  People ask my kids, "What is Santa bringing you?"  Or, "Have you been good for Santa?"  I feel sort of bad that they respond with blank stares like, "What are you even talking about?" 

    There are some Christians who practically hate Santa.  They omit him from every bit of their tradition.  As I was reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas," I realized that our response was indifference.  A mild shoulder shrug, as if to say, "I can take him or leave him."  They say that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.  Call me a scrooge, but I guess I don't love Santa.  I'm more interested the baby crying in an animal feed box in the barn.