Easter Bunny, Trick or Treat and Santa Claus

[AmyB]

Considering chances are slim Rachel will be able to recover much of our old forum, I thought I'd start a new thread on these popular, somewhat related topics.

At your leisure, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on one, two or all three subjects. They will stay here as long as this forum is around! :)

[rocking baby]

I grew up not believing in all 3...My parents didnt want us kids to lose sight of what was the main reason for that holiday...as for my dh he grew up believing in these..so its the opposite...

As for my son, i'm still kinda unsure whether or not i want him to particpate in activities that have these figures in them..

[gen]

I have never told my kids any of these guys were real. Sometimes my son insists Santa is real but Im just not good at keeping secrets like that. They all know presents at christmas are from mom and dad or friends. I have never seen the 'magic' about it. And Trick or treating. Its not really caught on over here but if I were in the states I would probably find something else more meaningful for us as a family to do to celebrate the harvest.

[stephwhiz]

We do all three but my kids know the REAL reason for the holidays. Stephanie

[mommyb]

We do all three too.

[Madre]

I have never told my kids any of these guys were real.

We didn't either.

[JeanineAnne]

We don't do Halloween at all and that is by the request of our children. We do Harvest and Fall activities but that includes a wide range of activities from camping, hiking, to bonfires, pumpkin picking and pie making (old old fashion...inside the pumpkin over fire).

Christmas we celebrate with full decorations, tree (cut our own which is probably the most wonderful experience of the year), gifts but no emphasis on Santa.

We celebrate Holy Week. Palm Sunday, Passover, Good Friday, Easter. We are hosting our own Seder this year. We do Resurrection Eggs (from FamilyLife) and Resurrection cookies on Saturday night for Easter Morning.

To be honest, the idea of a giant bunny leaving eggs behind is just a bit to insulting to our Risen Lord. Holy Week and the Resurrection are Biblical holidays and mixing them with anything else to make it more fun I just don't honestly get. Christmas is a rememberance of Christ's birth. It isn't His birthday but a celebration of how significant His birth was and what it means. He came to give us eternal life, the ultimate gift. We share that gift and many other blessings with those around us. We have fun and enjoy celebrating Christmas. For our family though Holy Week is a raw look at what it truly means and what Christ had to endure because of how full of sin we all are. For us, there is nothing that compares to just that and a time of deep reflection and praise for the ultimate sacrific.

[2girlsmom]

We don't do Santa, but our girls know not to ruin the "surprise" for friends and schoolmates who might participate in the tradition.

We trick-or-treat for fun, but with low-key costumes. It's a good way to see and know our neighbors.

We give our girls an Easter basket, but they know it's from us (no Easter Bunny). We usually do Resurrection Eggs, either one a day in the days before Resurrection Sunday, or all on that morning.

I'm not strongly opposed to Santa (grew up in a christian home that did "believe" in Santa) but just didn't want to celebrate that with my girls. I think trick-or-treat is harmless. We did the Easter Bunny too growing up, but now the thought of observing that just seems totally weird to me!

[momto3j*s]

We do Santa and the Easter Bunny. No Halloween though.

[Kerina]

I was in 6th grade before I knew that other kids thought that the easter bunny brought them their basket, lol.

We always knew gifts were from our parents, and like someone else said, we knew to be polite about those that did believe.

I love the idea of celebrating/enjoying fall activities without trick or treating. I don't want our kids to feel deprived, while we teach them about Halloween.

[4HisGlory]

DH and I don't celebrate holloween anymore, we get a pumpkin to celabrate the harvest time but we don't hand out candy to kids, and we won't have our kids go out either until they are old enough to decide for themselves. We don't plan on doing the Easter bunny but will hide eggs that they know mom and dad hid. We are still debating over santa though...santa was so huge in my family and my mom really made it special...with her now gone I want it to special for my kids how she made it special...so we are still thinking on that one. Neal and my fam. will do those things though...so they will be exposed, but we will teach them not to ruin it for other kids.

We won't be doing Halloween.
But I don't see anything wrong with the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. Kids need a little magic in their lives. And although it's not real ... it gives them something (besides God/Jesus) to get excited about.
My parents taught us the real meaning behind Easter and Christmas and also about the Easter Bunny and Santa and the tooth fairy. And it didn't harm us one bit.

We don't really celebrate halloween in Australia either, I would not approve of my kids door knocking (I mean it would worry me) - older tweens seem to use it as an excuse to vandalise property - we had our car egged for no reason and it stripped back some of our paint as we didn't see it at first. Or they throw toilet roll in peoples garden, egg their houses and it's just a general excuse for bad behaviour - but I am sure in the US, it is a fun time for children!!!

We tell our kids about Santa and let them watch The Polar Express, The Easter bunny for fun but we always temper everything with the message of Christ. Like they know it's a game when we talk about Santa etc. It's just fantasy.

Over Easter we let them watch a documentary on Jesus and they loved it.
Plus they watched some of the Ten Commandments and loved that too.

[justmeNmine]

Well, we had gone to WalMart and my son saw the Easter bunny there and got the free picture, no big deal about it... Easter morning I had hidden his basket, told him I thought the Easter bunny had brought a basket, etc., etc. He liked his basket, ate too much candy, all the stuff I remember doing as a kid. Anyway, a couple days after Easter, we were going to visit my parents and he wanted to bring his Dora bubbles with him, so had them in the car. All of a sudden he says "Mom you gib (give) dis to me?" I was, like, oh, hunny wasn't that from your Easter basket? He didn't answer and then a few minutes later, he asked his question again, so I conceded that yes, I gave it to him. Just a few days ago, someone asked him about the Easter bunny and he so matter-of-factly said "he's tend (pretend)"... So there goes the question as to whether or not we're gonna "do" the Easter bunny, outside of it being a game we play. Not sure what we'll do about the Santa thing this year...

[Madre]

All of a sudden he says "Mom you gib (give) dis to me?"

So sweet! :)

[Hashmom4]

My kids know all of them but we don't emphasize them. We just go on with our celebrations and when the kids(mostly the 5 & 6 year old) bring them up we ask them what the real meaning behind the celebrations is. If they are a little fuzzy on it we get out the bible and tell them the stories. I had a good friend once say why should I let something like Santa take the credit for giving the gifts that I worked so hard picking out and spending my money on. And that is how we feel too. As for Halloween, it depends right now on what we have going on. Sometimes we trick or treat, sometimes we do the Hallelujah festival at church or a couple times we just rented movies and had our own little party at home.

[breezykc]

We know about them in our house and they are encouraged to have fun with the three with friends and playgroups, but they are told to be just fun play or imaginative elements for each holiday that can give some extra fun....and told the true meaning and the focus is kept there throughout the season in the home!

[kymommy]

We have enjoyed studying the history behind "Santa Claus". From what we have read, he was a Christian man who reached out to children.
One account is at this link:
So yes, http://www.joyfulheart.com/christmas/st-nick.htm
I do reading about the legend, but most of all my heart enjoys worshipping our Savior and celebrating his birth!

Easter-we again celebrate JESUS! He has Risen indeed
Halloween- NO! We celebrate the LIGHT, not the dark, LIFE, not death.

[kanaclark]

we do not do the easter bunny. the kids get their baskets from us.
we do not do Santa Claus either. Why should we spend the first five or six years of our kids lives lying to them? We teach them not to lie to us or anyone else, so we can't see ourselves lying to them.
They get three gifts each from my husband and I, then whatever the grandparents do.
As for trick or treating, around here, it's all about fun, so we let the kids dress up as regular things, like last year, Gabe was a fireman, Bri a pumpkin, you know things like that.
we go to "trick or treat with the merchants" where we walk our "square" (the downtown shopping area) and each store or shop has someone there giving our candy or other goodies.

[1Cor13]

Dh and I decided before we had children that we would not do "santa" We did not want our children to believe that they has to be good for santa to come visit. We wanted them to understand that Jesus is the only one that sees them all the time, not Santa. they are young now, and just get excited about gifts, but as they get older they will know they TRUE story of "Santa Clause" how he was a christian.. etc... and they will know the real reason we celebrate christmas..

We do Halloween.. Trick or treating. and when they get older, will just tell them its a fun thing people do, but they last few yrs while they go out, I collect pet food and supplies for the local animal shelter.. so I want to keep that and teach then that its not all about "getting". it may not be the pet shelter we collect for, but doing something to 'give'


For easter... We celebrate it as a christian holiday and I try ot give them something that can teach them something. Also they get a spring out fit, and maybe a few eggs..

[LaDonna]

We do all three but still let our girls know the real meaning of Christmas and Easter. At Halloween we go to the pumpkin patch and dress up. We don't do wtiches, ghost or scary things. We focus more on the pumpkins scarecrows and fall type decor. My husband and I were both raised doing all of these and we want our children to be given the same opportunity yet know the true meaning. Halloween when we were growing up was fun and totally different from what it is today.

[~Tara~]

Santa - no, I will not lie to my children I don't think that's setting the right example. I do not like the way 'santa' has all the same attributes of our God. That....is just not right.

Helloween - 'nuff said ? My kids can dress up any day of the week and they're RARELY allowed candy, so, I don't think there's much of an appeal there anywho.

Easter bunny - the holiday/HOLY day is Resurrection Sunday, to celebrate our Risen Lord. Not a pagan fertility goddess or whatever it was exactly, nor a bunny..which, as another poster mentioned, leaves eggs ?? How weird is that? LOL

For Christmas instead, we DO celebrate Christ's birth. Though that not really be his 'birthday' it IS the time that has been set aside/designated to celebrate as such, so, thus we do. We decorate a tree with lights and pretty colors and symbols reflecting our Lord, His attritubutes and our love for Him.

For Helloween, we do nothing. Normal day. Just avoid the evil that runs amuck around us.

Easter, I prefer the term Resurrection Sunday. And that is how we celebrate it. Acknowledging our Savior, God's son and how death did not keep Him. He rose from the grave, saving us from eternal ****ation. Hallelujah o/

[ChamomileFriend]

My son was too young before for most of this stuff, we did do Halloween bec there is a party in my building and it is one of the few times he plays with other children - he just gets to be a pumpkin or a bear and dance and run around for about an hour in the community room downstairs. No trick or treating.

This year I am teaching him more about Christmas- we talk about Jesus and celebrating his life but I don't think we will do Santa this year. I think when he is older maybe a pic or two at the mall, but only after we relate the idea of Santa to St. Nicholas and how giving is in following with what Jesus taught us.

I am not sure about Easter yet - whether we will do the bunny or eggs, but we will certainly talk about the ressurection!

[EvaS]

I agree with Tara on the Santa Claus thing. If I tell my children to believe in Santa and to believe in Jesus, then when they find out Santa isn't real, who am I to expect them to think Jesus is real. So I've concluded not to lie to them.

We won't be doing halloween with our kids. Mainly because I saw a Christian dvd documentary thing and it showed what really goes on on halloween. Halloween is a major holiday for Satanism & witches. They do lots of human sacrifices on halloween (many being babies) and I feel like I should gather my kids 2 prayer on Halloween.

Easter, we will be celebrating our risen Savior.

When Dave was serving God it was agreed we wouldn't lie to our children..Then daycare introduced Angela to all of these characters and I was alone when it came about..So I decided to let her choose..I never said they were real..I never said they were not..She just figured it all out on her own...She knows how I feel about locking the door every night and she knows we've never had a chimney...I think she said something like

I know theres no such thing as a tooth fairy flying around my room at night..I seriously doubt you'd let some old man come in even if he was holding presents...and a giant bunny hopping around giving out baskets - come on! :roll:

My dad tried to change her about the tooth fairy by giving her a cold coin...She screamed " She does exist! She does exist! " but then later pieced together the truth when my dad forgot and later gave her a whole handfull of cold coins :lol:

Last year was the first time she actually went trick-or-treating and though it was fun, we were exhausted...She almost stumbled into the back seat of the wrong car and I could barely keep up with which little one was mine..

This year she's into Barbie...There's one out that has costume changes so I'll probably get her that and we'll paint our faces and have a play day...we call it "Celebrate Fall Day"

[Wikokopelli]

Wow...the age-old dilema of a Christian...where do we draw the line between fantasy and fact?

I grew up in a Catholic home (I state that for those who believe/don't believe that Catholism is Christian). We believe in all three and yet celebrated Christmas as remembering the birth of our Lord and Easter, Lent and the Holy Week as the time of our Lord's Resurrection.

Three years ago, when I was baptized Baptist and joined our church with my husband was when I started hearing how all of this was "wrong"!

We don't do halloween (go trick or treating, decorate with spooky stuff) because I can see the evil connect with that. Our church has a Harvest Party for the kids and the kids get to dress up in non-scary costumes (DS was a clown for his 1st party and this year he's going to be a tiger cause he loved seeing a big tiger at the zoo this year) I don't expect to let him eat much candy, if any at all (Daddy will probably eat it all), but he can enjoy running around, seeing all of the older kids in costumes and maybe play a game or two...We will take him to my MIL's and a couple of her neighbors, but that's only to let them see Adam in his costume.

Easter, or Resurrection Sunday (got to forgive me if I forget...hard to erase 40 years of experience and replace it with just 4 years on what something is called)...we took DS to an "Easter Egg Hunt" last year and it was cold and just a really BAD experience because there were parents not letting the little ones just have fun. Our church has an organized hunt that we'll probably start going to since it will be just for the kids of the church. DS did get a basket from us, though no candy, just toys, but we didn't bring up about the Easter Bunny...and actually, we probably won't. Resurrection Sunday for us includes going to church (like every Sunday) and going out to lunch with family.

CHRISTmas...CHRISTmas is the time that I want to make sure we have some wonderful family traditions started, both religious and secular. I think it was Renee that said something about a child needs to have magic or fantasy in their lives and that's exactly what I believe. Yes, CHRISTmas is just that! The celebration of CHRIST! Even though it's not CHRIST's birthday, I want to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus with my son...I want him to know the story of CHRIST's birth and what that it was the greatest gift that God gave us...his Son. But I also want him to have a childhood where fantasy isn't a bad thing. I believe that Santa Claus embodies the spirit of giving and love that everyone shares, not just Christians. Yes, Jesus is the greatest embodiment of the spirit of giving and love, but I don't see a problem with letting a child think there's elves and flying reindeer for a few years of their lives. I don't consider it lying to help stimulate your child's imagination. They grow up sooo fast nowadays. The world eats their innocence up like it's a piece of candy. Though Santa Claus will not be THE emphasis in our home at CHRISTmas time, he will have a place in our traditions (Santa will give us the stockings hung at the fireplace on CHRISTmas morning), just as hunting down a CHRISTmas tree and buying a gift for Toys for Tots will be, but CHRIST will remain THE entire Reason for the Season! :wink:
One thing I REALLY miss not being Catholic is that Baptists do not attend church on CHRISTmas morning...I loved going to church on CHRISTmas (we do go to an evening service at another Baptist church though).

Kat

[myjoyoverflows]

Christmas...I never believed in Santa, and the real reason for Christmas is much greater than some ol' fat man comin' down a chimney! So, even though we haven't gotten to that point yet, I don't think that we'll do that.

Halloween...I'm kinda torn on...I don't think that we should have anything to do with it...but my husband's family completely LOVES it...so I'm kinda having a hard time with that one...

Easter...again, like I said about Christmas, the real reason for that day is far more important than a bunny...

[love2bmom]

We have instilled the "real" reason of all the holidays. However DH & I feel that while they are young there is no reason not to participate in Santa.

We do talk about Santa, but also tell our children that it is the Birth of Jesus that allows us to be blessed. We also give Easter baskets.

[myjoyoverflows]

^ I think that's great that you're doing that...I just don't think that we will...

[JoyLynn]

We have instilled the "real" reason of all the holidays. However DH & I feel that while they are young there is no reason not to participate in Santa.

We do talk about Santa, but also tell our children that it is the Birth of Jesus that allows us to be blessed. We also give Easter baskets.

We pretty much do the same thing, Nici. :D We never told the kids there was an Easter bunny, though. They do get Easter baskets, however. (actually, so do I :lol: )

As for Santa, we told the kids that he's an angel who works for Jesus on His b-day because he loves Jesus so much and that's his gift to Him. The kids know that Jesus is the reason for the season. As two of my four have gotten older we obviously filled them in on the whole truth, that St. Nick was a real person who died yrs ago and is now living with Jesus in heaven, and he, just like anyone else who's passed doesn't really come back and visit us. :wink:

[heart]

Joy [welcomewave]

[myjoyoverflows]

We have instilled the "real" reason of all the holidays. However DH & I feel that while they are young there is no reason not to participate in Santa.

We do talk about Santa, but also tell our children that it is the Birth of Jesus that allows us to be blessed. We also give Easter baskets.

We pretty much do the same thing, Nici. :D We never told the kids there was an Easter bunny, though. They do get Easter baskets, however. (actually, so do I :lol: )

As for Santa, we told the kids that he's an angel who works for Jesus on His b-day because he loves Jesus so much and that's his gift to Him. The kids know that Jesus is the reason for the season. As two of my four have gotten older we obviously filled them in on the whole truth, that St. Nick was a real person who died yrs ago and is now living with Jesus in heaven, and he, just like anyone else who's passed doesn't really come back and visit us. :wink:

[heart]

Joy [welcomewave]

That's actually a really great idea with the whole Santa deal...I might end up doing that...thanks for the idea!

[Wikokopelli]

We have instilled the "real" reason of all the holidays. However DH & I feel that while they are young there is no reason not to participate in Santa.

We do talk about Santa, but also tell our children that it is the Birth of Jesus that allows us to be blessed. We also give Easter baskets.

We pretty much do the same thing, Nici. :D We never told the kids there was an Easter bunny, though. They do get Easter baskets, however. (actually, so do I :lol: )

As for Santa, we told the kids that he's an angel who works for Jesus on His b-day because he loves Jesus so much and that's his gift to Him. The kids know that Jesus is the reason for the season. As two of my four have gotten older we obviously filled them in on the whole truth, that St. Nick was a real person who died yrs ago and is now living with Jesus in heaven, and he, just like anyone else who's passed doesn't really come back and visit us. :wink:

[heart]

Joy [welcomewave]

That's actually a really great idea with the whole Santa deal...I might end up doing that...thanks for the idea!

I was just thinking about that as well... :wink:

[JoyLynn]

[cheerful]

Joy [welcomewave]

[Ren]

halloween- we do trick-or-treat with non "scary/witchy" costumes. Freeport is a shopping town and the downtown opens up and is FILLED with kids in costumes t-or-t-ing. we also make up candy packs with something gospel oriented each year and leave them out on our porch while we're off. I really like this holiday and get right into it- it's fun where we are.

Santa- we let her read the stories and watch the movies but we tell her that santa isn't real- she's been cool with that so far. My mom is not saved and it really stresses her out that we aren't letting her believe in santa (miracle on 49th street mentality). We've talked and she doesn't agree but, respects our right to choose. Though my mom had a tradition that carried with us through out teen years. that was to have the stocking and one "santa clause gift", which was usually infront of the tree, be opened before the grandparents came to unwrap the other gifts. so, we may have a "santa" gift tradition for her too- who knows. While we teach her about Christ's birth, Christmas is not a biblical holiday rather a tradition of men and so, we are not stonch "Jesus is the reason for the season" people, though we do take advantage of the season and send gospel type cards to friends and fam. We just don't want her putting her faith in anything fake- we're pragmatic like that.

Easter bunny- Easter on the other hand is biblical and we'll not be including the eater bunny in any of our teaching to her. While we enjoy santa stories I really don't like easter bunny stories and I don't keep them when they are given to us. There is somewhat of that we can't avoid because well, we live in the world and we're surrounded by non-christian family or christian fam that's not really living for the Lord. Though, it's not really been an issue yet. We go to MIL's every year and she does an easter egg hunt and that's ok with us- it's alot of fun. We will be focused however, on Jesus being the reason for this season.

Tooth fairy- ugghh, this is where I'm tempted to bend the pragmatic side of me. I really like the tooth fairy thing- I think we'll do all the stuff but tell her that the tooth fairy doesn't really exsist. I was at the library looking at the book sale and found a copy of "Lizzy and the Toothfairy". I snagged it up IMEDIATELY as it was a book I had as a little girl and really enjoyed.

Well, that about does it from here. It was neat to read the other ways people handle the holidays and ya' know "to each his own" in this area- every one has their good reasons for doing what they do and yet, we all are just trying to love the Lord and this area doesn't proove or disproove our love and devotion one little bit=) -ren :D

[buttercup_97140]

I was talking to a friend of mine one day about this topic, and she made a statement saying "I don't want my kids to feel left out as Christians for not being able to celebrate like everyone else." This statement saddens me....if we, as Christians, can't teach our children that having Jesus as savior and Lord is enough to sustain us and bring us joy and happiness, why even teach our children about him. Yes, I want my children to be able to have fun in life, but to me and Dh, that doesn't mean partaking in secular activities, just to make sure they don't feel "left out." If they do feel left out, we aren't doing our job as a parent teaching them about the amazing things that come along with our Lord dying for us.
We may do a Christmas tree....not totally decided on that, but we think it's pretty and trees are a gift from the Lord, we have decided that our children will pick a toy, preferably a well liked one, to donate Christmas morning after they open gifts to a "needy" child. The biggest problem I see about believing in Santa is the raw greed that goes into the tradition. Santa is all about what the kid/s will get on Christmas, and I have seen too many times children get so out of hand, and really do not fully appreciate gifts because they believe they are "owed" them.
As for Easter....No bunny here...I never really liked the idea as a kid....egg hunts are fun, heck, any hunts are fun, so I don't see them as a once a year thing. Tooth fairy, um no......we haven't decided if we will give money for teeth lost, or maybe a little gift...but whatever we decide it will come from us. I think loosing teeth is fun for kids, but it's about maturing and growing up, not about money. Halloween...no trick or treating here. We do have a Harvest party at church, where there are games which kids get candy as a prize, and kids dress up, but like someone else said, my kid/s can dress up whenever they feel like it...and Dh is pretty strict about DD and sugar.....

It is a hard call because we are taught to follow the heard, but following the heard can lead us to many bad places, and I want to teach my kids that the Lord should be our focus, and if we "miss out" on something secular, it only means we have something much more profound and awesome to celebrate.

Amber

[savedbygrace]

Our dd is 3 and we tell her about santa and the easter bunny. But if you ask her why is Christmas important or Easter, she'll give you a Biblical answer. She says "Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then he became alive!" That's for Easter. She "knows" that there isn't a Bunny or Santa that leaves anything, but she likes to talk about it and pretend play. She is a 3 year old with a great big imagination! We don't do Halloween but a fall festival.

[OpheliaPayne]

Dh and I both came from homes where all of these fantisies were played out.
His was definatly secular, though.
I remember finding out the truth. I was disappointed, didn't quite understand why people made things up like that, but I was just fine, it didn't shake my faith at all. My family really emphasized the biblical aspects of it all. For our family, the Advent season was much more important than Christmas. We understood, even at a very young age, that the way my cousins/friends celebrated Easter/Christmas was very different from ours.. even though we had Santa presents, a tree, stockings, easter eggs/baskets.
For me, after finding out about Santa, I realized that Santa makes a really good allegory for God. I love how even though my parents told me each year how, "You'd better be good if I want Santa to bring a gift." I remember feeling each year that surely this year I would not get a gift at all, because I new I'd been bad (even secretly) and that I didn't deserve a gift. Yet, each and every year there the present(s) would be... for me... from him. Santa made it really easy for me to understand God's grace. After we were told the truth, we read the story of St. Nicholous and about how the wise men brought gifts.
My dh had a completely different reaction. He thought A.) grown ups lie, B.) you can't believe in anything 'cause it's probably just a made up story.

He doesn't want to lie to the kids. We are trying to come up with a happy medium. Our child(ren) will grow up being very close to our not-yet-saved cousins.

For easter, I agree that the bunny leaving eggs thing is weird! We will do baskets, but they will be from us and will include both resurrection-themed and spring-themed items. I think it is nice to connect the resurrection (our assurance of new life) with Spring (physical reminders from god of NEW LIFE). After all, we are new every morning, and nature's scenes just reinforce this. For easter, growing up, this was when we received our new bibles, crosses, or other such gift. Plus a few spring items.

The ideas on here are great, and I can't wait until we figure out what we're doing/not doing!!!
~Ophelia
[pregnantpatbelly] due 11/26/2007

[babylove]

Well I was just looking around and came across this thread and would love to share my own thoughts on these three.
I personally don't like the idea of the Easter Bunny.
I have gone out of my way to teach the children not to believe in this false story and teach them the TRUTH about our SAVIOUR and OUR GOD.
We started celebrating Passover about Four years ago and are making it a Tradition in our Family and the Children love it ,Just as much as Christmas infact I think they might like it a bit more as we seem to be the only ones celabrating. I think they think thats special.
As for santa I cant stand this one it makes my blood boil to think about how much the world want to rob Jesus of his reason for coming upon this earth ,to save us sinners from our sins I just could not do it to him and cheat my children out of this wonderful TRUTH that the reason he was born in to this world was so he could die on that cross for us and give us the hope that we have in him.
Luckily we don't have to much Trick a Treating in Australia But sometimes you see abit of it. I resently started taking my oldest son to Piano lessons and one of the peices was about a jack o lanton so when we got home I ex planed to him that we don't really celebrate this in this Country which he was most releived about as he thought it was a bit to scary.

yours in Jesus Andrea

[Phoebe]

We don't do the easter bunny, t or t or Santa Claus.

She know that the reason for Easter is because Jesus died on the
cross and Rose from the dead.

t or t - we don't celebrate it at all and we have told dh why

and Santa Claus she know why we celebrate Christmas.

But, I joy reading other opinions on this topics.