Just a clown at the party...

I finally heard it this year. Usually I hear it much earlier in the season, but I've been buried in work recently and haven't been out and about as much as usual. The phrase that I am referring to is this...it can be put in many different ways...but when boiled down the jest of it is:
"Santa is Evil and has stolen Christmas from Jesus."

Now, I grew up, Thank you Mom and Dad, in a Christian home. I went to Sunday school voluntarily (most weeks) and I now have an active and relatively mature Faith. I have a healthy respect for God and a very real relationship with Jesus Christ.

I also, admittedly have a thing for Santa.  Kris Kringle.  Father Christmas. I love the history, the story and the magic that he represents. I love the memories from my youth that he conjures up and the sparkle in my own children's eyes when they see him now. I believe that Santa adds to the celebration and that he represents the love and giving nature of God, who, after all gave the very first Christmas gift Himself 2000 plus years ago.

I liken Santa at the birthday celebration of Jesus to a clown at a kid’s party. The clown ads to the excitement and makes the party more special and more memorable. The clown does not take away the focus from the "birthday boy/girl", he ads to the festivities.

Santa is merely a clown at the party. The tree is like the cake...and the gifts, well that really isn't a stretch; except that because of the ultimate sacrificial love for us, Jesus has allowed us to receive the gifts at His birthday party. Try to talk a 6 year old into that and they will learn very quickly just how special Jesus' love is.

So, I guess I am just trying to justify my Santa fetish. I do understand the point of the argument. I do see the danger in focusing on the commercial Christmas. I guess I am of the opinion that anything that helps to make the biggest birthday celebration in history a little more magical is a pretty good thing. Giving generously to remember the Greatest Gift of All is not a slap in the face of Christmas...and Santa celebrating Christ's birth by building an army of Elves in a secret workshop somewhere North of the Arctic Circle and then delivering the fruits of said Elves’ labor via a herd of airborne reindeer to the homes of sleeping children who have worked for the previous weeks to be more nice than naughty doesn't bother me a bit. Santa, like me, is just trying to add to the celebration of Jesus.

Happy Birthday Jesus! Bring on the clowns!