Santa is Watching...and Did He Bring You Everything You Wanted?

Last month, my son and I were at a number of events with children before the Christmas holiday. More than once I heard a mother tell her child not to be naughty "because Santa was watching." Now that I am the mother of a Jew, hearing that made me pause. It is not something I will ever be telling my son. I thought about my own childhood, and never remembered being told to be good because Santa was watching, although that was quite awhile ago! I stopped and thought about this, as I do whenever I am faced with something that used to be the norm in my life growing up as a Christian. Now those things make me stop and think because it is not the way I will be raising my son. Its like a blinking light that goes off and I think about how it connects to my own experiences as a child and then how my own child will experience something(or not). I stop, then think about what it means to be different -because that is the way I often think about the fact that my son is being raised differently then I was, at least religion wise. It is not a bad thing, but something that makes me think about my decision and more often than not, reaffirms my decision to raise him as a Jew. Oh well, I eventually think, I guess Joshua will have to learn to be good because his parents are watching!

Another similar blinking light moment was hearing adults ask my son if he had a nice Christmas and if Santa brought him everything he wanted. The first time we were asked this I think my son and I had the same blank look on our faces. He is 2 1/2 and often is shy around adults he does not know, where my blank face was the result of me trying to think quickly - something I am usually pretty good at doing. The adult quickly moved on to ask another child the same question, but I was left wondering how best to answer the question. Part of me wanted to say something like, "Not everyone believes in Santa." Or maybe, "He is Jewish." Part of me wanted to remind people that not every child thinks of Santa in December, but another part of me didn't want to offend the speaker either. After all, up until a few years ago I am sure I would have said the same thing. We do celebrate Christmas with my family, and that is an important part of tradition for me. So do I say something like, "No Santa this time, but Grandma and Grandpa were very good to him!" Weeks later I am still pondering my response to this - I want to be ready next year. I have not come up with anything yet, though.