Telling my firstborn the story of Santa never felt good/morally right to me.
I am Mom to 3 little boys, all under the age of 6 each about 2 years apart in age.
December 2020 was the first winter we didn’t celebrate Christmas in our home & it was the most freeing experience.
Let’s go back in time, for some perspective.
Six years ago, my first baby was born during Christmas Time! I have very much loved (almost) everything about Christmas Traditions for as long as I can remember. I vividly remember the glow of the lights on the very large, full & tall Christmas Tree that we had in our living room, right in front of the picture window when I was 39+ weeks pregnant with my first baby. It felt magical! *magic is strictly forbidden in scripture
I thought it was beautiful and honestly felt so lucky and blessed to have it, it was the nicest Christmas tree I ever remember having at home(including in any home I lived in growing up). My mother in law got it for us, it was much fancier & bigger than anything I would have bought. Adorned with the most festive ribbons, gold, red & green, and “stuffed” with the biggest Christmas ornament bulbs I’ve ever seen! I do believe we even had some kind of tree lights-Christmas music 2-in one (on the tree) that played a variety of Holly Jolly songs at the touch of a button. *luck is for pagans & everything about the Christmas traditions we held at that time (regardless of our pure intentions) pointed to forbidden false gods & pagan worship
I remember dressing my baby in the cutest Christmas pajamas, sweaters, mittens and hats. It looked like Christmas had exploded in our house, really, with the surplus of Christmas decorations I so graciously inherited from my in laws. Decor that I so excitedly put up on every surface and wall of every room!
My husbands grandmother owned a little popuree shop that sold Christmas stuff year round and she handcrafted countless clay figures, paintings, and other Christmas crafts that I had felt so honored to bring into my home that winter.
Years passed, we had more babies, and the feeling of my uneasiness with Santa + the very obvious secular tone of Christmas never went away nor did the bombardment with Santa/the materialistic & secular aspects.
So I prayed about it. I prayed about it hard in 2019. December 2019 I was serving at a local church we had been going to all year, teaching in the k-5 room. I knew that Christmas season that I could not keep doing this, I couldn’t keep smiling and taking the kids to take pictures with Santa and Disney princesses during kids church— I knew the focus was so far off what it should be that I felt I needed to leave but I didn’t want to leave the church, I loved the people and I know God loved them and they loved God, their decisions regarding celebratory days just did not align with scripture at all.
Then 2020 came. I had been praying that God would reveal to me what to do about my home church situation, then the church closed their doors and wouldn’t even welcome us to praise and worship outside the building on Church day while they live streamed inside… I submitted to God that I trust his will and want to walk in HIS ways. I prayed to have discernment. I continued reading the Bible and learning more and more every day about what the Bible says is true and good, how we are called to live, to worship, to serve, to love, to be set apart.
Then I read the book of Exodus, & the book of Deuteronomy, & the book of Leviticus. I was reality checked hard.
I knew (because my grandma made it very clear to me in my upbringing) that we are to serve NO OTHER gods and we are NOT to bow to foreign gods. It wasn’t until I read the books Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, & Jeremiah in full though—plus much of Joshua, 1 Kings & 2nd Kings—that I understood how the traditions of man I was holding in present day, in the name of God—was not glorifying our Heavenly Father.
So I repented. I asked for forgiveness and changed my ways.
Fall 2020 was the first season that we studied the Fall Feasts of the Holy Bible during the appointed times! 😍
October 2020 was the first year we deliberately did NOT participate in Halloween, but instead went to the lake and spent the day on a family hike, complete with a picnic of a cooked homemade meal (that my husband packed us) in nature, watching the beautiful sunset over the lake, & flash light fun via headlamps for my 3 boys once it was dark. They didn’t want to leave the lake that day to go home they were having SO MUCH FUN!
November 2020 was the first November that I didn’t have the looming stress and anxiety that comes with all the worldly expectations of Christmas. It was glorious—Praise YHWH! all glory to our Heavenly Father for setting me FREE and truly giving me PEACE & REST in him!
Things I learned in the year 2020:
—>there are over 41,000 denominations of Christianity in the world today
—>There is no mention of Christmas in the Bible (there are MANY verses regarding forbidden worship though, and many verses detailing the set-apart biblical feasts!)
—>Scripture reveals that יהושע (Jesus) was likely born during the fall, not during December
—>Scripture does not give us a specific day or month when יהושע (Jesus) was born but the description of the Birth of יהושע in scripture does not indicate it was during winter.
—> There is no letter J in the Hebrew alphabet & the Hebrew name of our Messiah was and is יהושע —the transliteration from the Hebrew יהושע to the Greek/English Jesus Christ is……something everyone should know about.
—> December 25th is the well documented “birth” date of a (false) sun god (whose name I will not even mention)
—> Saturnalia, held in mid-December, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honoring the (false) agricultural god whose name I will not even mention
—>Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas
Scripture about worshiping & serving other gods, + scripture about attempting to worship God in the way others worship their false gods, & how God feels about + responds to that according to scripture see:
Exodus 20:1-11
Exodus 23:23-25
Exodus 34:14
Deuteronomy 7:4
Deuteronomy 7:16
Deuteronomy 8:19
Deuteronomy 11:16
Deuteronomy 12:2
Deuteronomy 12:30
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
Joshua 23:7
Joshua 23:16
Joshua 24:14-15
Joshua 24:20
2 Chronicles 7:19-20
1 Kings 9:9
2 Kings 17:35
Jeremiah 11:10
Jeremiah 13:10
Jeremiah 16:11-13
Jeremiah 25:6
If you want a documentary to give you the FULL unbiased summary of the history of Santa & Christmas, this one presents all the information incredibly well:
So long story short, if you wonder why my house wasn’t (& will not be) decorated for Christmas and why I do not enable my children to entertain the thought of Santa Claus… now you know why. ❤️
Those who know me well know I hold Gods word and Gods guidance above all.
Am I now trying to please man, or God?
Please understand that my convictions are not anyone else’s. We each have free will, we each get to think freely, we all have unique perspectives, we all have the ability to seek truth. 💓
If you’re asking “soooooo um Tori did you not get your kids anything for Christmas??”
The answer is no, we did not get them anything SPECIFICALLY for Christmas.
Pictured are gifts I wrapped in brown paper & painted scripture on (with hints to what was inside) that we gave the boys the last weekend of November 2020.
I designed a little scavenger hunt for them to follow the clues/solve riddles to be led to the room where their gifts were.
The first week of December the boys grandma went in with us on a swing set/playground for them. We had it delivered ASAP, just days after finding it & the day after it arrived assembled it together (with my dads help). Something they very much wanted AND needed, an investment in their childhood!
We buy them what they need as needed and we buy them gifts when we feel led to, not saving the joy and excitement of gift giving for December 25th.
If you’re wondering “wow how selfish Tori, what about giving to others?” I want to live a generous life led by the Holy Spirit year round! No need to wait for December 25th, no need to give in the name of the “Christmas spirit”.
I have countless warm, fond memories surrounding Christmas time, but after praying for discernment & researching the origins of all these Christmas traditions— I have peace to not be conformed to the ways of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind.
💛
Comments/questions are welcome as always. I share this with the honest expression that I wish someone had shared this truth with me YEARS ago.
Shalom friends & family!
-Tori Alysha
Blog by Tori Alysha 
When I was growing up we went to the Worldwide Church of God and did not celebrate christmas or any other holidays. I went to public school and was not allowed to participate in any holiday parties or anything else relating to that holiday. Me and my sister would sit in a room with a teacher who was assigned to sit with us. Did it traumatize me in any way? Not at all. My sister and I actually had a lot of fun hanging out with the teacher. It didn’t bother me to not go to the party or participate in the choir. We were not made fun of or bullied in any way by our classmates. They did ask questions and I would just say it was because of the church we went to. That was pretty much all. My point is that kids “get” things. If anyone said anything snarky to me at all about it, it was an adult. You are not harming your children in any way by not buying them presents at christmas time!! As long as you explain to them why, then they should be fine. It is great that you have people around you who seem to be understanding of your decision. When I first got married I was wild and free and not that close to God and I did celebrate christmas for about four years. I wasn’t prepared for all the stress that came along with it. I did not want our daughter believing in santa. That’s something I was firm about. I was shocked that no one listened to me. I lived with my in-laws at the time and when they left the house I would go through and change all the tags that said “from Santa” to “from mama and papa”. It was a constant fight. And then christmas pictures were a nightmare. Our daughter would cry through the whole session. I decided to no longer celebrate christmas and presented my research to my husband. He didn’t even look at it and burned all of it in our fireplace. He eventually came around to not celebrating it but only (in my opinion) because it got him out of having to buy presents for people. Now, we do go to his mom and dads at that time of year only because that is literally the only time his brother comes in town. We do not buy presents for anyone. My mother in law insists that the holiday is all about the birth of jesus and always has a nativity set up. But from what I have noticed the focus is always on the tree and presents and all the food. She also will not listen to anything I say about christmas. She says I am misinterpreting the verses. Her parents made that time of the year so special for her and her brothers that those are her most favorite memories from growing up. She just can’t/won’t let go of it. I’ll just say one more thing and that’s about the gifts you did give to your children. Our church used to get together around halloween time and have a costume party. That always confused me. If we don’t celebrate halloween, then why are we getting together around that time and wearing costumes? In my mind I may as well have gone trick or treating with my friends. But for some reason I wasn’t allowed to go trick or treating but was allowed to dress up and go to a church party. Didn’t make sense to me. My point is just to be careful when taking something away from your kids. They are smart and strong. You don’t need to replace their lost christmas with anything special. You just tell them we will no longer be celebrating christmas and tell them why and they will understand (more than most all adults will). It will probably be more of a transition for you than for your kids because you celebrated it for so many years. Give them scripture wrapped presents throughout the year. When one is feeling down or one is questioning things or just because you love them. They will remember that. Well, that’s my scattered thoughts about this. You are a great person who is doing a great job of following Gods word and you are blessed to have understanding people around you.
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