Faith, Family and the Little Fat Man in the Red Suit
What does a Christian parent do about Santa? If you’ll Join me in this reflection through this tough question I hope it’ll be worth your time — and mine. Whenever this question pops into my mind so do three stories — not because they’re profound (they aren’t) or that I can’t recall others (I can), but because they’re singular.
Mickey Rooney
Christmas Eve years ago in a packed Ft. Lauderdale church where I worked, Mimi and I found ourselves jammed next to a person who looked familiar. It turned out to be one of the most famous actors of the times — Mickey Rooney. He starred in more than 300 films and at that moment was at his prime. He was also at that moment at his wit’s end. The senior pastor, under whom I served, was eloquently disparaging Santa. It was easy to see that for him Nick was no Saint. But Rooney, who was soon to be Kris Kringle in a film, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, became livid and verbally let all of us in our overflow section know it.
John Guest
John is an Episcopal priest but defies, appealingly, almost any image that title evokes. He came to faith in Christ through Billy Graham’s London Crusades in the 1950s. As a guitarist — his music reminiscent of the Beatle’s — he was early on associated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. His music went virile among students. As youth pastor, I invited him to our church and to our home along with his new wife, Kathy. I remember it all well. While our small children slept on Christmas Eve,1968, the four of us listened with astonished wonderment as the astronauts, rounding the Moon on Apollo 8, read to an enraptured world the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis — At the time, the most watched TV broadcast ever. But for us, not all the magic was on the Moon. John, ever the actor, wanted to be Santa for our kids — complete with red suit, long white beard, tasseled hat, and boots. I can’t remember the details but our son, three, walked in on John half dressed, and the jig was up. Our little son had suspected it, but now he knew. Santa was a hoax.
Jimmy Boyd
I was a teenager when Jimmy Boyd’s voice hit the airwaves with I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus underneath the Mistletoe last night. The song immediately became number one on all the charts — three million records being sold in just three weeks. Even so, it was banned in some places by the Catholic Church for being “too risqué.” So, Columbia Records sent Boyd himself — 13 years old! — to the archdiocese headquarters in Boston to convince the high-ranking church officials to loosen up; that “mom” was kissing her husband — who was playing Santa — underneath that Mistletoe. Realizing the sentiment of the song to be exactly the opposite of their hasty judgement, the church court immediately lifted the ban.
What do these stories have in common?
They each bring together in a jumbled mix the three components in the title of this page — Faith, Family, and Santa Claus. So, back to the question at the top: What’s a parent to do, especially a Christian parent?
No Big Deal
We had no thought-out plan (except trying to not make Santa be something that was not true of us). Maybe that was our solution. We referred to Santa like we refer to Greenie — the being in our house who steals a sock every now and then. And of course, the tooth fairy was quite active at times. Santa was a deal, but not a big deal. When our kids asked how Santa could be in two stores at once we just said he had helpers. Two of our kids figured it out on their own. The other one needed a little help.
Bembo and Patti
Years ago, at our house, especially at our grandkids’ houses, bedtime was a time for a Bembo and Patti story. Bembo is a big dog. He was before the big dog Clifford and much bigger. Bembo is so big his picture can’t fit on a page, and his soft hair — not short (or long either) — is, well, sometimes reddish, or even green, but mostly silver — I think. Bembo is kind, loving, and tough. But the most fun thing is a secret: Bembo talks and nobody knows it but Patti. I would tell the kids that I hoped they, like I have, would meet Bembo someday in real life. My secret? Bembo is God in the flesh. Er … in the fur. In essence, Bembo is very real.
Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernatural beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
I think The Bembo Principle is at work in this excerpt from the most reprinted editorial in any newspaper in the English language. It was written in 1897 to an 8-year-old girl — who grew up to know its truth — by Francis Church of The New York Sun under the title: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
