santa and the easter bunny

To this point in our short stint as parents we haven't "done" much with santa or the easter bunny. But as David gets older there have been many more questions to answer, here is how it currently goes for both... David - "is santa real?" mom - "well, what are we celebrating at Christmas?" David - "Jesus was born." mom - "Yes, but is it bigger than him just being born?" David - "um, he dies for us but doesn't stay dead.?" mom - "Great job! So what does santa have to do with all of that?" David - long pause "nothing, but santa's so much fun" Honestly, there are days it takes all of my self-control to not sit him down and explain in-depth the great joy, freedom, peace and fun that comes from following a Savior that lives. Most days I finish the conversation with "yep, he is a lot of fun". I recently heard a message from Matt Chandler that helped me think through why we keep going in this santa/bunny circle - "in order for there to be Good News, there has to be darkness/badness for it to penetrate". For a number of reasons our sons have not experienced/recognized the dark, sinful, lost world they live in. 1. they are young [5 and 2] 2. our address [small town in the United States of America] 3. love [the brokenness they have seen has been countered with God's love] Ultimately it is God that is revealing himself to our family but he has used our church family time and time again to show us what it looks like to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are blessed to be challenged by mature believers on a regular basis. So we will continue our push to praise the only one worthy of praise during this holiday season.