Besides Love, the Best Gift for Baby’s First Christmas

If God has blessed you with a precious baby this year, I’m sure your Christmas morning will be extra sweet! Besides love, I want to encourage you to give the best gift possible for your baby’s first Christmas.

No matter where you live, or the extent of your resources, you have the power to give your baby the best gift ever. The positive effects of this gift will last a lifetime. It will only cost you wisdom and courage.

The Best Gift for Baby’s First Christmas

Besides love, the best gift a parent can give a baby for his first Christmas is the truth.

Godly parents long to teach their children the importance of honesty. Teaching by example is always best–and the earlier the better.

We want our children to know they can always come to us. We build a relationship of trust on a firm foundation of consistent truth.

As a new mom, it took me awhile to fully understand that.

A Nice Blend of Jesus and Santa

My husband and I knew we didn’t want to play up the whole Santa Claus thing. We never said, “You better be good, Santa is watching you.”  We even tried to make subtle hints by saying, “Santa is a fun thing people do at Christmas.”

We emphasized the birth of Jesus through our speech and actions. Yet, we still took our little one to see Santa. We put milk and cookies out for him on Christmas Eve. And there were always gifts under the tree with tags signed by Santa.

We thought we could have a nice blend of Jesus and Santa, if we emphasized Jesus.

A Hard Lesson Learned

My husband and I learned the hard way that it would’ve been much easier if we had started telling the truth to our child from the beginning.

One Christmas Eve, as I tucked our four-year-old daughter into bed, she excitedly informed me she had a secret. Her little eyes lit up as she whispered she had asked Santa for a secret toy and had not told anyone else about it.

I tried to tell her Santa doesn’t always bring everything we ask for, but she insisted that he would bring this to her because he told her he would.

Hoping it was something I had already picked up, I pried the secret toy request out of her. Unfortunately, it was the first time I’d ever heard her express a desire for a Barbie horse. She was so excited.

After saying our prayers and kissing goodnight, I racked my brain for a solution to our dilemma.

Finally, I sat down and wrote a letter to her from Santa explaining that once he arrived at our home, he noticed a problem with the horse. He would take it back to the North Pole and send her a new one in a few days.

The next morning our little girl believed my fabrication.

Later, I bought the toy horse at the store. When I gave it to her, I told her it had come in the mail. Another lie.

She played with the horse for about a week and tired of it. Also, during that week, my husband and I struggled more and more with the whole Santa thing.

Finally, we made a decision that wasn’t popular with many folks. We decided to tell our child the truth.

The Decision to Tell the Truth

Beginning early the next year, we began telling our little girl how the legend of Santa Claus began. How it all began with an ordinary man who loved Jesus Christ with all his heart. He wanted to share that love by helping others and he found a way to do that secretly so as not to draw attention to himself. That man did not have superhuman powers or magic reindeer. He loved Jesus and wanted to serve Him by serving others.

As Christmas drew near, she occasionally asked a question about Santa and we always gently gave her an honest answer. She never cried, complained, or needed therapy. Neither did the rest of our children whom God blessed us with in the following years.

I tell you the truth, our kids have never missed Santa. They have loved receiving gifts no matter whose name was signed on the gift tag!

And, they had a better understanding of why some children receive extravagant gifts and some receive very little. It wasn’t due to an unfair Santa, or based on lists recording a child’s sleeping or sinful behavior throughout the year.

As our children matured, they began to understand the true meaning of Christmas. As they celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, who later became their Lord and Savior, they delighted in blessing others through giving. Sometimes they did that secretly, but as of yet, they haven’t used Santa’s name as a cover.

The Result of Dishonesty

Dishonesty causes pain and mistrust. Numerous stories circulate every year of distraught children during the Christmas season. Sometimes it’s due to the dissolving “magic” of a stuffed elf or unfulfilled wish lists.

The youngsters aren’t the only ones in distress. So are the parents. They have to come up with a new plan and juggle additional words of explanation (a.k.a. more lies).

Plus, we must consider how our little mistruths, even when presented with the best of intentions, might influence our children.

Imaginative Play and Reality

From the moment they can understand us, we begin teaching our little ones. We teach them a picture of a fire will not hurt you. It’s just an illustration. When they pretend to fight a fire with a water hose, it doesn’t mean they’re really battling flames—they’re just play-acting.

However, flames in a fire pit are real. They can harm you. Do not touch!

Do you see? We begin teaching our children at a very young age what is real and what is not. Sometimes, it is not as easy as it sounds. We want to delight our children with fun. The commercial world is eager to help us with that. But, encouraging children to use their imaginations is different from perpetuating untruths as truth.

Parents, please consider carefully how you want to begin celebrating Christmas in your home now that your little one has arrived.

If Santa must be a part of it, consider making it clear to your child, people today pretend to be like a man who lived long ago. Share how he wanted to share the love of Jesus through secret giving.

Let the Little Ones Come

It’s challenging to find truth in the world.

Dear parents, as your little ones grow up, may they learn through their consistent experiences with you, that whenever they come to you, they can expect honest answers.

You want them to believe you when you tell them there is only One who knows the good and the bad in our hearts. There’s only One who watches over us every second when we are sleeping or awake.

Miraculous power only comes from God. He is the giver of all good things and His ultimate gift is Jesus.

Also, creativity and imagination are gifts from God. It’s fun playing pretend with our children! But they need to know what’s real and what’s not.

If it’s your baby’s first Christmas, what do you think is the best gift you can give?

If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also enjoy reading “The Day I Learned the Truth About Santa.”