The Seventh Year of Santa
Reflections on pop-up joy
For the first six, start here.
Christmas 2024 taught me a few things about Santa that feel important enough to write down, both for my own reference and (if you’ll permit me a moment of ego) for posterity.
I got to Santa twice in 2024. One was a lovely school visit, in which Santa once again thrilled a pack of kindergarteners by stopping by.
I was not asked to be Santa for any type of church gathering this year, as the organizers opted not to include that in the program. I was fine with this, as it meant I got to eat, and got to host the coloring contest raffle for the kids, which was plenty of fun itself. However, the next day was Sunday, and in the morning meeting of leaders (of which I am one) I heard a not-quite-complaint about that. Our congregation has a family with a special needs daughter, Sheree. One of the women’s leaders shared that Sheree was “very sad” that Santa had not visited the church Christmas party this year. I was game, so we hatched a plan.
The youth group was having its own Christmas pizza party and gift exchange that Wednesday night, and Sheree would be there. What if Santa just popped in?
So I did.
I was there for like five minutes. I walked in, told Sheree I “couldn’t possibly let the season go by without saying hello!”, posed for a picture, and then bounced. It was a pop-up Santa-ing.
I wondered if it had been enough as I drove home (and I did go through a Drive Thru in full getup as Santa, just to see, and the McDonald’s cashier was very apologetic about needing to inform Santa that they were out of McRibs for the night). But the next Sunday I was approached by Sheree’s parents and some other youth advisors who thanked me sincerely for being willing to do that for her.
It did not take much of my time, and it meant the world to that girl. It was great to be able to just show up like that to help someone feel a moment of joy, and this dovetailed into a conversation I had about Santa the next week: Santa is a type of Christ.
This is a specialized use of the word “type” so I want to clarify what I mean there. Let us go to Wikipedia for typology:
Typology in Christian theology and biblical exegesis is a doctrine or theory concerning the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Events, persons or statements in the Old Testament are seen as types prefiguring or superseded by antitypes, events or aspects of Christ or his revelation described in the New Testament. For example, Jonah may be seen as the type of Christ in that he emerged from the fish's belly and thus appeared to rise from death.
The idea of a “type” in this context is that it makes Christ a little easier to comprehend, indeed a little more relatable, if other things are compared to Him or otherwise suggest His traits or character. It’s hard to truly describe how Christ is, so using a type allows a person to say “Christ is like this, but even better.” Since a type is typically specific (like the Jonah example above) that allows lots of things we experience every day to echo this “type” concept, reminding us of Christ and his character, teachings, and desires for us.
So how is Santa a type of Christ? This was encapsulated in a comment from a conversation I was having regarding the phrase “what would Jesus do?”. The idea we came to consider was that it may not always be easy to consider what Jesus would do (see: “Jesus was a socialist!”), but it’s reasonably easy to think of a good answer to “what would Santa do?”.
What would Santa do? Santa would tell you to be good for your parents. Santa would tell you not to hit other people. Santa would wish you a genuine, joyful, merry Christmas, and you would be hard pressed to stay sad in the face of that. Even if you tried, Santa would see your sad face, laugh a jolly laugh, pat you on the shoulder, and tell you “oh, it’s not so bad. See your mom over there? Go give her a hug and tell her you love her.” There’s a laundry list of life problems that would be put in proper perspective (and maybe even solved) by that. Would Jesus really do anything differently?
Is there any substantive cynicism that can stand in the face of that? Santa has nothing to prove to you or anybody else. Santa is a herald of joy, and people young or old who seek to challenge that (“are you real? I’m too cool/smart for this.”) come away from such challenges looking petty and silly. Is that substantively different from Jesus, or does it reinforce Santa as a type of Christ? I know the answer that’s been growing clearer and clearer to me.
You may have a hard time living up to the example of Christ. Your discipleship may be tough sometimes. If you feel like you’re just not measuring up and can’t figure out what Jesus would do (or don’t want to face what Jesus would do), look to Santa. He’ll show you the way of joy, and in doing so point you to Christ’s greatness.
Santa can help make you a gift for God. Give some thought to letting him.