Naughty or Nice?

Christmas just happened and sure enough the jolly old Santa dropped a bag of lego loot at our house and threw in a couple of board games just to jazz things up a bit.  In the past I welcomed Santa in and I was happy to let the magic happen, but this year I have a slight problem with the big guy.  See, he made my daughter really worried, and he made my son doubt his "niceness."  You don't mess with my kids, even if you are Santa Claus.

  Normally I wouldn't mind a little motivation for my kids to behave but this seemed over the top.  My girl already worries enough about doing something wrong. Perfect is what she strives for and I try my hardest to get her to take life a little less seriously.  So, when mega toy loot was riding on doing the right thing, she got very anxious and worried. She didn't have a scale of what EXACTLY is naughty and what EXACTLY is nice, so she assumed the worst.  Perfection, she even looked back three years prior counting her errors.

Then comes my impulsive, hyper-happy boy.  His heart is good, he is full of love, always looking for ways to help others and spread cheer.  Also, lots of being told "no" "slow down" "you need to think first." "go to your room."  So, if the world of Santa is black and white, naughty or nice, then he is sure to do way more wrongs than right and so must belong on the naughty list.  I tried to assure him that Santa would look at the bigger picture and see how kind and full of love he is.  He seriously doubted me.
 
So, I guess I'm not sure about Santa's list anymore.  I think he needs to learn a little compassion and a lot of grace.  All those Christmas songs threatening that he knows "if you've been good or bad so be good for goodness sake!"   We can't forget that this is a season of celebrating the gift of grace that began with the birth of Jesus. Let's focus on the joy, and the love. After all if we aren't doing that at Christmas then when are we doing it?

Love and Grace Everyday, and especially at Christmas.