There are dark things we do not realize we know until somebody says them out loud, and I can always depend on the witches to do it...
This post contains my assessment of Santa Claus as an independent Christian historian and folklorist, as I wrote it for my son to have one day. I had not thought to share it publicly yet, but I think God put it together to be shared, so if you are reading this, perhaps there is something here for you.
One day in early August, I found some time to dig into Christmas. I was researching old traditions to set the scene in a historical romance novel, but I also wanted to start thinking about Christmas traditions for my own little family.
The day was hot and muggy, but Christmas would be here before we knew it. Our son Ari was just one year old, so I still had time to solidify Santa’s role for him. But I was anxious to start thinking about it. One argument my husband and I occasionally had was whether or not Ari should believe in Santa (and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy).
Max had fair reasons for not wanting to introduce these characters as real. First, he was adamant about being honest with his son. And second, the pagan connections to some traditions bothered him.
As an example, Max felt disturbed when he discovered that dyeing eggs could have been part of fertility goddess worship, maybe even for Eostre, from whose name the word Easter possibly hails. Max would remind me that Christians are to be set apart. He had stopped saying “Happy Easter” right away, but to me, it was a much simpler, known phrase than the mouthful Happy Resurrection Sunday, and the goddess connection was not certain.
Still, I did not blame him on that one, and I felt willing to relinquish some of the bunny traditions, too.
For my side, Max’s reasons were not enough for Ari to miss out on so much. Pagan rituals were long forgotten and not worthy of ruining my son’s childhood. My own Christian upbringing had seemed golden and unhurt by belief in magic elves and bunnies. It was better for it, I felt. To me, the heart was what mattered to God, and as long as people were not doing these things in worship to spiritual entities, it was just innocent fun.
My dad shared with us that he had been bothered by occult connections to Halloween and had considered not allowing my siblings and I to participate when we were young, but he said he also did not want us left out. As a compromise, he openly warned us about spiritual dangers of the occult. I remember knowing from a young age that there really were witches and demons, and a Christian should not glorify them. We chose costumes that were not scary, and our safe trick-or-treating route was by car to family member’s houses.
My parents were also careful to separate and diminish secular from spiritual celebrations at other holiday times. Jesus was the true meaning of Christmas and Santa was only credited for one gift per child. The Easter Bunny visited us on Saturday morning rather than Sunday. And all holy day celebrations were focused on church and family.
As most people do who have had a healthy childhood, I planned to raise my children the same ways. It was hard to consider conceding to Max on this issue. So, I had determined to research the history of Christmas traditions in order to construct a Santa story that Max and I could agree on. Hopefully, I could prove to him that Ari’s belief in Santa was an acceptable addition to our holiday festivities.
But on that August day, Max and I had just started regularly praying together again after some time without it. We were in need of a house and in perpetual disagreement about whether to buy or build. I was convinced God would open the doors for us to build. Nevertheless, I began to pray with Max that the Lord would put us on the same page. In an unexpected way, He did.
The Veil Falls Away
My Christmas research began with a book written by an author who may or may not call herself a witch (though she quips about a growing broom collection), but who is a likely candidate by Christian definition.
One who participates in occult activities, knowingly or not, purposefully or just for fun, even if they are a Christian, is someone who is dabbling to their own peril. But the more knowing and purposeful the witch, the better they expose demonic deceptions to the discerning Christian.
To me, pagans today seem to speak and write freely of their worldview unhindered by the burden of Christianizing it. By so doing, they reveal some of the poorer attempts of Christianizing through the years. They can be practical thinkers, indifferent about Christian claims to holy days. Unlike Christians, who often have never even heard of pagan deities or beliefs, the parallels between pre-Christian rituals and some of today’s holiday traditions are better known to pagans.
Years ago, it took my stumbling upon pagan resources to finally realize the demonic nature of energy medicine. It had been difficult to find such straightforward and useful information elsewhere.
And so it was, in the course of one day, a fellow folklorist from New Jersey tore the veil from Santa lore for me.
To be sure, my interest in history and folklore had prepared me for frightening versions of the Santa figure, but I was not deterred. Just because an earlier, darker version of a folk or fairy tale exists does not mean a lighter, current version is somehow incorrect.
A historian seeks what really happened, but a folklorist is concerned with what people believed. In the case of folk stories, the culture is what matters. Household tales have always adapted to changing cultures. The jolly, Night-Before-Christmas Santa that lost his birch switch in the Victorian era was the version of our current culture. To me, that counted for something.
Furthermore, many Christian children are given a faith-friendly origin for Santa identifying him with the fourth-century St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. Although St. Nicholas Day is not on Christmas Eve, the feast day falls in December. I hoped I would learn that Christians were responsible for the Santa tradition after all.
I myself grew up believing that St. Nicholas had once been a regular Christian man who traveled by sled giving gifts to children in need. God was pleased with his generosity and thereby granted him immortality and magic to continue his good work. Since Nicholas and his wife did not have children of their own, they could now care for all the children of the world. God stationed Nicholas at the North Pole, and the elves already living there helped him make all those toys.
Through the years, I had never thought it odd that Nicholas had several names or that he was sometimes referred to as a big elf. I did not think to question why there was a naughty list when nobody ever received coal. My parents gave satisfactory answers for what I did ask, and everything else I accepted by faith.
One day, I received a letter from Santa and wondered why it was not handwritten on some old-fashioned parchment. Even more suspicious, my siblings received the same typed letter with only a change of the name. When I brought my concerns to my dad, he handed back the envelope with the back side facing up. “Maybe it will come to you,” he said.
I looked down and saw the real return address – not the North Pole but a city where my aunt and uncle lived. I wondered how I had missed the truth for so long. The answer, of course, was belief. It helped that I trusted my parents, too.
Reading that book in August was like seeing the return address. This time, Santa was not the first Christmas character exposed. Children always wonder where Santa comes from but seldom is there a faith-friendly answer for the origin of his elves. The author began her book by providing one, or rather, she reminded me of much that I already knew outside of the context of Christmas.
The Dark Origin of Santa's Elves - They are Perhaps Better Left off the Shelves
For ages, people across Europe believed that there were mysterious, supernatural creatures living amongst them in the embodiment of inhabitants of Faeryland. Each type of creature had its own habits and locales, but all were similar enough to be understood as of the same ilk. They were from the other side of the veil, so-to-speak, or perhaps better understood, an in-between realm. Some were believed to be mostly benevolent, but nearly all were known to have malevolent tendencies especially if certain rituals were not followed, such as the leaving out of gifts, food or drink, sometimes at specific times of the year.
Belief in these creatures was not without good reason. People knew they were real because they communicated with them and were sometimes victims of their meddling. When missionaries introduced Jesus Christ as the one true God, pagans were willing enough to replace their deities, but they could not as easily cease their relationships with the fairies. They could not stop believing in something they knew was there, and they had become superstitious about the consequences of ignoring such entities.
However, now there was an answer for the true nature of fairies. With the appearance of Christianity in these regions, fairy lore began to associate the creatures with demonic spirits or at least semi-versions, something caught between heaven and hell.
A folklorist today could view this change as a natural adaption, or in some cases, an intentional Christianizing of the stories. What is not seemingly often known is that it was true – both the fairies and their exposed demonic natures. (1 Cor 10:20-22)
In fact, there are those who still believe in fairies today. People still invite them into their homes. They respect their so-called sacred places and practice ritualistic activities. This is not abnormal. Other people across the world do the same, but they may identify demonic spirits as something else, such as familiar spirits, ghosts, or the spirits of ancestors, to name a few. The danger is no different no matter the deception.
There is no surprise then that fairy folklore is voluminous and complex. It spans continents and centuries. There are not always hard, fast rules, and all we know of fairies comes to us by old household tales. But even those with no interest in fairy stories have at least heard of elves.
In times past, there were said to be light elves and dark elves, and elves in between. Light elves were associated with the sun. Dark elves lived deep in the earth, in mounds, which, as the author of the book I read points out, could be understood as the realm of the dead. In fact, she says, elves are the dead.
Truly, it would be difficult not to acknowledge fairies’ spiritual natures eventually. Notably in northern places, there was a time to worship the elves. Worship practices may have included sacrifices and other offerings. Pagans in these accounts were said to enter trance-like states and tell prophesies. These are all occult activities.
I am doubtful that my fellow folklorist believes in elves herself and merely wrote her book with whimsy, but she suggests inviting elves into the home for the Yuletide season by setting out simple foods: bread, meat, milk. She indicates that in even older days, these items, and sometimes blood, were known to be poured into mounds for the elves. But she, not unlike many occultists or anyone else who knows a thing or two about occult activities, acknowledges there are sinister implications for opening your home to spiritual entities such as elves.
Therefore, to me, the more recent tradition of children inviting a meddlesome Elf on the Shelf into their homes for the duration of the Christmas season is particularly worrisome in light of this history.
In fact, in some places, Christmas Eve used to be, or still is, considered the most dangerous night of the year. Some folklore motifs reveal this by associating death and ghosts with Christmas. In one motif, “The Christmas Visitors,” fairy creatures do not wait to be invited - they invite themselves. In some stories, only the most pious - those who ignore the creatures completely or read the Bible or praise Jesus - can hope to outwit them. Without a doubt, Yuletide was once as much of a season for spirits and witches as Halloween.
The supernatural, mostly-frightening activities that have been said to take place in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, or other certain nights during this dark season, have intrigued minds and hearts for centuries. People have waited through the night with wide eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of the hidden realm - much like children today still fight sleep to catch Santa.
How the Santa Traditions are in Opposition to Christianity
The jolly, old elf Santa is said to enter homes via the chimney, but homes without one pose no problem. Magic is the answer, and I would say that is not far off.
In the Bible, magic is only associated with demons, and entering a home is no problem for a demon especially if there has been an invitation. In our culture, I would say that the leaving out of milk and cookies harkens back to centuries of leaving out food items for demons, whatever their guise, with the hope of gifts or blessing. But if the act of sitting out milk and cookies is not invitation enough, belief and desire for a supernatural visit is a more sure way to invite one. On Christmas Eve, perhaps even following a worship service to celebrate Christ’s birth, children are encouraged to do both.
Chimneys are also not a random piece of the folklore. Just as all folklore comes from somewhere, and a lot of it proves disturbing, using the chimney as a door is another old idea. In previous centuries, most homes had chimneys, and these have been supposedly “haunted” by spirits all along.
Furthermore, dark Christmas spirits, not unlike the dark elves once appearing “blacker than pitch,” are commonly described as having blackened faces as though streaked with soot - an ancient, recurring theme with no known origin. St. Nicholas and especially his helpers took on this attribute as well. For one example, Black Peter - the attendant of an older St. Nicholas version still donned in his Bishop garb - had a black face, presumably from the sooty chimneys he was sent down to deliver gifts into shoes. (We’ll return to him in a moment.)
In addition, it may be true that the Santa figure has come a long way, but it should be known that his evolution can plausibly be traced to Woden, god of magic and the dead.
Therefore, the Santa figure did not originate with the Christian St. Nicholas after all. Later versions were better behaved than the frightful, wild huntsman, but even Bellsnickle – a final precursor to our current American Santa and immigrant from Germany - would shock parents today. It is only our present-day Santa that does not frighten or abuse children, though the beatings were mostly all in fun in those days.
But perhaps we have merely helped darkness cover the truth with a smile and rosy cheeks.
For instance, an older version of the Santa figure named for St. Nicholas, known to the Dutch as Sinterklaas, was old and bearded and wore a bishop’s mitre. But his attendant, Black Peter, came out of the same mold as devils like Krampus, who stuffed children into their sacks and dragged them to hell. The fact that St. Nicholas always arrived in the company of such a one, an evil entity, this one mockingly taking on the Apostle Peter’s name, reveals the truer story.
Even when the German Protestants decided St. Nicholas was too Catholic and went with the Christ Child in the Santa role (Christkindlein, the Baby Jesus → Christ-Kindel → Kris Kinkle → Kris Kringle, a synonym for Santa Claus by 1845), he too was helped by Knecht Ruprecht ("Farmhand Rupert"), a devil dressed as a soot-smudged, Trappist monk. Alarmingly, the Christ Child made sure the monster had his sack and rod before they set off (on Christmas Eve instead of St. Nicholas Day).
Other frightening, violent figures included Pere Fouettard ('Old Man Whipper'), Ru-Klaus ("Rough Nicholas"), and Pelsnickle ("Furry Nicholas").
In addition, the rod that was once used to beat the children, sometimes only naughty ones, was actually more of a ritual for blessing. Therefore, it was more like a magic wand. Birch twigs still made their appearance in activities and in Christmas art, like postcards, even into the Victorian era. Therefore, old magic rituals surrounding Christmas were still out in the open not so very long ago.
So then, the frightful and benevolent as a team-up has always been part of Christmas lore. Even though there is no additional figure visible in Santa’s sleigh today, the accompanying devil remains in the form of religious overtones. Try as we may to fit them into our Christian theology, they are not from of our faith.
First, Santa’s naughty and nice list is reflective of the New Age religion – the demonic counterfeit that slinks its way into Christian lives in innumerable ways. (Unless you consider that even the naughty children always get good gifts.) Ours is a message of grace, and good behavior cannot earn the gift Jesus came to give.
Next, Santa’s immortality is a poor fit as well, since it is firstly a result of magic, and secondly, not the glorious resurrection of our bodies that we are meant to teach our children about.
Of course, these may be small matters. We reward our children for good behavior on a regular basis. And in some stories, Santa is not immortal. He can easily be replaced by others who have the same Christmas spirit. But I would say that the Christmas spirit can be the biggest problem of all.
Who is the Christmas Spirit?
In Britain, an allegorical figure once symbolized the Christmas season. He was known as Father Christmas, and though he seems to have shown up as the second spirit in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, he was not meant to be a mythical being. The separate, earlier Dutch legend of Sinterklaas merged with Father Christmas later.
Nevertheless, Christians today do not consider the Christmas spirit as a real spirit, either. When Christians say Christmas spirit, we usually mean a joyful and generous attitude, or in some cases, we use Christmas spirit as a synonym for the Holy Spirit for it is He who prompts our joyfulness and generosity. But there are times when a line is blurred and what we really mean is Christmas magic, such as the enchantment that is felt preparing for Santa’s visit.
But for unbelievers, they may always mean Christmas magic because they understand the prompting in their hearts to be a supernatural one, too. And as it turns out, Charles Dickens was not original by adding spirits into a Christmas story. Christmas spirits abound in the folklore that inspired him. It would not be surprising if some people do consider the Christmas spirit as an entity rather than a feeling.
Moreover, the Christmas season is a time when Christians use the word magic without second thought. Everything Santa does is by magic. We want the season to be magical for the children. So, in the context of Christmas, magic becomes exempt from the no-magic command of the Bible because what we mean is Christmas spirit. It is a make-believe sort of magic that points to Jesus. Or, it is a real sort of magic that comes from Jesus. Either way, this magic is the good kind.
And there is the most hidden of all blurs into new age thought, for there is no packaging more harmless than Christmas wrapping. But here is the suggestion that magic is neutral and can be used for good or evil depending on the context. In truth, the Bible forbids all magic. (Deut 18:9-14)
Earlier this year, I had wrestled with the use of the word magic. How could I write fairy tales without it? I wanted to give magic a new definition in the context of reading books, but my conscious was never clear. The definition of magic and its synonyms means occult magic, or at best, illusions. I planned to publish my memoir exposing occult magic in alternative medicine. I knew that words mattered. Not knowing what else to do, I prayed for God to give me a different word. He did.
The word was wonder.
Idolatrous Magic verses God's Wonder
In the Bible, God never performed magic. That was always found within the pagan nations. God’s message of salvation was accompanied by His signs and wonders.
The entire history of God’s people reveals the ageless spiritual battle of light verses darkness. Wonders verses magic. Real verses counterfeit. The Hebrews were influenced and deceived by the nations around them, and they often adopted pagan rituals to worship God. But God was never pleased with that, and He called it idolatry. He had commanded them not to practice the magical arts at all. Instead, He gave them specific instructions for how to worship Him. If they loved Him, they would obey His commands.
Satan's Christian Veil
So, is Christianizing ever a good thing? I submit that even the meaning of the word Christianize becomes muddled, too – a deliberate effort by the author of confusion. To Christianize means to make Christian, which is a total transformation. Christianizing does not mean to cover over with a Christian veil, but that is so often what happens instead.
In A.D. 597, the Anglo-Saxons began to convert to Christianity. It started when the Benedictine monk Augustine led a group of 39 other monks to England under Pope Gregory’s orders to convert the pagans there. The undertaking would be massive, so Gregory advised Augustine to allow the outward expressions of established festivals but to superimpose Christian beliefs on them. God moved powerfully, and thousands were baptized on Christmas day that year.
The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity lasted until the mid-seventh century. Throughout that time, each pagan day of weather prediction (at least 40) was given a saint’s name, and feast days became Christian festivals.
To be sure, Gregory and Augustine’s intentions were not to blend pagan ritual with Christian worship, which is forbidden. They endeavored to replace the false religion from the inside out. By replacing the meaning and purpose behind a time of celebration, it could be redeemed. What was once a day in which lost people worshipped demons became a day that redeemed people praised the One who had saved and set them free. Christians are a holy people, set apart, and in this way, we are meant to point the world to God. We are not meant to look the same as the world.
It would be remiss to think that our spiritual enemy took any breaks during this transition. In those days as today, demonic holds would not have easily let go. Today, festivals may appear entirely Christian but questionable practices and especially overtones should never be dismissed. Something unwanted may have never left, or it slinked back in through the years.
Putting a Christian name on anything demonically influenced, such as what is happening in the field of energy medicine and other new age deceptions, is idolatrous. Since Christians are commanded not to dabble in the occult, the enemy must trick us into it.
I had never questioned Santa lore on account of the context of Christmas. I believed it was good, at least harmless, and probably even Christian. These are the same reasons Christians are often deceived into any new age traps. How can energy medicine be demonic if it promotes healing? How can mediums be all bad if they bring comfort and closure to the grieving?
The Bible warns that Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It does not matter to the enemy if we never realize the deception because idolatry is idolatry, regardless of the heart behind it.
And just like that, I realized my defense to Max had been wrong. Just because people were not intentionally worshipping spiritual entities when participating in old pagan traditions did not mean they were always harmless. Therefore, the question became, was our present-day Santa folklore the same as participating in pagan rituals, or had Santa been successfully redeemed?
Can Santa be Redeemed?
Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were all different from other fairy and folk tales in our culture in that children were encouraged to believe they were real. Other folklore (ghost stories, superstitions, etc.) were not promoted to Christian children as true or safe.
For me personally, my answer was clear. The practice of leaving out food items to invite a supernatural entity in through the chimney with the expectation of gifts was too close to old demonically-influenced rituals or superstations for my comfort. Now that I knew of it, I could not un-know it, and I felt responsible to respond.
Like Max with the word Easter, I suddenly did not see any reason to continue the tradition. Just as a dark helper once openly accompanied the Santa figure, I felt that an ageless darkness was more-often-than-not attached to even the American Santa. Though invisible or even perhaps small, it was an integral component of Santa folklore, not often severed, and the enemy’s goals had never changed.
Perhaps my fellow book author herself said it best: “But the flame of magic, even the smoky rumor of magic, is a hard one to snuff out. No matter how thick a layer of ashes you kick over it, the fire always struggles back to life, though it may not burn the same color as before.”
Prior to this acknowledgement, I would have said there were never any negative consequences for childhood belief in Santa. Every child came out unscathed. But when I responded in my heart to what I had discovered and let go of Christmas magic, deciding that my child did not need to believe in Santa after all, the Holy Spirit suddenly opened my eyes even wider.
The next morning, I happened to read these words in my husband’s Bible notes: Sin always produces loss. (1 Cor 6:12.)
If darkness gains even a slight foothold, it usually becomes more difficult for the offender to detect. Even if the Christian does repent later, it can be too late in some ways, for there are always consequences for sin. Something is always lost. And how much more so for vulnerable unbelievers?
In our once very wholesome, Christian nation, parents like mine did a good job keeping Christmas about Jesus in spite of the presence of Santa. Nevertheless, many children today are unchurched and lack any spiritual protection from their guardians. The consequences of Santa or other folklore may not necessarily be so drastic that children run the risk of inviting demonic entities to communicate with them. Rather, Santa has always been an ever-growing distraction from Jesus, if children even know Jesus at all.
And as the counterfeit figure so-to-speak, Santa in this way can represent the competing counterfeit religions, such as materialism, new age, and so forth. I believe the reality is that Santa rarely bows to Jesus. The counterfeit angel of light only ever pretends to do that. (2 Cor 11:14)
As always, Christian parents are wise to remember that the enemy comes only to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) A beloved pastor I knew once said, “He wants to steal your attention, kill your love for Jesus, and destroy your relationship with Him.”
Even a heavily Christianized Santa can steal attention on Christmas Eve replacing a night of wonder for a night of magic.
To me, the results of years of glorifying Santa (and what he subtly represents) over Jesus, or even alongside Jesus, are painfully obvious at Christmastime across our nation. America’s favorite holiday is ridden with stress and anxiety. No matter how much the church preaches stillness, the whirlwind of commercialism grows more turbulent each year. Even as generosity abounds, every charity vies for the extra dollar, bombarding the thinly-stretched, average American who is struggling to maintain a sense of joy. The secular world is simply acting upon its nature, but Christians also suffer who have not separated themselves.
Perhaps the Protestants were on the right track once, attributing everything good to Christ, albeit in His child-form, and removing his day from that of St. Nicholas, who was once an ungodly spirit’s replacement. Or the Puritans later, who forbid “pagan revelry” at Christmastime altogether. (1 Cor 10:7)
But even if Santa could be fully redeemed, should he be? (1 Cor 10:23) (*For the record, I don't doubt it's possible.)
The first thing I did was sit down with a notebook and think through what Christmas might look like without Santa. I was at a loss for a moment. Our culture was so entrenched with him. Should I even restrict my son from books and movies featuring him? How would I go about removing him?
Needing some guidance, I reached out to a friend whose parents had never make-believed Santa when she was growing up. She told me that she and her siblings had never felt they were missing out, and it was simple. Santa was just a story. Christmas was about Jesus.
My confusion instantly dissipated. It also helped to know my friend and her siblings were unscathed, too!
I made a list of Christmas activities and traditions that were not Santa-related. It did not take long to realize that nothing was missing, just like my friend had said. What I had thought was a big part of Christmas was actually quite insignificant and easy to let go. But for something so small, it had potential to cost much.
As I reflected, something else began to happen. Because I had my eyes on Jesus, the wonder of Christmas suddenly flooded my heart in a powerful way.
The stress of how to fit in all family Christmas visits vanished. Chaos melted into simplicity. With joy, I thought about how my little family could spend the season showing God’s love to the world. With hopeful anticipation, I planned special traditions that would teach my son about His Savior, the light of the world born into our darkness to save us. Christmas Eve would end with the babe in the manger, the wonder of it all.
And perhaps my son would go to sleep that night full only of God’s wonder, his heart undivided.
As gratitude and excitement swelled in my spirit, Santa faded to nothing, stamped out by God’s light. If Christmas really was just about Jesus, why did we ever let it not be just about Jesus?
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” (Matt 19:14) We must be careful not to put distractions in their way.
Also, for the sake of the souls who do not yet know Jesus, as my husband had said, “We must be set apart.” What reason does someone have to take me serious if they believe my faith is just a pushy, adaptation of an older one?
In the end, closing my chimney to Santa was what was best for my family and my marriage. It also taught me to be more vigilant about testing other traditions and folklore before introducing them to my son. (1 John 4:1-6)
Thank You for Reading
My friends, I thank you for reading and considering these words. My parents did an excellent job with the true meaning of Christmas and doubtless other Christian parents do the same. I had planned to as well. I share this little journey just as a friendly alert. I may never have looked into Santa folklore if my husband had been on board with it, but I am glad I had the opportunity to do so.
Since I first started collecting this research and gathering my thoughts, I began to find out that other Christian families who we know do not make-believe Santa Claus with their kids. It's not as odd as I thought, and Ari will not be alone!
For those who do not make-believe Santa, I would love to know more about your Christmases and the special traditions you have implemented. Please comment!
In addition, you may have already been wondering if or how you could reduce the emphasis on Santa Claus and gifts this year. I submit that story time is a great tradition for these cozy nights and a good opportunity to introduce different Christmas characters. Books are also great gift ideas for blessed kiddos who have plenty of everything else. So, if you are looking for inspiration, here is my top-ten list of Christmas books that do not feature Santa Claus.
Other Christmas children's book lists are also on the way!
God bless us, every one!
Meg Grimm is a Christian writer on a mission to help women replace enemy lies, counterfeits and magic with God’s truth, beauty and wonder. She has authored several books on biblical wisdom for natural healthcare.
The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year. Raedisch, Linda. Llewellyn Publications, Woodbury, MN: 2013. Print.
"The History of Father Christmas" Moriarty, Thomas. Accessed 29 Nov 2022: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/christmas/the-history-of-father-christmas/
Eostre and Easter. What are the origins of this Spring festival? The Field. 4 Apr 2022. Accessed 29 Nov 2022: