Grinch or Not? A different perspective

A different perspective: Is Christmas a lie?

Athena Johnson

The Contraband

PHOTO BY JOHNATHAN CLAUSEN/CONTRABAND

Harris, pictured above, figures lying to one's children to be bad,

even if that lie is about Santa Claus.  

Christmas is arguably one of most celebrated holidays in America.  However, there are some that choose to not participate.  For them, Christmas itself has become a lie.

“When is it okay to lie to our children?” asked Adam Harris, a student at McNeese. 

Harris doesn’t like Christmas, not because of a bad memory or because of his religious views. He views the holiday as one big lie to tell our children, and he doesn’t believe that is right. 

“To me, it’s an all out lie. I mean, lying to your children about a fictitious character that doesn’t exist. Why would you do that?”  Harris said.

Harris admits that as a child he did celebrate Christmas, but he is now on a mission to find truth and to embrace it. 

“The truth is Santa does not exist. He is a fictional character that is made up. It’s deceptive. We have our children believe that some man is going to show up, come down the chimney and break in our house and leave us gift, and when in reality, the mother and the father, because they love the child, have put the gifts to the side and done this for the child,” said Harris, “It takes away credit from the parents and has the children look forward to this fictitious character.”

The character of Santa creates fear in children, a fear that if they aren’t good they won’t get anything for Christmas, which is, according to Harris, a form of bribery. Also, he said that children end up distrusting their parents when they are older because they were lied to for no good reason. 

“The lie of Santa existing, the lie that it’s Jesus’s birthday, the pagan origins and the truth is this creates distrust in our children,” said Harris. 

In Harris’s household, he and his son celebrate Hanukkah in lieu of Christmas because of his choice of religion though when they go to his mother’s house, it’s completely different.

“My mother loves Christmas,” said Harris.

According to Harris, the two different holidays celebrated in his family was weird at first, but they were able to overcome it, and his son gets to celebrate both holidays.

“I really don’t want this to come across as a religions thing. It’s really a trust and psychological thing about the children. It’s never okay to lie to your children,” said Harris.