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Santa Claus is a bait and a switch tactic from our true reason for Christmas
Opinion

My daughter has reached that point in the life of every parent when they face the dilemma of: What should I tell my children about Santa Claus?

She has three boys and the two oldest are approaching 13 and 10 and apparently still believe – or they are going along with it for the benefits of getting gifts from the jolly old fellow with a wink-wink. I suspect they do know because they are far more world savvy than I was due to their exposure to social media which we didn’t have when I was a kid.

I’m not sure at what age I was when the truth was told. I think it was a gradual deliberation. We’d ask Mom, “Is Santa real?” only to be met with her pat response, “What do you think?” Being the perceptive chap that I was, I suspected her inability to argue the point that he was real was all we needed to know.

I have mixed feelings about Santa. After all, some classic Christmas movies have put him to the test and he is real. Young Natalie Wood was skeptical in “Miracle of 34th Street” and a New York court declared Santa to be real.

I hate going against the benevolent soul who millions of children through the years have loved and sought the affection of. And who can argue with the carrot and stick approach of being naughty or nice if it meant being included on the gift receiving.

Santa represents something good but in a sense it’s counterfeit.

Santa has been the world’s way of turning the focus off the authentic gift giver: Jesus Christ. Parents universally make a big fuss out of taking their kids to see Santa and tell them what they want for Christmas but completely abandon thoughts of introducing them to Jesus Christ, whose birth is what Christmas is all about!

Society has trotted even farther away from its Christian foundation. Two decades ago, 42 percent of American adults attended religious services every week or nearly every week. A decade ago, the figure fell to 38 percent, and it is currently at 30 percent. This decline is largely driven by the increase in the percentage of Americans with no religious affiliation – nine percent in 2000-2003 versus 21 percent in 2021-2023 – almost all of whom do not attend services regularly.

We can’t talk about Jesus in school, no way. So Christmas programs are winter programs where kids sing gobbledygook multi-culture songs void of any mention of Virgin Mary or a babe lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. “Silent Night” is taboo.

Santa gives gifts that end up in the dump heap at the base on Mount Crumpit as Jim Carrey’s Grinch bears witness. But Jesus gives eternal life.

Despite being marginalized and mocked, Jesus is life itself. Even he said it. “I am the truth and the life.” Once the heart stops beating, it’s reality time.  

Santa is neutral. Jesus is divisive for good reason.

I submit to you that Jesus is largely dismissed by millions because He presents a stark reality. He said a person is either for him or against him. No middle ground. He also said that belief in him, not Santa, is the ticket to eternal life. Not, one of the ways to heaven but THE way. And that way doesn’t include being on the “nice list” because frankly if we’re all on the naughty list, there would be no need for a Savior.

The truth is that on Christmas morning, there will be a lot of disappointed Ruby Sues in Ceres and Stanislaus County. Ruby Sue, you may recall, was the mop-headed little girl in the classic 1989 film, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” who scoffed at the notion of Santa and mentioned how “all this Santa crap is just bull.” She reported getting “the shaft.”

It would be nice if we could flip the script on Santa and all believe in the one truth worth believing in. He should be replaced by one who is the wisest, strongest and most loving of all being worthy of worship and being adored. “O, come let us adore him, Christ the Lord.” 


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The newer generations of American men don’t want to get their hands dirty. It seems we are coming up short in auto mechanics so maybe it’s time we brought back auto shop classes in high school. It’s been reported that the auto repair industry could see 67,800 jobs open every year.

According to Mike Rowe, young men are affected by the stigma and stereotypes of being in a trade job that gets you dirty. Many jobs that will earn six figures per year don’t require a college degree – if you are willing to work.

Schools aren’t helping either because the push has been go to college and get a degree if you want to financially well off. But who will work on the cars of the business leaders if nobody wants to be a mechanic? All kids are not cut out to go to college and earn a degree while they accumulate debt I might add. Aside, many graduates find they can’t find decent jobs with those four-year degrees.


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There is renewed talk of splitting California into two states.

This is not a new concept.  There have been more than 220 attempts to bisect, trisect or dissect it into six smaller states. It will likely happen when hell freezes over – or when the government finally confesses what they know about UFOs or the Kennedy assassination, whichever comes first.

If you look to see the county map in terms of who they supported for president, most of the state was red with a smattering of blue on the east side, and blue down the coast from Crescent City down to the Mexican border.

If the red part of California can’t take control of the blue part of California, I personally would like to see formation of two states: Coastal California and Inland California. Like cutting cancer out of the body before it kills you, it’s better California gets diced up to save the good parts. Yes, I said it.

They can put their state in Hollywood since it seems that’s where they get their values. We can keep the state Capital in California. We’d still have our blue areas like Sacramento and Stockton and Fresno but red would rule the roost.

Let’s make it a contest to see which state can prosper under two different policies. 


This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation.  How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com