Santa Claus vs Niño Dios

This is the battle at our place right now, and the beliefs of my son could be at stake.

In case you didn’t know, el Niño Dios is the baby Jesus of the pesebre – the nativity scene – which is still a very popular Christmas decoration in Colombia. Just like Santa, he brings with him hope, joy, world peace and most importantly … lots of presents. I am still a little unclear how a baby is meant to carry all those heavy gifts. Santa Claus, on the other hand, has his sleigh and flying reindeer, and comes down the these-days-non-existent chimney -- obvious.

Actually, I don’t particularly care which my son ends up believing in; neither strikes me as a particularly relevant to what we do these days. I do admire Lesly for her patience invoking “Niño Dios” to our son every time he says “Santa Claus”, although in a Sydney awash with jingle bells and white beards, she doesn’t stand much of a chance. She's not religious btw, just keen on our son getting a Colombian christmas too.

What this means in practical terms is that instead of the knock-down drag-out I falsely promised at the start of this entry, we'll end up with some kind of festive hybrid: look out for a cradle on the back of the sleigh, or Santa crashing through the thatched roof of the pesebre.