Father Christmas

In light of Christmas coming in two days, I thought I'd better do a Christmas themed post. The obvious choice then would be to discuss the appearance of Father Christmas in LWW.
The White Witch has cast a spell over Narnia to make it 'always winter and never Christmas' for the past century. Once the four Pevensie children arrive and 'Aslan is on the move' the Witch's curse begins to break, which we see when Father Christmas arrives to give the children and the Beaver's gifts. Lucy receives a healing potion and a dagger, Susan a bow and arrow and a magic horn that will bring aid when and Peter a sword and shield. Edmund misses out because he's with the Witch at the time.
When they hear him coming, the children think it's the Witch since she also travels via sleigh and reindeer, but instead are given this pleasant surprise.

It was a sledge, and it was reindeer with bells on their harness. But they were far bigger than the Witch's reindeer, and they were not white but brown. And on the sledge sat a person whom everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him. He was a huge man in a bright red robe (bright as hollyberries) with a hood that had fur inside it and a great white beard that fell like a foamy waterfall over his chest. Everyone knew him because, though you see people of his sort only in Narnia, you see pictures of them and hear them talked about even in our world -- the world on this side of the wardrobe door. But when you really see them in Narnia it is rather different. Some of the pictures of Father Christmas in our world make him look only funny and jolly. But now that the children actually stood looking at him they didn't find it quite like that. He was so big, and so glad, and so real, that they all became quite still. They felt very glad, but also solemn.

"I've come at last," said he. "She has kept me out for a long time, but I have got in at last. Aslan is on the move. The Witch's magic is weakening."

I absolutely love Christmas. For a while I really disliked Father Christmas -- or Santa as we call him here in the States. For much the same reason I hate Christmas ads and songs played before Thanksgiving. To me, Santa was just a symbol of the over-commercialized, anything-but-the-manger version of Christmas. But lately I've realized it doesn't have to be that at all.
This idea, and the idea for the direction of this entry, was much inspired by an entry of Will Vaus' blog. I'd encourage you to check it out, at my own expense. He's done basically what I'm trying to do with this blog only I'm sure more thoroughly researched and he's actually published. I came across him as I was stumped on where to go with this entry, but I've purposefully not re-read it in the several days since so that hopefully I'm not ripping off too much of his stuff, but only using it as a seed. Without further ado, here's my thesis:
Instead of drawing attention away from Aslan, Father Christmas points toward him. His appearance is a sign of better things to come. It signals that Aslan is coming and the spell is breaking. His gifts aren't things that will give the children immediate and fleeting fun like most, but are things that will be useful in their future battles.
Finding the application for this is as easy as replacing 'Aslan' with 'Christ'. Father Christmas, or Santa, is not at all essential to the celebration of Christmas, which after all is of the birth of Christ, but he doesn't have to be despised. After all, the legends of Father Christmas come mostly from St. Nicolas who was known for his charity. And Charity is a very Christian idea indeed. 
Though the rest of the world may see nothing more in Santa Claus than himself, we may see him as a symbol, just like Christmas trees or candy canes or lights, that points toward Christ and the celebration of his coming to earth as a baby.