Santa...

What is everyone's opinion about the whole Santa thing? I'm unsure yet... I don't really like the idea of lying to them and I still remember when I found out that Santa didn't exist...

 

I don't know, it is a very personal decision, but I personally love the whole Santa thing. To see them so excited & believing in something so magical actually makes the Christmas season so much more fun to me. And I don't really remember finding out Santa didn't exist, I just kind of figured it out for myself over time. And I certainly don't feel any anger or resentment toward my parents for lying to me about Santa, exactly the opposite in fact. I can remember believing in Santa and how exciting Christmas Eve was & trying to wait up to see if I could hear him. My older kids don't really believe any more, of course, but none of them really want to admit to it. They still just go along with the whole thing because it is fun and they don't want to ruin it for the little ones. And none of them seem any worse off for having believed when they were little.

But, like I said, everyone has to decide what is best for their own families!

 

I agree everyone has to do what is right for their family. We do Santa here.:good: There are plenty of injustices in the world and throughout life, and to me Santa doesn't rank very high on that list. I don't think it will scar them for life. ardon:

 

I'm with you on not wanting to lie to my kids... but I'm OK with Santa and the Tooth Fairy as long as my kids want to beleive. Santa brings joy and wonder to my kids; it's so neat to watch them get excited about this magical guy who flies around on a sleigh with reindeer. So I wholeheartedly support Santa for now. When they get old enough that they start to question, I won't lie to them or try to extend their belief, though. I hate when parents do that! Because really, all they're doing is lying to their kids... and if you lie about one thing, how is the kid going to understand you won't lie about other things?

Another way of thinking about why I'm ok with Santa at this age is that I'm happy to let my kids watch a PBS show called Dinosaur Train. It has these little cartoon dinosaurs that go on adventures. They're not real. But to my kids, they are. My girls love the Dinosaur Train stories and it has opened up a whole world of exploration for them - they want to travel on a train, and search for fossils, etc. Santa is kind of like that. I've already explained that we can't go visit the dinosaurs because they only live in the TV and in my kids imaginations. I suspect when my girls start questioning Santa we'll have a similar discussion about imagination and how much joy a person can have with make beleive.

 

My kids know the truth and we educate them on the true story of St. Nickolas. We have a great book. They know not to tell others (especially cousins). I never believed in Santa growing up and was not hurt by it in the least. I didn't miss out on anything. I still remember being allowed to stay up late and watch "The Night They Saved Christmas" with my Dad. It's one of the best Christmas memories I have, and I knew it was all make-believe. My children watch quite a few of the movies and specials, they just know the truth too. We do however spend most of our time on the true meaning of Christmas. It's my absolute FAVORITE time of year!

With our children they know that I will never lie to them, so it's about trust for me. (I'm not judging what others do and say, this is just why we do, what we do in our family). We emphasize this with them in so many areas of life, not just at Christmas time, and not just with make-believe characters. BTW, we don't do the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy either, but that's a whole other subject.

 

There's no Santa?! :woah:

:cry:


Eh, to each their own. But for me I think Santa is just part of the magic and wonderment of Christmas.
And I still believe in that, so I still believe. Maybe not in a jolly old man who rides a flying sleigh, but I think there's a little Santa in all of us.

Obviously, from that you can guess we'll be big into Santa here. I love it! And I love that this year the kids are so much more into and are starting to talk about it.

 

I never encouraged the whole Santa thing. I always wanted my boys to know the truth about Christmas. I explained to them that Santa is like the characters they see in Disney .. just a guy in a costume. I told them that some families like to pretend that Santa brings toys to them on Christmas day and that for them, that's a fun thing. But even though the boys know the truth .. they sometimes like to join in. We go visit Santa at the mall and they say "hi" and tell him what they want. I also explained to them what the holiday Christmas is SUPPOSED to be about. Even though we aren't religious, or even Christian, I wanted to tell them where the holiday originated. I think it's important they understand the holiday itself and why it's celebrated around the world. I don't want them to think it's only about presents and Santa. It has a true meaning and for some people a very deep meaning.
I think each family needs to decide what's best for them as a family. I don't think there is any right or wrong way ..

 

My sentiments exactly. I still remember being five years old and walking downstairs on Christmas Eve. My mom was down there and she picked me up and said, "You missed Santa. He just left!" Then she showed me the presents under the tree. I totally believed her. This is one of my favorite childhood memories and I honestly don't remember when or how I learned that Santa wasn't real.

We will definitely do Santa in our house.

 

We love love love Santa in our home. It's a chance to spoil our kids rotten and celebrate our family. Our two oldest let us know they 'know' about Santa a couple of weeks ago. My oldest has known for two years I think. We made it exciting for them by telling them that they are part of the BIG secret now and they get to help do secret Santa stuff. I think they are more excited this year then last. Christmas is huge in our house and we all love it. I hope you can find the right balance for your family. No matter what you choose to do, christmas is always a magical time of the year for kids. Good luck.

 

I totally agree with this!
We are big on Santa around here and I always thought that Santa was one of the magical things of childhood. We will be telling our kids about Santa and also like Tina, I don't recall feeling any resentment or anger over knowing Santa was not real. It's just one of those fun aspects about Christmas.
I think each family has to do what is best for the family.

 

Ditto Tina! :wub:

I don't exactly remember when I stopped believing, but I do remember my mom asking me not to tell my younger siblings about it yet, that for them, Santa was still part of the magic of Christmas. And she made me Santa's Helper, I got to help her pick the gifts for my sisters and brothers and got to keep the secret of Santa for many years. I loved it! And Santa even still brought me gifts, something very small, but still something so my siblings wouldn't know something was up. And i remember sharing a smile with my mom every christmas morning after that, like we had a secret club that the other kids weren't part of (yet...) :wub: Some great memories!

As you can tell we love Santa here, I also feel like it's a part of the magic of Christmas. We personally only have santa bring 1 gift though, it's unwrapped and ready to play with on christmas morning. The rest of the gifts are wrapped under the tree and are from mom and dad.

 

We didn't introduce the idea of Santa to them -- I wasn't (am not) crazy about the idea of lying to them either. I know it's "harmless" but it just feels wrong, when we make such a point of telling them the (age-appropriate) truth all the rest of the time.

But. When they were around 3 they started to hear about Santa at school and from other people, and I didn't have the heart to tell them Santa wasn't real. I didn't even fall back on "some people believe..." which is what I do with religion in general. :laughing: I said yes, Santa brings presents on Christmas Eve when you're asleep, and yes, he has flying reindeer, and yes, the reason he can deliver toys to the whole world in just one night is that he's magic. I figured if I'm going to go for it, might as well go whole hog!

However, I do tell them that the Santas they see at the mall, etc., aren't the "real" Santa. I thought it would just be too obvious to them that it was a person in a costume. So I tell them those are Santa's helpers, and they carry messages to Santa and do some work for him in the weeks before Christmas when he can't be everywhere at once.

ETA: In our house, the presents under the tree are from real people, and the ones in the stockings are from Santa. It does get a little tricky when they catch us buying something or when we slip up and talk about buying stocking stuffers, but so far we've placated them by saying we were doing Santa a favor.

 

We treat Santa as a character of Christmas. We're going to have pictures with him tomorrow as a matter of fact. We don't tell them that he gives them toys, that is what Daddy does...however, my Sarah has pretty much decided that Santa will bring her toys...so I'm not at all sure how we're going to handle that. So far up to this point we've not said Santa brings them toys because my husband can still remember the day someone told him Santa wasn't real and how hurt he was that he had been lied to all that time. He's very adamant about not lying to them. However, as said before, he is a huge, loveable character of Christmas for us.

 

You couldn't pay me not to do the santa thing! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the whole Santa thing and I don't view it as a lie, it is a story that we get to live every Christmas season. I would have been more upset with my parents had they not let me have those years of magic.

 

I struggled with this a little, too. What I finally decided is that Santa is fun and I loved him when I was a kid. I figured it out the Christmas I was 5 and my mom made it into a big right of passage. Santa is the spirit of Christmas, and now I got to help play Santa for my little brother. But if I spilled the beans, I was in big trouble, LOL.

However, if my kids ask me a direct question about him, I'll tell the truth. I want them to know that they can trust me, on the little things and the big. My oldest figured it out when she was 6 and the idiots at the newspaper printed a "History of Santa Claus" on the back of the comics. My 10 year old just figured it out last Christmas. My 8 year old and younger kids haven't yet. So my oldest kids get to stay up a little later on Christmas Eve and help fill stockings and they have a lot of fun with that, especially when I ask them to put things in their own stockings. I still usually slip a few extra little goodies in after they've gone to bed, and they don't see the Santa gifts until Christmas morning (Santa doesn't wrap at our house).

 

Absolutely, 1,000% going with the story of Santa. My girls are SO excited about "him" this year.

Of course, since we got to church I do encourage believing in "the reason for the season" also. :good:

 

Wow this is an interesting discussion - I honestly never thought of telling the truth to them! I always knew we would participate in the fun of a "real" santa clause. I remember when I asked my parents about santa, and they told me he wasn't real - I was so upset that I knew "the truth" and couldn't believe in him anymore. Christmas was still fun after that, but it wasn't quite the same. So, for us, I dont consider it lying, but helping make christmas a bit more magical : )

Did you know that the average person tells 4 fibs/day? So, I am totally justifying this in the "good lie" category in our household : )

 

We do Santa here. Even my 10 year old still believes. I have never felt that I was lying to my kids and don't remember being upset when I found out the truth. I think it is part of the magic of Christmas (of course we still talk about the real reason as well) and childhood.

 

Before having kids, I was pretty adament that I would not do the whole Santa thing. I just felt like it would be lying. But their second Christmas (20 months), they already knew about Santa and were so excited when 'he' left them their diner toy.

Then last year (when they were 2 1/2) we spent Christmas with DH's sibs and their kids and one of my BILs dressed up like Santa and visited us on Christmas Eve. The girls went nuts for it! It was so exciting for all the kids and hearing all the details from their cousins cemented their love for the big man. I love the magic of it all, and remember that feeling growing up.

So yep, I changed my opinion on the whole thing, but I don't see it as lying. Its a fun story and makes the season so magical for us and them. My other concern was making sure Christmas isn't all about the presents and I think we are doing a good job of this by donating our time and stuff to other families in need of a little magic around the holidays.

 

We are doing Santa at my house. I remember how excited I used to be on Xmas Eve. My brother and I would sleep in the room together so whoever woke up in the middle of the night could wake the other so we could sneak into the living room to see what Santa left us. It was the best night of every year. I want my girls to experience that too! I never gave it a second thought, definitely doing Santa! I just don't know if I need to do Santa for the baby this year. Of course he won't know the difference but I wonder if the girls will ask if Santa doesn't leave anything for the baby.

 

Totally doing Santa! I can't wait! This is going to be the first year the boys really get it!!! I'm super excited! The other day there was a *dusting* of snow on the ground. I opened the shades to show the boys and Anthony goes, "Santa is coming!"

How could your heart not melt?!?!!? They are getting super excited, and I am turn as well. It will be magical through the eyes of the children!

 

We do the whole Santa thing at our house and I am really looking forward to the holiday season. The kids are so excited and there spirit is contagious. My Christmas spirit is totally renewed because of their joy and excitement over it.

 

We do Santa at our house. I remember it being so magical as a kid and racing home to try to beat him before he got to our house. We always went to my Great Grandma's party on Christmas Eve, so we were out late. I think I was in 3rd grade when I started asking questions b/c the other kids at school started talking about Santa not being real. I remember my Dad taking me to the basement and explaining that Santa was the spirit of Christmas and still was magical, but was not a real person. I was a bit dissappointed, but not scarred. I was the older sister, so I got the help keep the secret. We do have breakfast with Santa every year and I may even get into the excitement myself when we are driving on Christmas Eve and I see a red light blinking at the top of a water tower in the distance and say "Oh my, could that be Rudolf's nose? We better get home and get ready for bed!". You should hear the squeals of excitement and it's just magical. Oh, and Santa fills stockings and leaves toys unwrapped in our house. Presents from Mom and Dad are wrapped.