The Santa Debate

I was raised with Santa. I always assumed I would raise my kids with Santa. Which is why I am finding myself in a really tough place this year.

Last year, Santa freaked the girls out, but we figured that 9 months was probably a bit too early. The girls LOVED the Easter Bunny at brunch in the spring when they were 1, so we thought they'd be ready for Santa this year.

We have family members who dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus. We invited them over to have dinner as the Clauses. We thought it would be a great way for the girls to get to know Santa outside of a chaotic photo/mall/party setting. Once again, the girls freaked out, crying and screaming the moment they walked in the door. We even bought gifts for Santa to give them. The girls couldn't be bought (but they loved the gifts after the Clauses were out the door). It made me wonder why we were working so hard to get our girls to buy into Santa. Eventually, they will have to learn he's not real. Are we really adding to the magic of childhood by getting them to buy into Santa? Should I really be working this hard to convince them that a guy in a fuzzy red suit isn't creepy? Isn't it possible to give them the joy of Christmas, and the spirit of giving, without Santa?


Anyone else struggling with this this year?

 

My kids have never liked Santa... well, my dd is shy.. and even this year, being 6, she really didn't want to go anywhere physically near, but she is totally into the idea of Santa. We started doing Elf on the Shelf, which comes with a neat story, this year and the kids are just awestruck! My son will sit on anyone's lap but my dd and her younger brother are different. That is not bad. A lot of kids do not like anything to do with Santa at your kids' age. Don't let that ruin the magic for them. Remember, Santa is meant not to be seen... he arrives in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep to bring toys/stuff. :hug:

 

Eh, mine are shy and this year I thought would be the year they didn't freak out about Santa. Nope. Maybe next year. I plan on raising them with the knowledge that Santa isnt real, just a character like a Disney Princess. :tomato:

 

We do Santa but we do not do Santa pictures. No way would either of my boys sit or even stand near Santa. This is fine with me. We read Christmas stories and I have pointed out Santa at the mall. They are very excited this year. They do not have to ever meet Santa to be excited about it.

As for Santa not being real etc. I had no issue finding out Santa was not "real". It was a natural progression for me to realize the real meaning of Christmas. I hope to be able to share the magic of Christmas with the boys. Childhood is so short especially in this day and age. Letting a little magic in their life at this age is priceless.

That being said we do not overly emphasize Santa. The boys will get a stocking and one "santa" gift. My nephew did not like Santa at all. We had to tell him at age 3 that he was not real so he would come downstairs and open presents. So it depends on the child's personality. So while I share the magic of Santa with the boys we emphasize other aspects of Christmas as well. This will also help the transition from believing in Santa to understanding the real meaning of Christmas.

 

I think Santa is a to each their own prospect. In our house, Santa brings books and clothes. The more expensive gifts are from Mom and Dad. And when the family gives gifts it is from them and not Santa.
I have no issue with my kids believing in Santa, it makes Christmas fun but at the same time while their understanding is a little limited, I want them to keep Santa in perspective...to realize that just because you ask Santa for something or a list of things, doesn't mean you are going to get all of those items.
As for Santa photos, as shy as my kids are, I am surprised Santa does not freak them out. They do decent with the Santa photos. I know when I was growing up my mother went through several years of me freaking out about Santa, he scared the beejesus out of me (and I hate to admit, so did ET) and my Mom still insisted on a Santa picture every year, no matter how upset I was. I think if either one of my kids got as upset as I did about a Santa photo, I'd skip out that year.

 

You should see our pics (one in my avi) from 07 (15 months) and 08 (27 months). Fuh-freak-ing out. Even at 3, one of my girls was still hesitant but she sat on his lap. This year - they LOVE him. Love.Love.Love. It is absolutely adorable how excited they get to talk to him and tell him what's on their list and then they willingly pose and we take a picture. I love doing the Santa thing and everything about it.

Definitely give it some time, if you want to keep going with it.

 

My boys are totally into Santa this year, but I definitely wouldn't try to force it on them if they seemed freaked out by it. I would say don't push it, and if you want, you can try again next year. Or if not, that is fine, too.

 

The whole Santa thing is two different questions to me. First, there's whether you talk about Santa and have him bring gifts to your kids. We do. Santa isn't huge in our house, but we read Twas the Night Before Christmas and Santa will bring the girls one present each.

The second question for me is whether you take your kids (or force them) to visit a mall Santa or other Santa character. We don't. I just don't see the value for my kids. They don't get anything out of it, and most of their friends who get their pictures taken have hated it. So I don't think we'll ever try that, especially since my kids are too smart to believe that Santa looks different every time we see him. We've already explained that those are just people dressing up in costume.

 

My two love Santa. I'm trying to knock him down a peg or two. But this is the first year that both really liked him, it helps that my father looks a lot like Santa and they're not scared of big guys with white beards. Last year, Alice was excited, Royce was scared. Year before we didn't do pictures because they were both scared.

My sister used to be scared of anything in costume, Chuck E. Cheese was bad, the characters at Disney were the worst. I think she was just fearful because they didn't look like people.

 

we love Santa here but we dont' do Santa pictures. We talk about how Santa is magic and my oldest's favorite christmas ornament we have is one of Santa kneeling over the manger and the baby Jesus. We watch the Christmas movies and read the books. My oldest has not wanted to do Santa pictures sense she was 3 and the twins were not super thrilled last year at 6months so we just opted to skip it this year. I have pictures with Santa for each of my kids 1st Christmas's but then I am done. I don't want to scare my kids so I can pay 50 bucks for a 5x7 photo of my kids screaming on a strangers lap LOL. I will let them believe and encourage it for as long as I can. I believe that having that belief is part of being a child (JMO) and that our kids are asked to grow up far to fast now a days. I love that my 10 year old still writes letters to Santa, can't wait to see where her elf on the shelf has moved each day and believes in the magic and wonder of Christmas. St Nicholas was a real person and when she gets to the point where she is not a believer anymore I will teach her about the real "Santa" but until then I will let the magic of Santa and being a kid go on as long as possible.

 

This is where we are. The girls love stories about Santa and seeing him on TV, but when we tried to go, it want happening. I don't think photos are worth the time or money. The magic of Santa was never really part of my childhood. I knew Mom bought and wrapped gifts around 6, and sometimes had to wrap my own gifts as a teenager. I'm hoping to keep the magic of surprise gifts as long as possible even if the myth of Santa doesn't live long.