I have always wondered why parents would lie to their kids about a strange man coming into their home and leaving gifts. I have always told my kids how much we love them and that we buy them gifts, not because of their behavior, but because of our love for them. I can see dangers in santa, anyone could dress in a costume and easily entice a small child to come to them. the other problem I see is that most of us encourage our children to always tell the truth, yet we cross that barrier and set a double standard. children learn from parents.
LOL! Yes, children do learn from their parents. So, let your kids enjoy the mystery and suspence of Santa at Christmas time. It is a secret that will not make you kids into liers. Do you remember how you felt when you were a kid on Christmas Day? I do and it was some of the most remerable times of my life. Plus, I have 2 five year old kids and I am just in tears to see them enjoy and take in the entire experience. Plus, to see the happy and excited faces is like nirvana for me. Also, about a stranger comming up to your kids and having them sit on his lap. The ages that your kids will be in when they still belive in Santa should be still under adult supervision at all times! When your kids get older they should know all about what to do about "strangers". Please do not distroy your kids Christmas because you want to tell your kids that YOU bought the presents instead of Santa bringing them gifts. If so, just set aside one gift to be from Santa.................. ~namaste~
My kids know full well there's no Santa, but they still love the excitement of waiting for Santa! They love putting out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. They are willing co-conspirators at Christmas time. I really doubt that there are too many kids who have been emotionally traumatized by their parents indulging them in a little fantasy and fun that results in gifts under the tree. As for sitting on Santa's lap, my kids aren't going to be sitting on anyone's lap without me around.
Yes, then do like my parents did.... Wait till your daughter is twelve and the charade has got wildly out of control, then sit her down and blurt it all out (santa, toothfairy, the works) said daughter knew for a long time, but is now irrationally pissed that you shattered the last vestige of magic surrounding Christmas. Then for a finishing touch, demand she continues the charade so you can do the same to her brother in three years time. In the mean time daughter becomes very cynical about the whole Christmas shebang, and in an attempt to recapture the magic she will turn to witchcraft and debate whether practising rituals naked in your suburban garden in the middle of the night would be too outrageous. Yup that's all true, might possibly have overdone the emotional trauma angle though (I'm a writer, it's an occupational hazard) So no I'm not mad keen on Santa and such, but am not sure how to work through it. PS For the record I don't preform rituals naked.
Sage, I still tell my 22 y/o and 20 y/o that Santa brought them presents' just like my mother still tells me Santa brought me something!. Of course they (and I!) know I gave them, but it's still fun to pretend. I would never tell them Santa isn't real. They already know.
This reminds me of that episode of southpark where butters was visited by the ghost of christmas present, but he was actually some wanted child abductor...funny on tv.
i was never told there was no santa but i knew, i pretended to beleive as long as i could milk it for presents HAHA i was about 16 and still getting presents from this invisible man. anywhoo my little girl is so cute when she gets her presents, i woldnt want to make her feel like she is missing out, or ruin it for other kids at school, she will know he isnt real when the time is right!
The Santa thing has always bothered me. We give it little thought in our home. "Yeah, Santa's coming...." (Lackluster voice) and then get on with the real meaning of Christmas to us. (each family's meaning may be different.) Our kids figure it out pretty early (I think Sunshine was the youngest, at about four.) Mainly because Bear and I do nothing to play it up. We may write "From Santa" on a few presents, but that is it. Sage has never even "Seen" Santa. I know it is a benign custom, but I stil feel like I am lying if I pay it too much attention. We spend time with family. We celebrate with a "Baby Jesus Birthday Cake" I use White Fondant Icing and candles and we sing "Happy Birthday" on Christmas Day, we also celebrate Solstice on the 21, with NO electricity, candles everywhere, the fire going, and sushi and hor D'ourves for dinner. (Just a tradition we invented.)
My family does the same thing. Yes we do the entire "santa" thing plus we also have a Birthday Cake and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus as well. We do enjoy the presents but we also talk about why we celebrate Christmas and what the "REAL" meaning of Christmas is all about............... ~namaste~
Father Winter brings a small stocking of gifts on Yule evening. Then we exchange gifts from each other. On Christmas Eve we take our son to his catholic grandparents so he can open gifts with his jewish cousins. We have a very multicultural family. Kathi
Yeah, and I'm the Easter Bunny! I also never actually saw Santa - my parents both work in church, so we're always in church on Christmas evening. I've been told that Santa comes while we're at church. When I asked why Mom would close the living room door to "prepare things" if it was Santa who brought the presents she used to reply "Well, you see, Santa has to bring lots of kids their presents, so he just puts them in the parent's bedromm to save a little time and the parents do the rest." *lol* I knew Santa wasn't real pretty early, but there was still some kind of magic to Christmas because of him. Now I play Santa Claus, my sister'S the little angel, we do it just for our parents and ourselves, of course none of us still believes in Santa but it's still fun. When I was 7, a boy in my class claimed I and a friend of mine were stupid because we admitted we believed in God, and then said: "God is a tale for kindergarten children." And after a short pause: "But the Easter Bunny does exist!" He was completely serious and tried to prove it...
LOL I got roped into doing the santa thing for my brother. Was sort of fun, but I knew what a sham it was. Always kind of knew anyway (too many flaws in the set up) but being told outright was harsh. My folks never did the easter bunny thing. Which is fine by me.
Hehe, I also never saw the Easter bunny. When I was little and Mum and me would sit at the breakfast table on Easter morning the Easter bunny would knock (it took me a loooooooong time to find out my Mum was knocking under the table, I was just to excited to realize it I guess ), Mum would leave the room to let him in. The first years I asked whether I could come and see him, but Mum told me he was scared of kids and would run away if he saw me. But I was scared as well, sitting in the kitchen, motionless, I hardly dared to breathe because I thougt he could hear me and run away. I somehow imagined him to be a huge bunny (taller than my Mum!) walking on two legs... *lol* And my parents used to tell me the Easter bunny didn't like Santa Clause, so if I had any Christmas sweets left on Easter morning, the Easter bunny wouldn't give me any new ones. I was the "save everything untill it's gone bad" type of kid, but that little tale helped a lot. I remember once going to my Mum, very upset: "Mum, I still have got a chocolate Santa left! I forgot... Can you hide it??" So my parents hid the Santa and the following years I would always give my sweets to them if I had still some left. I suppose they ate them themselves. Edit: Oh, and never actually seeing Santa or the Easter bunny made the whole thing a LOT more exciting for me, I guess!
Shit, I wish I knew this. I wouldn't have spent more than $1000 on presents for my kids last year. You mean if I hadn't gone to the trouble and just gone to bed last year, the floor would be filled with gifts in the morning. Man, this would have saved me thousands over the years, if I had known.
when i think back on christmas when i was younger i'm surpised that no little kids has every thought about why are there so many sales papers coming in the mail around christmas. I love christmas it one of the only times i see my brother johny.(he lives in california and i live in Indiana) and i love buying gifts for friends/family. But i do miss the "whole santa thing" putting out cookies and beer (how do u think santa got that beer gut ), carrots for santa raindeers. and i miss the stories we would get read before we would go to sleep.But i got nephews so it still fun.
I'm not crazy about the whole Santa charade either. My family tends to pump my oldest son up about it, and before, he never really paid a whole lot of attention. This year, he's anxiously awaiting "Santa's" arrival. I'm not all that thrilled about it, but part of me says why not. I was brought up in a "Santa" household and at the time, I felt that it was such a "magical" and exciting thing. I knew there wasn't a Santa way before my parents told me, but I liked playing along with things because it was like holding onto my childhood innocense for a little bit longer and just getting lost in the world of make-believe. It was fun. My husband never had Christmas, as his mother was a Jehovah's witness. So all of this Christmas stuff is still brand new for him. He really gets into it, but he's not fond of the Santa ordeal either. I did have a bit of resentment about being "lied" to as a child, but it wasn't something that traumatized me. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle Christmas this year. My oldest son is chirping about "how is Santa going to get down our chimney, and what kind of cookies should I leave him" and I don't say much. I let him talk, but I don't play into it. I guess I'm kind of letting him do things on his own in a way and not encouraging, but not discouraging, if that makes any sense. *lol* My twins are too young yet to get into the whole Santa bit, and I think they'd be freaked out thinking about some strange guy coming into their house since they're not fond of strangers. Peace.
I think the fun of it is that the kids wonder if hes real or not and it gives wonder to something that would otherwise not have it. anyplace you can ad wonder to something is goot for kids. Pretending too. Of corse you dont want to overdoo it and then you let them find out its not real later on...when most kids find out anyways I have never heard of it being so devistating to kids. They still get their gifts.
