santa or not to santa?

[RainandRedemption]

I'm sorry but I disagree with you.

[cbreeding]

Personally I don't do the whole Santa thing, but I'm not really good with the whole pretend thing. However I have taught them that Santa is a character symbol of generosity and the holidays. So although there is no real person who drops off presents at our house, my kids know who Santa is and people use "Santa" as a way to be generous with no expectations.

[SarahS12]

Santa 110%. I LOVE the holidays and remember how magical they were for me as a child and can't wait to give that experience to my son. We are atheist so there isn't any conflict there.

[mapleleaf88]

Originally Posted by cbreeding Personally I don't do the whole Santa thing, but I'm not really good with the whole pretend thing. However I have taught them that Santa is a character symbol of generosity and the holidays. So although there is no real person who drops off presents at our house, my kids know who Santa is and people use "Santa" as a way to be generous with no expectations.

I love that explanation! A way to be generous with no expectations! Filing that away for the future!

[bluedaisyma]

no santa and my kids have awesome childhoods, even as young adults they have no clue why "some parents tell their kids a STRANGER is watching them and comes in at night to leave presents"

[madebymommy]

Originally Posted by amholb0 I was a strange child that worried over way too much. (Seriously I stressed about health insurance in elementary school and we had it, I was just worried I would grow up and not be smart enough to have a job and get it. I also had stress ulcers in high school. Not normal!) Santa scared me, not just the creepy guy that you take the picture with (for the record DH plays Santa so, I know not all are creepy but, I hated strangers as a child, big shock huh?) but, just the idea of some strange man coming into my house while I was sleeping. I don't know why just Santa, I was fine with the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. Anyway, DH and I have this ongoing debate about whether to do Santa or not and the conclusion we've come to is, we'll do Santa as long as DS seems okay with it but, if he's hesitant at all we'll stop.

Omg, me too! I was literally up all night, scared that some dude was coming to my house in the middle of the night! Haha and yes, same thing with all the other seasonal characters.

We do Santa here though. The kids love it.

[KingsDaughter76]

We don't do santa here. My kids have been taught the true story of santa from a young age. They know who he was and what he did and they also know he does not live anymore. We prefer to keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus. We still have tons of fun and Christmas is a very special and wonderful time for our family. :-) My older kids say they never felt like they missed out or anything and are actually glad we did not tell them a "lie" (as they put it). I also feel my kids know they can trust me to always be straight with them, and never tell them stories or try to get them to believe that something is real when it is not. :-)

[amholb0]

Originally Posted by madebymommy Omg, me too! I was literally up all night, scared that some dude was coming to my house in the middle of the night! Haha and yes, same thing with all the other seasonal characters. We do Santa here though. The kids love it.

Well, glad I'm not the only one. I really had a happy childhood, I was just strange!

[jac1976]

We do Santa. I love Santa, and I love watching kids believe in the magic. We have an Elf on the Shelf, they get their pictures taken with Santa every year, and the kids go to bed with an empty tree and wake up to all of their presents. We don't go overboard- Santa usually brings the one gift they are begging for and we give them 3-4 more.

At my FILs house, even the grown ups still get Santa gifts.

[taylor's mom]

Originally Posted by KingsDaughter76 We don't do santa here. My kids have been taught the true story of santa from a young age. They know who he was and what he did and they also know he does not live anymore. We prefer to keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus. We still have tons of fun and Christmas is a very special and wonderful time for our family. :-) My older kids say they never felt like they missed out or anything and are actually glad we did not tell them a "lie" (as they put it). I also feel my kids know they can trust me to always be straight with them, and never tell them stories or try to get them to believe that something is real when it is not. :-)

we do a santa picture every year because it's a fun holiday picture, and because the kids know it's dh (he plays santa for the fire dept's town holiday thing. prior to kids, we used to pick one family we knew personally that needed a little help around the holidays and then annonymously do gifts for the kids/family and maybe some holiday meal stuff if we had the extra for that too. the year i had dd, i took over running the town's secret sanat program for families in need of assistance. depending on where we are financially in a given year, i pick out a child or a family with a couple kids, and make sure the age is similar to my kiddos. then the kids help me do the shopping . they love helping pick out gifts for another child and knowing they get to give it "secretly" like the original st nicholas.
i don't remember doing santa as a kid, though i know my parents did do it. and i've never understood the 'magic' of santa. i mean, the holidays are magical enough, but i don't get what's so magical about some strange man who gets you stuff and then sneaks into your house while you're sleeping to drop it off. it actually sounds kinda creepy to me if you really consider it. i prefer christmas to be more about family, and doing for others.
i've taught my children that santa is a fun thing for some families to pretend. we don't say that it's a lie or fake, just that it isn't something we choose to pretend. they also know that they are to respect that and not ruin the fun for other people by saying santa isn't real.