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We don't do Santa at home, but approach it more as a school thing since St. Nicholas comes to visit them at school. We've talked about how it's just a story, like dragons or fairies, but my son still wants to believe.

We do Santa. Santa is not watching your ever move, though. Kids should be good because they want to please their mom and dad. Not because some creepy fat guy in a red suit is watching them. I want Santa to be fun! And he is.

My husband's family hard-core did Santa and I don't recall ever believing, so we have different ideas about Santa. I treat it like we're pretending, and he wants to take it a bit more seriously because kids are little for such a short time. But I grew up in a poor rural area and no one really believed because a lot of kids presents only came from people who adopted families or charities. So I just have a really different outlook on it all. It's sucks when a kid thinks that they're not good enough because their parents couldn't afford to have "Santa" bring them what they wanted. I think we've come to an understanding this year, where Santa just brings one present that he can specifically ask him for, and then he asks us for the rest. I think we're just going to let it play out however it does and not worry too much about it. I don't think it's a big deal in the whole scheme of things.

I'm totally with you!! As a kid, I knew about Santa and liked the idea, but I wasn't obsessed. I don't even remember "finding out" that Santa wasn't real, so it probably wasn't a big deal to me. I don't want to deprive DS (9mo) of Santa because it's fun! It's a part of childhood! But I don't want to make it a whole big thing, partly because I'm also not a huge fan of Christmas being so much about presents either.

So I think we'll just go along with things and let him observe Santa traditions and try to evade his questions about Santa. But if he ever asks point-blank "Is Santa real?" I have no idea what we'll say!

@regberadaisy: I think the idea is cute and finding the Elf every morning looks fun for the kids...but the whole, "Elf is watching your every move and telling Santa on you" and all the work involved (my elf would end up in the same place for a week haha) turns me off.

And he's got that weird, vintage, creepy face that I don't like. Haha!

@artsyfartsy: I think our elf is adorable, actually! My girls LOVE him, first thing they do when they wake up is look for him

My oldest is the same age. I'm not sure exactly where she even heard of Santa (TV? kids at preschool? My inlaws?) but she loved talking to him at the mall and points him out in Christmas decorations we pass. We have been following her lead and she really hasn't asked any questions about how he gets to so many houses or anything. Next year we will probably get that though.

@Bao: I think the idea is so cute! I debated on doing it because I know finding him would be fun for LO every morning, but ultimately it's just not my thing.

@Anagram: In Colombia, Baby Jesus brings the gifts.

We will do Santa, but not in a "he's watching your every move" kind of way. I grew up believing in Santa, but not religious at all. DH grew up very Catholic and in a culture that doesn't have Santa, but where Baby Jesus brought gifts to the kids. I think we have settled on Santa is Baby Jesus's helper in the US and one of them brings kids a present during the night. (We need to have explanations for both cultures since we alternate years in the US and Colombia.)

Undecided. I want to keep Christmas religious but OH insists on Santa. We are trying to figure out a good combination between Saint Nicholas and Santa.

@artsyfartsy: that's ok! It's not for everyone

Totally in the same boat. My parents didn't understand Santa at all but they tried... we use to get presents from Santa on x-mas eve and x-mas!! My parents didn't know which day he came. Hahaha. We didn't complain.

I think you still have a lot of time to figure this!!

My LO is almost 4 and he's just starting to ask about Santa, we talk about it but I don't think he gets it. We will probably have one present from Santa but I don't think he will understand since he's getting presents from a lot of people that aren't going to be physically with us on x-mas. I plan to explain more if he asks. This year I don't think we will leave cookies and milk out but I was thinking maybe later on we will. We don't have a fireplace so I'm not sure what to say about that either.

We really don't want to ever lie to her. But we'll discuss Santa in the context of a fun game we all play.

We are undecided on how hard-core we're going to be in how we present this to relatives. Like, if Grandma says "What do you want Santa to bring you" and LO says "Santa isn't real" I don't know how big of a thing we are interested in making out of it. I find usually it's better to let things slide so we'll see how it goes.

A big YES to Santa!! Childhood is a such a short but magical time, I love sharing every part of that magic with LO