Hellobee Boards

We will absolutely do Santa. Christmas has always been my absolute favorite time of year and a huge part of that was believing in the magic of Santa. I understand it's not a route chosen by everyone, but it works for us.

My parents always told us that some of the gifts were from Santa and some were from them, but everything was addressed as being "from Santa" so we always made sure to thank both Santa and my parents for each gift. I feel like this helped me understand and practice thankfulness and gratitude.

We do Santa. My life wasn't crushed when I figured out he wasn't real, and I have no resentment towards my parents for "lying" to me. I just remember the magic of it all.

We also have an Elf on the Shelf.

We will be!

@swedishfish: lol maybe because the elves are "supposed" to arrive the day after Thanksgiving? at least, that's what I hear on the internet

we have an elf, my grandmother bought it for us before I was pregnant actually! she told me to put it away until I could use it.

We will use it but not like some people do. It'll probably just move around the top half of the tree. Exciting.

@swedishfish: tell her he decided to go back to the North Pole

@swedishfish: Oh geeze! I hope no one buys it for us! I'm guessing she got it for Thanksgiving because the Elf is supposed to show up the next day?

I have mixed feelings about the elf. On one hand, it kind of goes in line with the whole "magic" element (which is, essentially, why we're choosing to include the Santa tradition), and I like that it lends itself to lots of creativity (I know my husband would go nuts modeling different "elf" scenarios). However, in the story book that goes along with it, it's basically said that if the child touches the elf, he looses his magic. My husband's coworker's four year old daughter spent almost an entire day over the weekend *wailing* because she accidentally played with the elf, and basically thought she ruined Christmas.

I've seen "fairy doors" that can be installed on the bottom of your wall, or in a doorway, and that seems more up my alley. I love the idea of leaving small, fairy gifts, or leaving little "footprints" or tiny messes about the house.

ME!!! I loved Santa as a little girl and DD already points him out everywhere (she's 19 months)

@Silva: My parents also didn't really do the naughty-nice thing when I was a kid, and that's the part about the elf that makes me a little uncomfortable. The whole "spying" aspect of it. Partly because I think it sounds a little weird, but also I want my kids to be good all year round because it's the right thing to do, not because it's a means to an end (i.e. getting presents). That being said, I think I could see myself using the elf, or something similar, just as a fun thing to hide in a different place every day and let the kids find, like a daily scavenger hunt

@BabyMats: hahaha

I was sad when I found out too, but I have such fond memories of it and wasn't resentful at all. I love the magic of it!

We'll do Santa. I was not raised to believe in Santa and I feel a bit cheated, so I'm totally going to live vicariously through E, lol.

I'm on the fence about Elf on a Shelf. I had pretty much decided against it until the day after Thanksgiving this year, when my SIL's mom called to tell my nephews that their elf Merv had arrived. The boys were almost as excited to hear Merv was back as they are about Santa!

We are doing Santa and the elf. My husband loves moving the elf and this is the first year our DS gets it and he gets so excited to look for him. I have some friends who truly go all out for Elf on the Shelf and I love their photos and creativity. I told my Dh he better up his game lol Luckily for him DS is still young he wont appreciate it so he has time to hone in his creativity

We dont use the elf as a way to make DS good, we want him to be good always its just one more fun thing to do for the holiday season and its only really 20 something days to do it anyway

@lovehoneybee: Merv?! love it -- LOVE it!

@deerylou: I LOVE the idea of the fairy door and footprints! Sounds so magical!

We do Santa! My oldest is 5 this year and FULL of questions! How does he get down the chimney? What if there isn't a chimney? How does he watch the whole world at one time? Does he give the dolphins presents? What does he eat when he gets hungry? Does Santa like egg nog? etc etc etc - its fun to see how excited he is!!!

We don't do elf on the shelf - no time - but we do have a plush elf that sits high up on the ledge of the sliding and we tell DS that he watches the kids for Santa and reports back to him

Team Santa FTW!