i will, i think its all in good fun and brings so much excitement for the holidays!
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Im Jewish, but my mom told me there was a Santa and he gave me a small gift on Christmas because I was a good Jewish girl. Really it was so I wouldn't blab to my friends that Santa wasn't real.
But dh is very very against this and doesn't think a Jewish house should have Santa. We'll tell her he's real, just doesn't come to us Jews and instead we have special chanukah gifts. She'll go to a temple preschool so hopefully it wont be much of an issue.
My bil broke the Santa's not real news to all his friends and my mil had to go appologize..... I don't want that to be me!
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Oh Santa will definitely be real in our house!! I think that's a really magical part of childhood.
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@artbee: How fascinating!!! I don't remember ever even wondering if he was real, I think I always just assumed not.
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Santa is a must in my family. According to my grandparents and parents if you don't believe in Santa, you don't get christmas presents. I am so excited to share this tradition with DS when he gets to be a little older.
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Absolutely!!! There is just so much innocence in the magic of Santa, I wouldn't take that away from my baby girl.
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We will but if LO starts asking questions I will say something like "some people believe, some people don't, regardless of wether he is real or not that he represents a nice idea, etc."
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I was just going to start this thread!!! haha.
Nope!! We never had santa growing up. My mom said that when she was a kid, her mom did the whole santa thing, and when she found out he wasn't real, she was bitter against her mother for years for lying to her. I do think that if you have that point of view it can be detrimental... although I'm sure it varies kid to kid. My mom was definitely more affected than other kids I know.
Either way I didn't ever believe in Santa, and DS won't either.
My mom still made santa a "fun thing" though - we may not have believed he was real, but she taught us all about the real St. Nick and how he was a kind and generous person. She also addressed some gifts from "santa" even though we knew it was from her
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I just asked DH about this. I thought he would say no but he surprised me and said yes. He said that's what makes Christmas so much fun for the kids. Plus I don't want our kids being "that kid" who argues with the others saying Santas not real. DH is really starting to surprise me with the things he wants for our family.
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My DD is just getting into Santa and I'm so excited! It brings so much more anticipation and excitement to the holidays that I can't imagine what Christmas would be like without Santa. And, when she starts to ask about if Santa is real, I will respond how my dad did "do you think I would buy you all those gifts?"
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Definitely! I cannot wait. DH didn't grow up with holidays so he's very excited to play Santa!
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At first I thought definitely not, but now, meh, it seems like fun. And there's only a few years with the magic of Christmas for her!
BUT I keep wanting to buy stocking stuffers with her there. Yesterday I had to covertly hand something to my DH and say "make sure you put that on your xmas list!"
It is a whole new world for us!!
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I'm pretty torn about this. Lala is at an age where she could really get into it or now. Santa is part of the dominant culture here, so I'd hate to rob her of something the other kids have, but I don't think I'm going to go out of my way to make a big deal about it.
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We'll do Santa, although I doubt we'll go overboard with it. My mom told me from when I was very little that Santa was just a man in a suit. It ended up causing big problems b/c I told my cousin (my age and a Santa believer) that Santa was a man in a suit, after I was explicitly told not too. It doesn't really work to tell a 4-year-old to *not* share a piece of information that they know. I got in big trouble, and my cousin never entirely forgave me! I'd rather just go along with telling DD about Santa so she doesn't get herself in trouble like I did.
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Yes, I have fond childhood memories of Santa, so I want to pass that along to my future LO!
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I'd like to do it. My husband isn't so keen on the idea, but I think it's fun so he's willing to go along with it.
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i remember knowing the story of santa, but i don't remember ever thinking he was real. if our child learns about santa, it likely won't be from me.
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I'm not religious but I can't imagine not having our kids believe in Santa. It just makes the holiday so much more fun and magical.
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Definitely! My parents made Santa so much fun for us when we were little. By the time I figured it out, I understood why and happily played along for my brother. We still understood what Christmas is really all about, went to church and Catechism and had plenty of religious traditions as well, so I don't see it as a problem from that standpoint.
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Yes! And parents who don't want to better teach their kids to keep their mouth shut! When my niece was 7 someone told her at school that Santa was not real. She told me in the saddest voice that her friend said there's no Santa. I immediately proclaimed of course he's real!!! Don't listen to your friend. Ugh made me SO mad.
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Yes. We will teach about st. Nicholaus and all that.
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@regberadaisy: Awww... see my reply above. It's really hard to teach little kids to keep their mouths shut.
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@skibobrown: I know, I know. I was just so sad for her! She was at that age where Santa is the best. That was the saddest I've ever heard her voice! I just wanted to squeeze her so hard and shield her forever.
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We will definitely teach our kids about santa. It just makes the holidays so much more magical!
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Of course! Santa played a big part of my childhood. We always celebrated the religious aspects of Christmas, but we had all the Santa fun too. I want my kids to have both too!
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I guess I just don't remember anything magical about Santa. It's not a big deal in our family.
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I am so excited about seeing Ariela get excited about Santa, writing to him, leaving carrots and cookies on Christmas Eve... Us leaving white footprints in the house for her so she'll know he's been.... I think I'll start this year, even though she'll only be about 5 weeks old!
@regberadaisy: this happened to my niece too last year, I was so sad for her, even though she didn't fully believe her friend I think the element of doubt took away a lot of the magic for her. Poor thing!
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Yes! I get offended when people get all adamant about how it's lying to your kids. St. Nicholas is a real figure in my religion! I was never traumatized about finding out. I just figured it out eventually. And didn't tell my mom because she'd be too upset.
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Definitely. I just turned and asked DH this and he looked at me like I asked if we would feed our children or something, so he's on board.
@artbee: I think the way your mom handled it was really sweet. And smart to avoid having to be the mom going over to apologize for ruining Christmas.
But, all kids eventually learn he's not real, whether it's a kid with an older sibling who told them, or whatever, so you can't really blame however they find out.
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@Foodnerd81: yes at first I wanted to do it my moms way too.... but I understand where dh is coming from. We're Jewish, we don't do Santa. As long as I'm not flat out telling lo he doesn't exist, I think we should be fine. I just hope she's not sad that Santa doesn't come to her house or think she's been bad, especially because her cousins will be having Santa.
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@artbee: Oh, yeah, the way you guys decided makes perfect sense too! I didn't actually know any Jewish kids growing up, so I have no idea how most families do it.
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Yes for sure ! I love the magic of Christmas and all that comes along with it
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@artbee: um if I were her I'd much rather get gifts for 8 days straight than just one day!
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@regberadaisy: yes my friends were jealous of me growing up! But really Christmas is a much bigger deal, not only is it everywhere we look (luckily wont be in her preschool but will be in elementary) but for us its not an important holiday. It was just made bigger because kids were jealous of Christmas. Still we will celebrate and make it special for her.
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Yes definitely! I remember being so excited for Santa to come, putting out cookies and milk, etc.. I want DS to experience it all.
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Neither of us grew up believing in Santa, and we won't teach or kids that he's real. Christmas is more of a Holy day for us anyway. I'm not against Santa, and will watch movies and read stories about him, we'll just talk about him like we do about any story. Nutcracker's don't really come to life, but the story is still magical and fun!
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We're pro-Santa in my house!
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No I wont tell my LO that santa is real. I will tell her that santa is a fictional character and that we as her parents buy the gifts. As a christian I want my child to understand that christmas is about the birth of Christ and what that means. not a magical person with flying reindeer.
I was glad my parents explained it to me this way. I still liked santa just as much as I liked other fictional character like the little mermaid or snow white -
I'm not sure. I didn't grow up believing in Santa. My parents treated Santa the same way that @Mrs. Superhero and @Mrsbells mentioned. I certainly don't feel like I missed any of the magic of Christmas by not believing in Santa. My husband grew up with Santa and very much wants our kids to do the same. I have no idea what we'll do.
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DH and I didn't believe in Santa growing up and we discussed and decided that our kids won't believe in him either.
We want to teach our children what the true meaning of Christmas is.
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44 comments