I am unsure about Santa: Advice?

When my oldest was 5 he came to me and looked me in the eyes and asked me if Santa was real. When I started talking about the magic and fun of Christmas he very seriously asked me “is he real!?!?” I told him the truth. It sucked. But it was one thing to let him believe and another to just straight up lie to his face, I just couldn’t do it. I was very sad about it but you know, he’s fine! He still loves Christmas and all the fun and we have the type of relationship where when he asks me something I try to tell him the age appropriate truth. Every family is different and I’m not sure there’s a right answer, just depends on your kid.

Just wondering why would you not do Santa. I have been there done that already.

We don’t do “Santa” at my house. I explained to my kids that Santa use to be real but he died, and some parents choose to keep his spirit alive by getting their kids gifts and saying they’re from Santa. We also told them that they can’t ruin Santa for children who’s parents are trying to keep Santa’s spirit alive because it’s something similar to god in some households (we personally don’t believe there is a god, but believe there is a higher power, and choose to educate our children on multiple religions and let them choose what to believe in from there and support what they choose to believe in instead of forcing our beliefs on our children because my husband is catholic, my family is undenominational Christian, and I choose to believe there is a higher power out there but I don’t know what or who that is). It is just something that we chose for our family and agreed on. We do Christmas Eve boxes with movies and pajamas and slippers and books and snacks every year on Christmas Eve, and do stockings on Christmas morning with a few gifts before we go to families Christmas breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

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In our house santa only brings the things you need that fit in the stockings. They also get one small “gift” from santa. Me & my hubby buys the big things

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The magic of Santa is a childhood memory that I will always treasure… the mystery, the magic, the excitement, the thrill… I couldn’t wait to replicate that for my children and I now have 4 of my own and a step child who get just as excited about him as I used to be. You’re a child for such a short space of time, I want them to believe anything is possible if you just believe. My 12 year old step daughter doesn’t believe anymore and she knows the truth but she has openly told me she still wants to keep that magic alive… she says it’s not believing in Santa that makes putting the reindeer food out on Christmas Eve, Or leaving out the mince pies etc that’s the magic, it’s the whole uniting in fun things as a family and she wants to continue and treasure it. At 12 and not believing anymore those things are still special to her and that’s what makes it all worth it. It’s not Santa per say, it’s the magic it brings x

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I’ve never done the Santa thing. My kids know where their presents come from and have no problem with it.

I really just didn’t feel like lying to them. I also never had a conversation with them about what to say to friends at school or whatever. They’ve never said anything that im aware of. Im not going to lie to them or ask them to lie. Just not a thing we do in our family.

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We tell our children that we send the money to Santa, that way they know it’s what parents can afford, as I don’t think it’s fair for those that can’t afford much to think it’s because of behaviour or favouritism

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We have always done santa, but the big ticket items have always been from mom and dad. This way children from less fortunate homes won’t feel less love when they get a board game, while Santa brought another an X BOX.

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I grew up kinda poor. So when Santa got me socks and my friends got a easy bake oven I got sad that Santa didn’t get me anything cool. So no santa in my house

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I wish I hadn’t done it. I didn’t like lying. And when my teen year old told me she knew she said, “I was sad, at first, that you lied to me.” :sob::sob: I don’t think it’s a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, but I think I’d do it differently if i could.

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We do Santa even though our son is only a year and a half. However our traditions are more leas about time spent with family for the holidays not just Santa coming. And we only do a few small things from Santa where as the bigger gifts come from mom and dad

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You don’t have to. I am thankful for not growing up with Santa because I knew my parents did the best they could and this big man didn’t give me less toys or less expensive toys than other kids. I don’t wanna do Santa with my kids for the same reason but hubby does and I’m not gonna take it from him if he wants to have kids grow up with Santa. It’s really not the end of the world either way.

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We never really pushed santa onto our older son. He was so matter of fact. If we told him about something like that he had a million questions to follow. I dont care what other people do, but for him he got fun gifts from us, got to see “santa” randomly ringing a bell outside a store or at the mall and that was it…lol he knew it was something make believe and just for fun. Way easier to explain then a string of elaborate white lies.

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We did Santa and when the kids got old enough to question it we told them that there is no one person called Santa but that as grown ups we get to take part in the act of giving become Santa’s. it is a way of learning how good it feels to give but it is important to let the little people continue to believe so they get to help keep the secret.

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My ex wanted our son to believe so badly, but he figured it out by the time he was around four. I was happy. I don’t like the idea of teaching him fairy tales just to realize that we lied to him.

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I hate lying to my daughter. But also she’s so into the thought of Santa and the tooth fairy etc. I make sure the biggest/most expensive isn’t from Santa but from me. Because there will always be children who get more or less from “Santa” and it’s not fair that one child gets very extravagant gifts and the other doesn’t

Sadly, my son no longer believes. He’s 10! I still ask him to pretend and don’t give away all the details. I still write from santa. They only believe for such a short time, I say let them believe.

You could literally make up your own version. Me and my man aren’t religious either. But we are a blended family so all 3 believe in Santa. You could skip him all together and just say its toy making elves. It’s your family you get to create your own traditions as you please. Just make it special for all of you. Honestly the more unique to your family the better, makes for better memories imo.

Please let him believe is something magical. Santa. Kids love Santa.

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In our house we leave out milk and cookies (her idea not mine), and Santa gets asked for 1 thing, and brings one thing if she can behave. Mom and Dad and family give the rest. We don’t want our kids to question why they get more or less than other children. So Santa brings one, and she knows that some parents tell their kids Santa brings it all, and some parents tell their kids Santa isn’t real. We said whenever you stop believing in Santa he stops bringing you a gift. Some kids never notice. She’s welcome to stop believing when she’s ready. She has never directly asked if he’s real though, just pondered aloud. So that’s what I told her. If she asks me directly, I’ll be honest. She’s 11 now though, so I feel like this year she’ll ask me at some point. She’s also socially immature, and very imaginative, and autistic, so… I’m in no rush if she’s not. The other one is only 18 months old. However, I’m quite certain she will ruin it for him if she finds out the truth. :confused:

Let kids be kids they are only young for a short time especially with this crazy world we are in

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Santa is a fictional character and this type of character does not even exist does not exist a participating in this mode of living is a lie and a sin

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All big presents in my household are from family, all needed things (socks, clothes, bedding ect) are from Santa

What I do in my house is that Santa bring them their stockings and the rest of the gifts are from mom and dad

We always told our kids Santa can only bring what Mom and Dad can pay for as there are so many children in the world. However our biggest emphasis was on the religious beliefs about Christmas. When our boys were 10 and 11 we had a baby girl and ask them if we should tell her about Santa. They both said YES. They enjoyed playing Santa for her.

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I just domt know how I would explain to my daughter that Santa is not coming after seeing friends, school, Christmas movies, malls, commercials etc exploit the whole Santa gig. I just put a small gift and all the good stuff is from us.

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I remember believing in the magic of Santa and i want that for my kids! My parents always just did one gift from Santa, could be big or little. We do the same for our kids now.

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We taught our girls the “spirit” of Santa and the joy of giving gifts to loved ones. Everyone participates!

I don’t remember Santa being featured in the bible :woman_shrugging:

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Gotta let kids have some magic in life, growing up Santa was probably my favorite thing I remember. Being so excited to tell him what I wanted for Christmas, leaving cookies and milk out and to find that eaten was awesome. And as a parent now its even better because I get to see the joy in their faces. Let them have that while they can, they get older and the world isn’t always good. They are only little for a small while then its gone.

My kids know Santa isn’t real for the fact anyone can get a Santa costume and I don’t need some weirdo dressing up as Santa and trying to abduct my kids. The world is to real for me to have them trusting strangers in costumes.

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Although our daughter knows about Santa we aren’t forcing it upon her and as she gets older we will explain that others may believe so let them believe

Up to you on how you want to have your traditions. I never told my son about Santa but he learned from other kids. Hes asked about him if hes real and I ask him what does he think. He is 8 and has an idea that Santa isn’t real but hasn’t said it yet. But I dont give big presents from Santa. I give maybe 2-3 smaller gifts from him and everything else from us. However I dont mind either way if he believes. It’s just something fun for him

Omg how can u do that to your children

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My kids knew from day 1 the truth. It didn’t kill their joy or the magic of the season. I did it because I watched how devastated my stepson was when he learned the truth and I never wanted to subject my kids to that kind of lying. Im not judgmental though… each family can do as they wish :wink:

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I think kids need to have as much magic as possible until their lives SUCK with reality.

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I think letting them believe in Santa is good for them. It’s no different than unicorns or anything else we let them believe in. Plus, all the kids around your child will be getting presents from Santa. You run the risk of them wondering why Santa doesn’t bring them presents, too, or ruining he secret for their friends or relatives if you just tell them the truth, and possibly get people mad at them or you.

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We always wanted our children to know we worked hard to buy their presents. So one special gift was wrapped in different paper and that was from Santa. The rest was from Mommy and Daddy.

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I told my daughter when she was 8 or 9 …and made her promise not to tell her brothers…twins…She is 31…and has told me I should have let her figure it out on her own…I plead guilty…

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We include Santa. But he only brings 1 gift. And its never the big gifts either. (We have all girls so its like a barbie or baby doll,my 10 year olds got big body pillows) the bikes, tablet, new sweet shoes all come from mom n dad. Last year my 4 year old asked for a mermaid barbie (she got it) the 10 years asked for the pillows (they got it) but they are used to santa bringing a simple gifts.

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Our family doesnt do the whole Santa thing. :woman_shrugging: We also dont put who the gifts are from usually, we just write who the gifts are going to. I have started our own little tradition of we go out each year to buy Christmas pajamas and I’m hoping to start the “little box” thing where they each get a gift, pajamas, snacks and Christmas movies to watch on christmas eve

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I grew up knowing Santa was just make believe. Nothing wrong with that. Why folks lie to their kids about Santa ill never understand

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Why wouldn’t you want him to believe in Santa? Do you think he’ll be upset when he’s older? My daughter is 10 and my son is almost 5. They both love Christmas, especially Santa but last year my daughter (whom has friends with older siblings) kept asking over and over if santa was real so I told her that it’s a very special tradition for younger kids to believe in a magical Santa and that now that she was old enough she could help keep the tradition and special memories alive for her brother. Now she feels special because she helps me shop and wrap his Santa gifts. My little guy gets so excited and it’s amazing to see their eyes light up and get so happy.

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My parents did not include Santa in our festivities when I was growing up, and now that I’m enjoying it with my child, I wish they would have. To see her believing in the magic and get so excited just to leave out cookies and carrots (for the reindeer) is something I feel you would both be missing out on. It’s memories of something silly and fun that I don’t have with my parents and wish I did.

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Santa is a symbol of christmas. Ive never encouraged him to think hes real he believes as he will. At 8 he still believes. When hes old enuf to start questioning it i’ll explain that hes more of a symbol then an actual person.
Side note: its funny cause his theory is he can ask santa for the video game he wants cause “then we dont hafta pay for it we get it for free” :joy: i mean…the logic is impeccable

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In all reality, if this is the case. What about the Easter bunny? Or the tooth fairy? Its something that harmless and bring joy to kid :woman_shrugging:

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We do Santa. Personally, I feel like it’s a cop out honestly. Tell your kid Santa doesn’t exist so it’s not a burden for you as a parent to go the extra mile for the sake of your child. I take pictures of the children with Santa every year, and I’ve had parents walk by and tell all the children in line that Santa doesn’t exist and he’s fake. It’s quite sad. And then when you ruin it for your child, they go and end up ruining the magic for other children. Let your child be a child and have that magic. What’s the harm in it? :woman_shrugging:t3::woman_shrugging:t3::woman_shrugging:t3:

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We don’t do Santa here. (Or easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc). Just not part of our world view. We always decorate the house and a Christmas tree, put presents under the tree, make ginger bread houses/cookies, do Christmas themed crafts. On Christmas Eve we do a dinner and gift exchange with extended family, then Christmas morning is for us to open each other’s gifts. It’s whatever works for you and yours.

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I do NOT push Santa. I have many reasons.

  • I expect my kids to be honest with me. That means I have to be honest with them. I lead by example.
  • I don’t want my kids thinking that it’s ok for strangers to break into their home or to give them gifts. There’s a level of danger in that empty trust that can be used against them.
  • “Santa” gives 1 child expensive toys & another next to nothing. Young children wonder what is wrong with them? What they did wrong? Why they’re on the “naughty list”

If you choose to raise your son truthfully be prepared for people to push their beliefs on you & your child. It happens every year. Stranger asks my children what they asked Santa for. (As if it’s any of their buisness) They say nothing, Santa isn’t real. Then the stranger scolds my child for truthful. Stranger gets called a liar to their face very loudly. It makes them really mad especially if their kids to are with them. LMAO!!! That’s what happens when you try to push your dishonesty on honest kiddos. Others find out & immediately say “that’s fine as long as they don’t ruin it for MY KID”. They think I need their approval for how I raise my child. They’re ok with pushing their beliefs, lies on my kid but get way mad if my child practices the honesty i’ve taught them. They also admit that their bond isn’t as strong with their child as mine is with my children. If it were why would they be worried that their child would believe my child over them, the parent? It’s quite laughable.

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We do 1 average gift from santa, and they know the rest come from us.

We wanted our kids to believe in santa but to understand he doesn’t bring all the gifts

I think the santa tradition should be played until they grow old enough and learn its not real. It will break their heart at 8 or 9 or 10 but it wont at 12 or 13, they will just remember the jolly times and presents :slight_smile:

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All children should believe ,I love Santa but I’ve always said that Santa buys some but we have to give money for the extras😉

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I let my children believe in all the things that made my childhood wonderful for as long as they can! My middle child is 8 and still believes in everything. I love it. My oldest (14) plays along for the 8 and 1 year olds

I do santa but I also tell my son mommy helps buy the gifts. He is nine though and he told me santa is not real that I am santa

In our house we focus on tradition, so we put more excitement and activities into Yule. Christmas is secondary. I fill his stocking because it’s fun, but I will never lie to my kid because a trusting relationship is worth more to me. When Santa gets brought up I want to focus on the real story of the man, and not this modern marketing ploy that parents use to bribe their children into being good for a few months. This doesn’t mean we can’t still do the same stuff other people do around Christmas, it’s just that cookies would be left as an offering to his spirit, instead of a living person. I want my son to believe that magic is within us, and that the spirit of Christmas is what you make of it, and not so much what you receive as gifts.

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If you don’t want your child to have Santa that’s up to you, I am not a fan of Santa but I compromised with my partner and we agreed Santa only brings 1 present and a stocking full of little bits and pieces. I don’t like lying to my children but I also respect their fathers point of view about them having a childhood

The little guy will find out about Santa and when his face lights up … You will wonder whatever were you thinking. Children live in a world adults wish they could live in. Don’t take it away from them

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I will be doing Santa with my ds. It’s part of the magic of being a child, the excitement, the joy, the happiness good old Santa brings, children discover the real world too soon now anyway I think. I’ll let my son enjoy it for as long as he wants.

We don’t do Santa. Why lie to them kids still love Christmas, and they like watching movies on Santa, but they also love knowing it’s just a story. My parents did the same, and for me and my siblings it meant Christmas never lost it’s magic. It also means the kids know its parents hard work that buys them presents, not some imaginary guy who steals into their house!

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When I was little we ,my nana wrote a letter to Santa. In her letter she told him that she had 25 grandkids and could not afford to buy them all gifts. A little time passed and the mailman showed up at the door with a letter, Santa had written her back. In the envelope there was a letter and money. I dont honestly know who or how. But it honestly touches my heart everytime I think about it. It made my heart happy all these years. Santa is in everyone. Please dont take that away from ur child(ren).

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There’s nothing wrong with believing in magic. The look on their faces as they wake up on Christmas morning and realize Santa has been there is absolutely priceless. We do Santa real big!! None of my kids believe anymore because they are teenagers but Santa still comes to our house every year.
It didn’t affect them negatively in any way when they realized he wasn’t real. Lots of things are magical to little kids and they are only little for a split second. Let them believe!

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My 4 stepkids, now in their 20’s didn’t have :santa:, my kids did (now older teens). They were great in not ruining it for the youngest 2. Each family is different. 2 stepkids feel like they missed out and 2 didn’t mind. I think the ones who feel like they missed out feel like that more for the reason their bio-mom lied. It definitely was from a selfish place and not any other reason. But again 4 kids same circumstances and two opposite sides of the coin. As a mom, as long as intentions are pure, you have to do what is right for your family.

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We ditched Santa a little. My husband shops for their stockings, and those gifts are from Santa. Everything else is from us. We do only three gifts due to Jesus and all that, but…we noticed having smaller emphasis on getting made our children appreciate what they had more, and they loved the other parts of Christmas more too. Driving and looking at lights, cookie decorating, etc. even if you aren’t religious, make a maximum number of gifts you will buy for each child, and the magic of Christmas becomes more special.

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I tell my children that santa is a different name for a man named st. Nicholas who lived a very long time ago and used to give gifts to children who didn’t have anything. This made the children and their families so happy! That it filled that special day with a special kind of magic. The magic of giving. And what is also so special is that anyone can be santa, even you can.

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We talk about Santa kind of like mermaids, they’re fun to make up stories and stuff but knowing they’re not real. We teach more the meaning behind it. As a reminder to be giving, selfless, etc. I can’t teach my child not to lie, but then do it right back to them. Well still do fun traditions, but using it as an opportunity to teach lessons, morals, etc.

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When I found out Santa wasn’t real I was devastated, I stopped believing in everything (Santa, tooth fairy, Easter bunny, God, etc). Every kid is different but since my husband is dead set on doing Santa with our daughter, I’m going to tell her Santa is real, but he’s not an actual person, he inside all of us. That way she will still believe in the things she can not see.

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We do Santa because it’s fun and the kids love it but I will admit I told my 6 year old that we had such good locks and an awesome alarm system that the elf couldn’t sneak in. It freaked her out when she was 3-4 thinking santa got in our house while we slept so I told her that I stayed up to let him in.

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We do Santa and Santa visits our house but he only leaves a little gift bag. Something my son has asked for but something smaller. We say that Santa focuses on giving gifts to children without Mommies and Daddies or who are less fortunate. My son is 4 and understands this and is happy with this. My hubby usually works xmas day so we have our own xmas day a day earlier or later etc where we can both see our little ones faces when he opens his prezzies. Christmas day we then visit family and share prezzies with them. I no that doesnt relate to your question but my point is do what works for you and your family hun xx

We do not do Santa. We are religious based. However, I will say this, there are people we know who are not religious based, and did Santa with their kids (separate families), and when the kids found out, they were devastated. Called their parents liars, etc. We still watch magic stuff, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Labyrinth, etc. But my kids know that it’s not real and we aren’t lying to them. (My husband is one of the families).

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i believed in santa until i was around 15. my parents were really sneaky and good at surprising us.

i think let him believe in santa, toothfairy and all that. :slight_smile: sometimes the thing such as magic or luck makes us happy and gives us hope. :slight_smile:

I grew up not believing in santa and honestly I don’t feel one but like I missed out on anything. You can’t “take away” something you never had. My husband wanted to have our boys believe in Santa which is cute but I just feel like a liar everytime i see or mention him or take them to see him for pics. I have no way to prepare for their crushed little hearts when they find out the truth or how mad they might be about me trying to instill honesty in them when I lied about something they’d want to be so real. Girl do what your heart tells you! Forget about everything and everyone else.

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As a retired teacher of 4th and 5th graders, I have seen just about every custom of celebrating or not celebrating Santa. Trust me . . . Kids talk to each other about Santa. I always steered clear of answering questions by telling any child who asked to ask their parents at home. I have seen kiddos protect classmates who still believed in 4th grade.

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Honestly I haven’t said anything about it as our child is 2 too and has never asked… If she starts to ask then I will probably say he brings A present not all as I want her to know mummy and daddy work hard for her gifts too plus she’s terrified of people in costumes so :woman_shrugging:don’t think she would take kindly to a stranger being in her house when she’s sleeping :joy:

For me it’s about the wonder and magic of it, we celebrate Yule with our version of santa. It doesn’t have to be all about Santa giving gifts, but remembering the generosity and kindness of the many people modern day Santa’s based on.

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I actually really love and respect this, if its not for you it isnt for you, I personally appealed my daughters school for what I can only imagine are similar reasons (may not be) but not wanting to lie/force a belief on her, you do what you feel is right in raising your kids♥️x

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Dont take Santa away till they are older and understand that he isnt real my niece was in year 5 before she found out other wise there is no excitement for everyone to enjoy with the young ones thats just my opinion

We do santa. I hate it. I feel like I’m lying to my kids and one day they will see it is all fake. Also I hate it because of tv. Every Christmas movie is different and puts different ideas of santa and if he is real or not. I wish I could go back and NOT do santa. Also the tooth fairy. It is so exhausting to try not to get caught sneaking them money at night. Gotta love it when they lose teeth on a day that u dont have any money on ya :woman_facepalming:

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I’ve been stuck on this too… It’s hard to get away from because he’s bloody everywhere. The excuse is “nothing wrong with magic” - there is magick EVERYWHERE around us without having to create a money generated idea in a child’s head. Show them REAL magic! :heart:
By the same token, I loved Christmas & the idea of Santa as a child. It’s a tricky one.

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Traditions start with you. Whatever you choose to start (or carry on) nobody else should/can dictate what you do. You treat Christmas for your son in any way YOU feel appropriate and comfortable.

Me personally we did the Santa thing but it was never a BIG deal so to speak. He always just left one cheap gift. Never the “big/good” gifts. Our bigger traditions were the huge mess we made making and decorating cookies every single year without fail. Another tradition is the way we decorate and put up the tree. Or the routine of opening gifts on the day of. :woman_shrugging:

You do whatever is in your heart, there is no right or wrong.

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We don’t put much emphasis on Santa. My daughter was only 18 months last Christmas, so it didn’t really matter but I wanted to start this tradition anyway. We wanted her to enjoy the magic of Santa because we both did as kids, but we didn’t want Santa to be the main event. So I bought a personalized canvas bag that says something like “delivery from the north pole” with Santas signature. Its about 12 inches tall and 6 inches wide. Santa will bring something small to fit inside that bag, and any big exciting gifts will be from mama and daddy. I sat her big gifts in front of the tree and put the santa gift off by itself.
You could do “Christmas Magic” instead? No actual santa person, just a special gift shows up on Christmas day?

I told my son the story about the real Santa then explained to him that Jesus gave us the spirit of Santa inside of us. Anyone can be a Santa by giving a gift to someone selflessly, without need of recognition.
So, while the traditional Santa is not a thing in our home, the idea behind him is.
I always feel badly for children that come from poorer families that could be left wondering why they weren’t “good enough” throughout the year to get a new Xbox or tablet as well. I believe it’s important for children to realize how lucky they are to be able to celebrate Christmas with presents.

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My parents tried to do Santa at first with my older sisters but by the time I came around, we all knew he wasn’t real. I’m thankful that my parents never had us take pictures with him and as an adult I don’t care if we had Santa pictures or not and I really liked the aspect of getting and giving gifts to each other and not having them from someone else. It also took some of the gift burden off of my parents cause we all knew what gifts each other wanted and we’d tell our parents. :woman_shrugging: our daughter will be 6 months for Christmas this year, we haven’t decided if we’re doing ‘Santa’ or not

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It’s a fairy tale that kids can believe in. No different than Disney world. It makes children’s lives a little more brighter to learn to believe in something

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In my family, Santa was not the spotlight. He brought something smaller- if my mom got us something like an Xbox he would give an Xbox game. No sense giving Santa the credit for the important gifts, but if Santa doesn’t bring your child something and they go to school and hear all about what he brought to the other kids, they may feel left out. Totally your call as the parent!!

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I agree. Let them believe. You can find numerous books about the legend of Santa and read them to your boys. Childhood is short, let them enjoy magic

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We do Santa, but are open about the fact that it’s make-believe. My son, who is almost 5, is an extremely reasonable, logical person. We explained that not everyone knows Santa isn’t real (just like movies aren’t real, but are still super fun!) and he knows that it wouldn’t be nice to ruin it for them. My daughter is 3 and doesn’t quite share his level-headedness, so I’m not sure it’ll be as easy to explain to her.

It’s not traditional but… in our house santa means Christmas time but Santa doesn’t bring gifts, mommy and daddy do. In my opinion why lie to them young :woman_shrugging: no matter who brings the gifts, they’re excited. Am I wrong? Every family is different so start new traditions :slightly_smiling_face:

My kids are still too young to understand any difference too but we kinda do Santa but not the way we did growing up. They get a gift from St Nick/Santa but we don’t use Santa as a manipulation tool (“You better be good otherwise Santa won’t bring you any presents”). We teach them the story of St Nick who Santa is based of. We’ll also tell them some kids believe in Santa and that’s OK for them and its not our job to tell them otherwise.

We never have. We taught ours about Saint Nicholas and such, but they know and appreciate who gave them gifts. Oldest is 19 now and youngest is 3. Still doing the same. We’ve also mentioned that other kids like thinking Santa is real and don’t spoil it for them.

We left it out. And we don’t even really do presents. We usually just have a family day and go out to eat, or make a big meal at home and watch Home Alone and Christmas Vacation. We are not religious, so Christmas means nothing to us.

If you don’t do Santa your son will ask why Santa doesn’t come to him but goes to all his friends houses … i gave big gifts from mum and dad and smaller ones from santa … when other kids got big gifts from santa and if kids asked ever asked why he only have small gifts to them I was going to say that I could afford bigger ones and I told santa to save the bigger ones for other kids but it never came up … xx

Their defo is a Santa :santa: I mean I look at some of the presents on Xmas day and I defo carnt remember me buying them haha :joy: x

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I still remember when santa came to me as a child. The excitement and
magic of Christmas I carried on with my 2 children. They both in turn are carrying this tradition on… Santa does not have to be about lots of present it could be just one.

I dont include it in my families christmas and my kids are just happy to gift toys and cool clothes, its whatever you want and feel comfortable doing not anyone elses. Some of my husbands family and mine see it as an issue but it is none of thier business, like I say they cam out your business so everything surrounding them is you business period.

Told my kids that santa was a Christmas story but we exchange gifts because we live each other and the things taught by Jesus . They are grown - college grads - didn’t want to lie to my sons - and break their trust

We had the same thought when ours was small but she ended up seeing him at the mall and she wanted to see him. We made santa a small part of Christmas like he only gives whatevers in the stocking. All the gifts under the tree are from us

We just do 1 present from santa and the rest from us/family etc. I usually do something simple like pjs or books from santa, not everyone is fortunate to have lots and u don’t want my kids thinking santa prefers some kids more than others. Just go with what works for you but its hard to avoid the jolly fat man

I think including a, santa is magical many amazing memories from being young about santa I think it’s part of the excitement at Christmas as well as family ect

I allow my kids to believe in Santa. When my oldest who is 10 fugured out he ‘didnt exsist’ i took him out for lunch and explained to him that Santa will always exist because Santa is someone who cares for you.

My son is 8 and knows that mom and dad bring the cool gifts and that Santa brings him one special small gift…i know that at some point hell know but for right now its still magical to him :slight_smile: