anybody else not do the whole 'santa' thing? *dilema pg3*

[BlackBerry25]

we will do both. I loved growing up with "Santa", it made Christmas seem magical to me and we will definitely be doing the same for Hannah

Same! My best friend doesn't do Santa, she just puts Mommy and Daddy on the gifts.

 

[bigbloomerz]

but no I dont like the idea of my kids sitting on a random strangers knee in a shopping centre. xx

most shopping centers etc WONT allow kids to sit on santas lap = they have a seat next to his. plus all santas/elves/helpers are CRB checked.

Thanks, I didnt know, Ive never been x

 

[clairebear]

We do the Santa thing and the stockings are from Santa but all the other presents under the tree are labelled as to who they are from Santa just collects them up and drops them off! x
Growing up Santa made it all so magical x x

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I'm Catholic and we'll be doing Santa (that sounds wrong but you know what I mean!).

When Harvey is old enough he'll learn all about the nativity and the true meaning of Christmas but I still believe that Santa/St Nicholas has a place in the celebrations. I think the two can co-exist.

I totally agree with this. Im not Catholic but thats how I was brought up. I think santa/st nicholas is just as important as the religious.

I cant see how people dont do a bit of both? We have a small nativity and of course they do it at school etc but I think the santa part adds a bit fo magic anf fun to christmas that only lasts while they believe so I am making the most of it

 

[mum 2 three]

we dont do santa even though i was brought up with santa my oh was till about the age of 20 a jahovas witness and they dont celerbrate xmas so we decided that all presents are fro mum and dad we celesbrate it has a happy day fos us to be togeather and enjow the day as a family x x

 

[Linzi]

I think it's a really good idea not to do santa tbh, it will help kids understand the value of presents and where they come from. We'll probably do santa for a while but maybe tell him a bit earlier than a lot of kids for this reason. I dont want him growing up spoilt and not understanding mummy and daddy work hard to get him what he wants iykwim? Nothing to do with religion coz Im not religious in the slightest.

One of my friends tells her kids that she buys presents,and santa wraps them up and delivers them which is a nice idea too.

x

 

[bigbloomerz]

One of my friends tells her kids that she buys presents,and santa wraps them up and delivers them which is a nice idea too.

x

I like that idea xx

 

[Tezzy]

One of my friends tells her kids that she buys presents,and santa wraps them up and delivers them which is a nice idea too.

x

I like that idea xx

i started another thread about how me and OH have decided to do santa because of this train trip thing (page 3) and this is what we're going to say to our two

 

[sophie c]

apparently that train is awsome, my mum took my little sister last year and she thoroughly enjoyed it hun, hope you and the kids do to

xxx

 

[Tezzy]

we're going xmas eve should be fun!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Yep we have always said that we get the presents and send them to santa to wrap!

 

[xhollie92x]

We sometimes go to church on Christmas Eve but other than that it's all santa. Growing up I remember my mum and dad going santa mad!

 

[Locke]

We're not christian, we do it as a winter holiday, a celebration to cheer up the winter a bit! We have a tree, hanging snowflakes and snowmen etc

I wasn't raised being told there was a real "santa", it was always explained to me that it was a fun myth, like unicorns and pixies, and presents were from the family. I wasn't kept away from anything santa-related though and no problems ever arose with that

Not "doing" santa didn't take a single thing away from christmas for me at all and I have kept up this way of thinking

I don't think inventing a big santa story is really necessary for there to be magic, and I always try to be as honest as possible with children. But I respect some parents wish to have it and I see what they're getting at

 

[PeanutBean]

I will definitely not to the santa thing. I hate the idea of kids believing in total nonsense, it feels like an abuse of power to me. I never believed in santa, or the tooth fairy or whatever else. I was plenty imaginative, just knew the difference between imagination and reality.

It's funny, I mentioned all this to my Mum and she said how they never did santa stuff with us but my oldest brother (8 years older than me) got into it when he first went to school because of others telling him. I guess we'll cross that bridge with Byron if and when we come to it!

 

[amylk87]

I can't imagine not doing the father christmas thing, my favourite memories are of my dad telling me and my brother the story of christmas eve and father christmas - so exciting!
In telling children total nonsense, i'm an atheist so telling my children about god and the bible would be like telling them total nonsense, thats just my opinion so i don't want to offend anybody!

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Will be doing Santa - I remember it being magical. All the excitement about leave the mince pie and carrot out, and then it being gone in the morning! Aww the memories!

I personally don't think it's feeding the kids nonsense.

 

[nightkd]

We'll be doing Father Christmas; when I was small my parents couldn't afford Christmas presents one year so my Dad's parents bought all my prezzies and labelled them "From Santa" I remember looking at all the tags and seeing which ones were from 'Santa' It was lovely and now that I know the story behind why all the presents that year were from 'Santa' it makes it more special...Anyway, even if we just have the one present from Santa, or say that the stocking is from Santa and everything else labelled up from family members etc, I still think it's special.

I also remember leaving mince pies, sherry and carrots out and being all excited when they were gone!!

When I was in the UK (and I expect any time I'm in the UK for Christmas) we'd go to Church on Christmas Eve (or a few days before I can't remember!!) sing carols and watch the kids doing the nativity...then have mince pies and mulled wine afterwards! To me it was more about being all festive with other people and spending some time with my family, the religious side of it...doesn't...make sense. I'm Christian, but it's not even Jesus' birthday like so many people think it's more to do with Saint Nicholas - Father Christmas...so it makes sense to me to celebrate and teach kids about Father Christmas Just my opinion.

I don't think it's teaching them nonsense - Father Christmas existed! Just not quite in the same form as we recognise him today.

On the dilemma; you could always explain to them that for festivities sake someone dresses up as Father Christmas, if you really don't want them getting into believing about him?

xx

 

[tasha41]

We are more religious than the average family I suppose, but obviously have broken a few "rules" - unwed with a baby! We go to church, have all of our sacraments, pray before meals and bed etc, and I want to send Elyse to Catholic school.. but we will still do Santa. I can see how it is commercializing Christmas but it is also something I grew up with and really looked forward to, so we will do it here.

 

[marley2580]

I wasn't raised being told there was a real "santa", it was always explained to me that it was a fun myth, like unicorns and pixies, and presents were from the family. I wasn't kept away from anything santa-related though and no problems ever arose with that

This is along the lines of what we're doing. I'll be saying that it's a great big game of lets pretend and that it's not nice to spoil it for other people. That way we can still do letters to santa and carrots and whiskey left out on christmas eve, but they'll know that it's not real.

 

[Megg33k]

Atheist who doesn't intend to do the Santa thing checking in!

I think it's great for people who choose to do Santa, but I would feel like I was lying to my children. I will approach Santa the same way I approached Spiderman with my ex-husband's son. He wanted to know if Spiderman was real, so I told him, "Spiderman is not someone in the real world. He is a fun story that people like to talk about and tell stories about in movies and on T.V. Its nice to hear the stories because he does good things and makes people safer. Some kids might think he's real, and that's okay. It wouldn't be nice to tell them they're wrong. We can still talk about him and watch the movies and stuff, but we know it's just for fun." I intend to take the same stance on Santa... except that he makes people happy instead of safe. Honestly, I intend to approach religion (god/jesus/whatever) in a reasonably similar way. I think my kids will be best off if I'm upfront and honest with them about life and the things we believe.

Let me add that my family is PISSED! They think I should do Santa. It makes me angry that they think they should have any say in it at all. LOL