Comments on: Ho Ho Ho, How Do You Santa?

By: the Grumbles

the Grumbles — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:01:35 +0000

oh! thanks for linking to this from our lying discussion!

you’ve probably swayed me pretty far away from the whole Santa thing now pending husband discussion. i completely agree about the consumerism aspect of Santa versus the joy of giving. we’ll see.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:18:16 +0000

We will also not be “doing” Santa. I will not lie to my kids. Plain and simple. But we will read the books about the stories of Santa, and how he came to be, and what people believe and things like that. I think Grandma will have a hard time with this one, as she has problems with a lot of the things we do, lol. I never believed in Santa (in fact I was terrified of him. Just the idea of someone being in my house, lol) and I never once told a child who did believe in Santa that he was not real. To each his own and this is what we choose to do!

By: Melodie

Melodie — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:56:10 +0000

I was fully prepared to do as you are saying you want to do. And then I found myself doing the opposite right around age 2 1/2 when they are starting to get it. At first I was like “what are you doing Melodie? This goes against everything you wanted to do!” I’m still not sold on my own actions, however, it’s the magic of it all. I enjoy bringing a sparkle of wonder to my daughter’s eyes. I balance things out by telling her that Santa is not a real person, but a magical one. I’m sure it’s confusing to her, but isn’t that what magic is all about?

By: Dionna

Dionna — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:29:45 +0000

I don’t pump, so Kieran is the only one who gets mama’s milk around here

By: Parsnip Milkdud

Parsnip Milkdud — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:20:57 +0000

Okay I just have to ask… If Kieran wants to leave milk and cookies out for Santa, is it going to be cows milk or mama’s milk?

By: Dionna

Dionna — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:19:33 +0000

Yes, we will share the story of Jesus with Kieran.

By: Dionna

Dionna — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:15:18 +0000

Sounds like what we are doing

By: Dionna

Dionna — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:13:48 +0000

I agree with a lot of what you said Stacy. I wonder if your daughter had an easier time giving up the imaginary babies because she did it on her own terms. I’d be willing to bet that the kids who are allowed to grow out of Santa (or any imaginary thing) have an easier time with it.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not on a mission to take away the Santa fantasy from every child we meet – I’ll help Kieran keep it a secret.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:31:06 +0000

I’m just asking if this message is being shared in your Christmas or not, and I can’t seem to get a straight answer.

By: Stacy @ Moderate Means

Stacy @ Moderate Means — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:50:35 +0000

We do Santa. In my opinion, kids have this amazing ability to imagine things real but also accept the reality of truth when it shows up. My daughter had imaginary babies for over a year and completely believed them to be real. One day, she realized they weren’t. No drama, no mystery, she was just ready to say goodbye to them (all 12!) She knew all along that we didn’t see them and it didn’t bother her at all to believe in them. My kids have spent hours chasing fairies around at dusk, convinced they were there and playing tag. Did they *really* believe it? Not likely…but the fun of being able to pretend was just that – fun. We’ve looked for elves, pretended to find genies, hidden from leprechauns playing pranks. There are so many ‘myths’ out there and in my experience kids love hearing them and playing them. At no point has there been any devastation at realizing it was just play. When they first hear that Santa isn’t real, I’ll ask them if they believe in him. If they do, we’ll continue. If they don’t, I’ll tell them story and explain that it’s a fun thing to pretend and they’ll move on. Except in my case I *will* tell them to keep it a secret because I wouldn’t want them to spoil someone else’s fun.

As to the commercialism and giving, I think that’s completely different from Santa. We are having homemade gifts, we gift to those in need, we donate, we volunteer, we completely expose them to the spirit of Christmas/giving. My kids only create a wish list when I ask them for one (makes shopping more efficient) and it had 3 things on it. Just pointing out that lumping Santa and commercialized gift-giving isn’t fair, in my opinion. THere are generous, kind, happy, Santa-enjoying kids out there