I hesitate a bit posing today’s question, mostly because I’ll be on a plane all day today, leaving me unable to monitor comments.
But I’m genuinely curious about the why behind the myriad of family philosophies out there. So please share yours in the comments for today’s question:
Does Santa come to your home for Christmas? Why or why not? And if he does, how real is he?
I don’t want to spark heated debate, especially during the holidays, so please keep a little perspective and stay friendly. Feel free, however, to discuss why you do what you do!
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I still believe in Santa and I am 38 years old. My father has a collection of over 200 Santa figures/dolls/ornaments, and I get a gift from Santa every year. Even though in my head I know it is my dad, my heart soars with the magical delight of seeing Santa’s name signed to the card. To this day the only feeling better than knowing that Santa has left packages under the tree on Christmas morning, is recreating that for my son. When I found out my parents were Santa it made the magic of it even more powerful. The love that went into making that magic possible is part of the great and unconditional love a parent has for her child. Of course we know the true reason for the season, and we baked a birthday cake for baby Jesus and celebrated his birth as the biggest part of the day. So yes, Santa comes to my house every year and we love him!
I was wondering what to say and I think Krista nailed it. When I found out that Santa was just a fun type of game and tradition, I didn’t feel tricked – I felt more love for all my parents did to make Christmas magical – we put out a special key under the doormat, (since we didn’t have a chimney), we baked cookies for Santa, my dad made bootprints out in the snow (we were so excited at this “evidence”), and my dad would write a letter from Santa (complete with a gorgeous, old-fashioned signature) to us about how good we’d been. And even though my parents went all out, they still always made Christ’s birth the focal point of the season. Believing in Santa didn’t confuse me. By the time I learned that Santa was pretend, I understood why my parents did what they did and I had fun keeping the spirit alive for all my younger brothers who still believed. Now, I have a 2 year old son and my husband and I plan on leaving a present and filling a stocking from Santa. But, don’t worry – all month long, my little guy has been having a lot of fun naming all the different figures in our Nativity scene (complete with sounds for all the animals). He knows exactly who Baby Jesus is. Incidentally, he’s convinced that all pictures of Santa are of my dad since he has a semi-white beard.
Heather´s last blog post…Catch the Moon
wow. I…am…amazed at the range and passions of these comments. Incredibly thought-provoking. I’m having a slight twinge that we shouldn’t have let our son buy into Santa…and…it’s such a lovely thing to imagine…and imagination feeds the heart.
We go all out for Santa. I actually completely understand all of the reasons not to have a Santa tradition. The reason for us is pretty simple, it just reminds us of being kids. Its been a lot of fun being “behind the scenes” with my husband every Christmas, sharing memories and traditions with each other and helping create that magic for our kids. We are also the only house in the neighborhood still using colored lights on our tree, so I will admit we are kids at heart and Santa is as much for us as it is for the kids!
Nikki´s last blog post…Boomerang Nightmares
We don’t do Santa. I’m not sure my kids would even know who he was. Instead, we celebrate Jesus’ Birthday with gifts from Mom and Dad and a cake. My 3 year old understands birthdays, so he gets it and is super excited.
Leah´s last blog post…Pan Fried Angle Food Cake
I’ve always been a bit on the fence about this. We do have “Santa” but put very little focus on that part of the holiday season. He fills our girl’s stockings and that is all. Stickers, crayons, that sort of thing. It’s working for us so far.
Jen´s last blog post…Jo-so-fine
Wow, this a really controversial issue. I was raised that Santa was someone people liked to believe in, but that he wasn`t real. My parents figured it was best not to lie, since they didn`t want us questioning what else they might have hidden.
With my kids (3 and nearly 2), we don`t do Santa, but I also live in Guatemala where giving a gift from him isn`t even considered. People here know Santa is a symbol for Christmas, but it`s not even part of the holidays, really. That makes life a lot easier in that sense!
This is a fun question! Santa, Santa, so tricky… Before I had kids, I thought I would avoid the potential confusion, especially with the emphasis on Santa and de-emphasis on Christ in our culture.
But then after they were born, I wanted to have some fun and create the magic my mom had always done! Even after I realized that Santa’s writing was the same as my mom’s, he still gave me presents, so I had no reason to be disappointed! I don’t think I ever got confused who was more important — Jesus was our Savior, Santa just helped us celebrate Jesus’s birthday because he loved Him, too.
My kids know that Santa brings presents to celebrate Jesus’s birthday, and that Santa is a nickname for St. Nicholas, who we remember in the church for being generous and caring for children. I have tried to keep the magic alive without outright lying. They know that their friends don’t believe in Santa, and most adults don’t. But so far, they have no reason not to.
Amanda/Crunchy Christian Mom´s last blog post…The Twelve Days of Christmas, A Homegrown Life Version
My kids are only 2 and 4 but we’ve talked about Santa just about every year. We don’t replace God with Santa at Christmas (which is what a lot of responses sound like they do as much as they try to sugarcoat it). God is the true “spirit” in Christmas and Jesus lives in our hearts, not Santa. Anyway, we still have fun with Santa Claus (they know he’s not real but we still play pretend and have fun with the traditions) and talk about the historical facts in the story of St. Nick. I love that so many responses were similar bc I often feel “alone” on this one and people do have a hard time understanding our perspective. But, it makes so much sense to me, and I’m glad to see I’m not “alone”!
Sara @ Mom-Me´s last blog post…Thursday 13: Who’s that again?
We are a Christian family (my husband is a pastor) that allows our children to believe in Santa. I grew up believing in Santa, but never confused him with the real reason we celebrate Christmas…the birth of our Savior. Like another one commented, I wasn’t really disappointed when I discovered the truth, either. In fact, until we got married, my siblings & I always received gifts from “Santa” just for fun. I heard James Dobson, a well known Christian psychologist say one time that it’s okay to let children believe in fantasies for a while because the reality of life is hard enough, and I totally agreed. What I do tell my children, though, is that Santa brings gifts to children as his way of celebrating the gift of Jesus to the world. That way the focus is always on Christ.
Yes we have Santa visit our home, my inlaws home and my parents home as we have to travel to see everyone. We also have magic elves that come and visit us to report to Santa if the kiddos are being naughty. I have always told my childern that Santa is a feeling in your heart and part of the christmas spirit. We don’t wrap any presents from Santa.
Happy Holidays everyone.
We do Santa because it’s fun. Santa brings a big gift and fills the stockings on Christmas morning. Family time/gifts are on Christmas Eve.
I think my second grader it figuring it out, but isn’t quite ready to discuss it (she’s a thinker and takes time to ponder things), so the books mentioned above might be good for her.
When I figured things out, our family kept up the act for my little brother, although my mom always went with the “as long as you believe…” logic.
Santa isn’t a huge part of Christmas. We discuss more baby Jesus (endlessly fascinating to my preschooler) and focus on family time. We do a family trip as our gift to each other, so “Santa” gifts give us an excuse to give a few small things to the kids that they want/need.
Santa is real at our house, he brings the big expensive gifts and fills the stockings.
My kids are 18, 12, 11, & 8. I’m pretty sure they all know Santa isn’t real. Just the other day my 8 year old son told me Santa wasn’t real and asked me what I thought about it. I told him, “If you stop believing, Santa will stop coming to our house.” He laughed, then got scared and ran off but I could tell he was still laughing.
My parents took this same approach with my brother and I when we were kids and heck, I’ll still say I believe in Santa if my mom asks. LOL
We also do the Easter Bunny and again when my kids stop believing, the Easter Bunny will stop coming. I’m pretty sure they all know the Easter Bunny isn’t real but it’s still fun getting the basket full of candy and stuff so they all eagerly go with it.
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I remember where and when I learned that Santa was not real. I was standing on the steps of my cousins house, and I was on the fourth or fifth step from the top. Danny and Jerry, Mailyn and Beve, all around my age, were telling me that Santa was not real. I was fiercely defending my view about how Santa came to your house, etc. I finally shouted out “My mother has never lied to me!” When I asked my mother if Santa was real, and she said “no”, my little world shattered. I determined I would never lie about it to my kids, and as each of them came along I just said “You know that some people think Santa is real, but he really is not.” And I left it at that. I only got in trouble with one of my friends who said “Linda, will you please tell your kids, to be quiet about the existence of Santa, and so I did. It became our secret! (Sorry about that Mary Lou!)
My parents did the Santa thing which I believed until about first grade. Then I started to ask a lot of questions because something didn’t click. Though my parents kept saying it was real I didn’t believe it anymore. Honestly I don’t remember how I concluded that. I started arguing with everybody about the topic in second grade. The result was that some parents were forced to tell the truth. There was a lot of crying in my class and everyone pointed me. I was just being “logical” but everyone hated me for the rest of elementary school. SO, warn your kids not to spoil it for those who believe it’s real. As a kid I couldn’t relize it would be so important for some sensitive kids. I had my punisment, though. I still don’t understand why people promote lies. I’m a christiand but wouldn’t promote lies even if I weren’t. By the way, I really admired my second grade teacher, but when I asked her if santa was real, she said yes. I thought how she could believe that. I didn’t know she was lying to protect the other children, but I stopped admiring her.
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