FamilyLife Forums

What version, if any, of Santa do you practice with your family?

DH and I are in the thick of making our decision and are leaning towards not doing "Santa" with our daughter.  She will be told that there is a story about Santa but that he is fantasy just like Cinderella or Snow White.

We have considered celebrating Advent the entire month of December, with Scripture reading, discussion, etc. to build the excitement that "Santa" brings to other children but we want our daughter to be excited about celebrating Christ's birth not a fairy tale.

I know Holten does the 3 gifts with each of his children and we are considering that as well.

What do you do?

This is "Harper" by the way.  HEY!

I don't remember growing with all the Santa debate myself.  My folks did a very good job of showing us the true meaning of the season, but we had Santa as well.  Santa never over rode the meaning of the season in our house.  We had out advent wreath on the dinner table, and I remember doing the bible studies before dinner as we got closer in the weeks before.   My brother and I were thrilled because we got to light the candles!  LOL Pretty cool when you aren't allowed to play with matches!  The reason for the season was very well defined for us.

I know people truly felt lied to when they found out about Santa, but I don't remember taking that way.  My children didn't take it that way either.  I remember being a bit disappointed, and then not wanting to tell my folks I knew!  My father had such a blast being Santa, and his thrill was watching us get the small gifts we received from him.  He was proud as a peacock as the saying goes.  My kids know, but I'm like Dad!  I love to place an extra something there from Mr. and Mrs. Claus!  Just to give you a hint about Dad tho - My mother?  LOL She got gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Claus - Then the Reindeer, Then the cats in our family.  Dad loved to watch her open those!  He worked hard all year, and he loved to watch the fruits of his labor given to all of us.  He praised God each year that he had given him the ability to do so.

There are alot of people that Santa is the reason for the season.  If you are a Christian that isn't so.  My folks did a wonderful job balancing the two.  My children say I did as well.  Every family is different, and we need to do what we feel is best for them!  What is acceptable in my family may not be for others.......and that's okay!

 

christbewithyou, that is so sweet about how your dad loved to give gifts to your mom :)

harper, my parents never pushed either way on santa. i don't remember how or why, i just never believed in santa. and my parents always said it was because they chose not to have us believe in santa. but i don't remember being told "there is no santa". i DO remember having presents under the tree marked "from santa" but it was always a game. my dad would wink and say, "i don't know what's in there. it's not from me. it's from santa." and we would say, "daaaaaddy......" and sigh. lol. i remember my friends believing in santa and just never saying anything about it. somehow, my parents just didn't make an issue out of it. it was like, a non-issue, issue.

i do remember the presents were always under the tree well in advance. maybe that helped. gift-wrapping night was a big ordeal at my house. momma went into her room and wrapped away, she'd crack the door and slide a present through. we'd all tackle it to see who it was for. then run down the hallway, through the dining/kitchen and into the living room where we'd place it under the tree. (and as we got older we began to pretend it wasn't a big deal and just kinda sneak glances at the ones with our names, wondering if it was just something we'd picked out for ourselves or if we were going to get a surprise!)

so, somehow, i never believed in santa, but i was never told "santa is evil. we do not speak of santa. we only speak of jesus." lol. and my parents were never over-spiritual either. and my dad was a pastor. you'd think we would've sat around and read the christmas story and made a big deal about "happy birthday jesus". but my parents LIVED jesus to us. they didn't have to make a big deal on certain days to make up for where they lacked the rest of the time.

i have had a hard time playing santa with my dss. it's just so different from the way i was raised. i really think it feeds greed...... ever since last christmas though he has questioned santa. repeatedly. i know he KNOWS santa is not real. but he doesnt' WANT to know. he lives with us now finally and he's 8 so i think we're done playing santa. we felt obligated to keep it up so as to not hack off his mom if we ruined it for her if she liked playing santa.

last year, because he was with us on christmas eve and christmas morning and then would be going with his mom for awhile, we let most of the gifts be from us and gave him the option of opening them over several days so he could play with them longer before leaving. so on christmas morning there was just a couple things from santa and a stocking.

this year i think we'll open them all on christmas morning, but i plan to start wrapping soon and putting things under the tree. to me, that's the fun of christmas. shaking the boxes and waiting and waiting to see what's inside. LOL i don't think we'll put santa's name anywhere. he's 8 years old and i don't want him to get picked on if he keeps insisting santa is real.     

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"But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever." Psalm 52:8

I was raised with Santa, but I think I believed in him because it was fun. When I was about 5, I concluded that Santa couldn't really come down our chimney because it was too small for him. I don't recall being terribly disappointed with that realization because my family had never made a big deal about him.

I don't know if this is the thread for this question - don't want to derail your thread, Harper, but - how should we celebrate Jesus' birth? I mean - I know that the giving of presents originated with the Magi and all that, but are we really, truly giving gifts as a way of celebrating His birth, or are we just doing it because that is the expected thing to do? When I trundle through umpteen malls looking for something that will suitably impress my BIL (drew his name this year), I get a little irritated at the whole process. Why don't we skip the present exchange (for the adults at least), and do things that better focus on Christ's birth?

Christmas winds up being so stressful - what to get the difficult relatives (my dh and I only have 4 presents to buy - total), what to bring to the umpteenth family event (and what to wear to said events that won't make me look like the Goodyear blimp in the photos). Is all of that really focusing on the Reason for the Season?

 

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"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord...that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection..." (Phil 3:8,10)

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Hey Harper.

True enough, we have done the "three gifts" approach in the past.  We thought that was enough gifts from us, given the gifts our kids got from other people. Somewhere there was an article on how the three gifts relate to the gifts in the bible... but I can't find it (couldn't find it last year, either).

We aren't sticking to the three gifts this year.  We just moved, so the kids won't get some of the gifts they got last year from friends, and they won't be getting gifts from my wife's father (long sad story).  So, we aren't feeling confined by the 3 this year.  But, neither do we buy "huge" gifts.  I don't think any of the gifts we've bought for any child was over $40, and most are under $20.

We do Santa.  Always have, always will as long as any child in the house believes.  Our "version" of Santa is that he does what he does in celebration of Christ's birth, any "magic" is due to God alone, and there is no 'secular' aspect of Christmas separate from Christ's birth.

I don't think my 11yo daughter believes any longer.  I'm sure we'll talk about it this year.  We're visiting family who have two boys, 7 and 9, and they both know Santa isn't real... so I don't know if our 8yo son will make it through this year or not.  They also have two little girls, 3 and 5, who still believe, as does our 4yo, so I'm sure those three girls will have fun with it.

We don't pain over any of the fantasies....  Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy... whatever.. if our children want to believe, we do.  I don't spend time trying to convince anyone to do as we do;  neither do I defend our choices.  I may explain WHY if asked, but not 'defend'.

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