Need help thinking up an excuse for Santa

[Deleted User]

elona wrote: »

We had the tradition that santa only sent a stocking with sweets, a small toy, comic etc and that presents came from mum and dad, auntie a, uncle b etc.

Now he is a big boy santa just does stocking and family do the rest?

Something similar to this?

I have 3 nieces and I have been Father Christmas's confidante for a long time. They then strangely get one present from the letter that they wrote and asked for, and this arrives in the middle of the night, wrapped up in brown paper and string along with some old fashioned chocolate coins (taken out of any shop wrapping), all tags and identifiers removed.

I have no idea how this happens but I do know what they've written to F.C. as he sends me a copy of their letters!

I must nail the big fat LIE that Father Christmas/Santa Claus/ Saint Nicholas does not exist - of course he does

dizziblonde

You buy the presents and wrap them and then send them to Santa to deliver according to behaviour on Christmas Eve. Worked for a smarty pants me when I queried why Santa had the same handwriting as my mum as a kid!

daisiegg

*max* wrote: »

Personally, I think the years of magic that precede it are worth the "disappointment" of eventually finding out Father christmas isn't real.

.

I completely agree. I have always had a very active imagination and a love of fairyland. Apparently when I accidentally found out that Santa was not real, I was so upset I cried until I was sick and had to have a day off school as I was utterly inconsolable. Why do I say 'apparently'? Because I don't even remember!

I do remember the years of utter magic and wonder surrounding Christmas, and a large part of that came from Father Christmas. That, in my opinion, absolutely outweighs the supposed utter devastation (which I don't even remember) that I felt on finding out he was not real.

As for continuing the pretence for younger siblings...my youngest sibling is 7 years younger than me so I had to continue for a long time, and I LOVED it. I loved feeling like my parents and I had a special secret.

So, when (if) my children come along, I will definitely be doing Father Christmas with them, and I just hope they get to experience the same magic and joy that it gave me.

Goldiegirl

My take on this - If a kid is rummaging around in his mum's room shortly before Christmas, he's actively looking for Christmas presents, so he has already realised that presents don't 'come from Santa'.


He's probably not telling the truth about what he saw, in the same way that parents routinely 'lie' about Santa to their kids - he wants to preserve the myth and doesn't want to upset you by acknowledging that's he's growing up and understands the difference between a fairy tale and reality.


I think at the age of six, most children are beginning to challenge the whole Father Christmas routine - I know I did.


Just because they no longer 100% believe, it doesn't mean that Christmas is forever ruined - parents and children can still enjoy the whole pantomime of it for as long as they want too.


Also, I expect most of us rummaged our parents room for our presents, and found them - I don't think we were damaged in any way by our findings.


Just give him the presents and enjoy Christmas

emweaver

elona wrote: »

We had the tradition that santa only sent a stocking with sweets, a small toy, comic etc and that presents came from mum and dad, auntie a, uncle b etc.

Now he is a big boy santa just does stocking and family do the rest?

He is only 6, not a big boy and way too young to take away the magic of Santa. Children grow up way too fast these days and there is nothing as magical as santa for children.

OrkneyStar

If you never 'do' santa then you find other ways of making it special, and those can last forever, as they are not based on something that only a child would believe- just a thought.

balletshoes

OrkneyStar wrote: »

If you never 'do' santa then you find other ways of making it special, and those can last forever, as they are not based on something that only a child would believe- just a thought.

or you do both the santa magic, and other christmas special traditions .

poet123

balletshoes wrote: »

or you do both the santa magic, and other christmas special traditions .

Yes, nothing is exclusive. We did Santa and the Christian things; Nativity, Midnight Mass, Epiphany.

Corelli

I spoke to my daughter tonight about her never being brought up believing that Father Christmas was real. She said that she never felt deprived, christmas was magical enough for her, she is glad she never got disillusioned about it all. My daughter is 19 now, not one to mince words and if she felt deprived of something she would certainly let me know!

We wondered how we handled visiting FC is stores, and came to the conclusion that it was part of the Christmas game, but she never thought the dressed up man really lived at the north pole and distributed more presents from his reindeer pulled sledge.

She knows about this thread and said I could quote her here.

OrkneyStar

I did say it was 'just a thought'.
I know a lot of Christians who do 'do' Santa, so yes you can do both, we just chose not to, just don't feel the need (as I have said before and won't go an about again!).
Perhaps if I wasn't a Christian my view would be different, perhaps not.
I suppose the main thing is that folks have a happy Christmas, and enjoy the day for what they make it.