Jer and I had a conversation the other day about santa claus, and whether we are going to allow our children to believe in him. Lilly is now 4 and Isaiah only 3 months shy of turning 3.
I believed in santa when I was a child. I remember my parents going the whole nine yards. We saw santa at the malls, and got our pics taken with him (my sister crying the whole time- lol). We wrote letters to santa and left out milk and cookies for him on Christmas eve. I even remember waking up Christmas morning, and going downstairs, so excited to see what santa had left for us, and finding the cookies were eaten.....all that were left were crumbs. We had a few wrapped presents by the fireplace, in their own 'santa wrapping paper', with our names on them and "from santa" on the tag. I even remember getting a letter in the mail, from santa. He knew my best friend, what I wanted for Christmas (I believe it was a Betsy Wetsy doll that year....), the street I lived on......everything! (come to find out, of course, my mom "ordered" the letter from a magazine and just provided the info to them, who in turn mailed it to me).
I don't remember how long I believed, but I believe it was my sister who finally told me that, *gasp* there's-no-such-thing-as-santa-claus!
Now..........fast forward 20+ years............and I have 2 children of my own. What to do. I have heard pros and cons of santa claus, and allowing or not allowing your children to believe in him.
I have asked several people, about what they do, and if they "do" santa in their house. ("Do", as in let their children believe that santa brings them their gifts on Christmas eve. And allows them to think that santa flies in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, all over the world delivering gifts to children in one night)
Some answeres surprised me. Some people I talked to. Others did not. I am curious......
Did you vote at my poll (on the right)?
And if you indeed voted, did you leave me a comment telling me why or why not?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
4 comments:
We did the Santa thing for a few years but never with 'all' the presents like we did when I was a child. My kiddos figured it out because their scatterbrained mother wrapped all of Santa's gifts in the same paper as all the other presents.
Thanks for letting everyone know that I cried the at Santa Claus every year, sis! I sooooooo appreciate that-- NOT!! lol! :=)
I voted no. It's lying to kids for one thing, also many elevate santa to godlike status in his ability to know all and be everywhere and the other reason is about why I don't observe 12/25 --I'll let you research why.
sure DS7 knows about santa because of various things throughout the years but was always told not to ruin it for the other kids by telling them who was under that costume.
This is hard issue. We chose not to do the santa thing at all. Why? well first I didn't wanna lie to them. I figured if I told them there was a santa ( they couldnt see) and then told them he wasn't real. How could they believe what I said about God? The other reason was that for me as a child that Christmas I found out that santa wasn't real was miserable. Why go through that? That one issue of santa changed how we felt about Christmas. It seems to keep us grounded in truth. My daughter is 18 and she says she is so glad we didn't do the santa thing. We have santa stuff here and she had her picture made wtih the one in the mall but we never ever told her he was responsible for Christmas . Pray and seek the Lord. He will lead you with His truth.
Julie
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