Anyone else have a no-santa Christmas?

Yep, that was it, Meg. I don't know why I couldn't remember that one, DH just read that story to the kids a few days ago...
 
This always cracks me up.

Creationism VS. Science
Liberals VS. Christians
Santa VS. Jesus

So many people I've found like to pit Christianity against other things and it always cracks me up (I'm not talking about this thread, just in general). Guess what? I'm a Liberal Christian who believes that the Big Bang was the WAY God Created the universe and we have BOTH Santa AND Jesus at Christmas. I guess I break the mold. LMAO.

As far as it's concerned, Santa represents the magic of this time of year for my kids. The goodwill and blessings that Jesus bestowed upon the Earth now 2000 years later is all bundled up an a fat guy in a suit. We do Christmas musicals at church, go to the nativity, all three of the books we read every night are all representations of the Christmas story but we also leave out cookies and carrots, go sit on Santa's lap and have special presents that Santa brought. Our kids think Santa is Jesus' helper. I don't feel I'm lying to them, when they get old enough to know better I will explain to them that even though he's not in human form, Santa is a representation of all that Christmas is supposed to be, kindess, goodwill and love.

Sorry, guess that was long, I think I get passionate when I get the feeling that people think you can't do certain things (like be a liberal, believe in the Big Bang or incorporate Santa into Christmas too) and be a Christian at the same time. LOL
 
i agree with some of what you said traci and for our family too, santa represents the magical time of the season. the goodwill to others etc. i believe both Jesus and santa can co-exist during the christmas season as well, but Jesus is our focus for sure. please...*i* still believe in santa. :D

it's been fun hearing about everyones personal traditions and getting a different view from all of you.
 
Traci Reed said:
As far as it's concerned, Santa represents the magic of this time of year for my kids. The goodwill and blessings that Jesus bestowed upon the Earth now 2000 years later is all bundled up an a fat guy in a suit. We do Christmas musicals at church, go to the nativity, all three of the books we read every night are all representations of the Christmas story but we also leave out cookies and carrots, go sit on Santa's lap and have special presents that Santa brought. Our kids think Santa is Jesus' helper. I don't feel I'm lying to them, when they get old enough to know better I will explain to them that even though he's not in human form, Santa is a representation of all that Christmas is supposed to be, kindess, goodwill and love.
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This is me too. I will just follow Traci around and say Word. :)
 
My DH didn't do Santa, but my mom played Santa for a long time. We always went to midnight mass at church, so I knew what the really important part of Christmas was. However, I enjoyed the feeling of excitement I got knowing that Santa would be coming and all that. I figured it out on my own and it wasn't really that big of a deal to me. I mean, come on, can you really believe a big man in a red suit comes down your chimney!!! Especially when the fire is going!! Whatever works for you and your family is what is best!
 
We do Santa, and I go way out of my way to ensure it's very realistic, my 8 year old still believes wholeheartedly. But I definitely don't think that people that don't are bad, evil or ruining their kids LOL.

To each their own I say, and do whatever is right for your family, screw everyone else!
 
my kids are aware of santa. but, i sometimes wish they weren't; Chloe gets on my nerves when day after day i hear "i want santa to bring me blah blah blah.." lol. since we're not a church going family, my kids don't know anything about Jesus. which, i find sad. i grew up not going to church but i did attend bible school. and loved it. so, my kid will eventually learn about jesus. they are just so young now. Well, Chloe could learn about Jesus and probably understand, being almost 6.

i didnt feel duped when i found out santa was really mom and dad. i understood the reasoning behind it. Christmas is magical to kids and santa is a part of that.



an another not, does anyone notice that if you re arrange the letters of Santa you get Satan????? VERY creepy.....lol!
 
my parents sat my sister and i down on christmas, at like 3 and 4 and told us there was no santa....

it totally sucked! seriously i grew up feeling like i was missing out on something really fun... ofcourse my whole childhood was monumentally differnt than all the other kids i ever knew in like every way imaginable... i just want things to be more "normal" for my family...
 
You're not the only one. My mom filled me in when I was three because the jolly old fat man in the big red suit scared me. Once she told me he was just a guy in a costume, I was fine. My dad's family gave her a hard time about it...they said 'who will she think gives her gifts?" Mom's answer...'people who love her.' That shut them up but they still didn't like it.
When I taught pre-k and K, I had some kids who believed, and some who didn't. There would generally be more than one argument break out about Santa...I just told the kids that different families believed different things, and that it was ok if someone else believed differently about Santa than they did.
I did pick up a Santa, Are You for Real? book at the Christian bookstore...it talks about St. Nicholas and how he gave to others. It was a good read for the kids...I'd recommend it...and want to go get a copy for Rachel.
 
My parents and my husband's parents didn't do Santa, so he wasn't all that important to us - thus, no Santa for our kids. :)

What I find crazy is that we know 13 and 14-year olds who still think Santa exists and their parents do everything possible, including going into ridiculous debt, to make sure that their kids get what they put on Santa's list in order to keep the belief in Santa alive. I just think that's a little nuts.
 
The holiday season is different for every family, I would never judge how someone decides to celebrate. There is no right or wrong way to celebrate (or not celebrate) this time of year.

We "believe" in Santa, and don't believe in Jesus. To each his own :)
 
We don't do Santa. I didn't want the focus of Christmas to be on presents and material things and I was afraid we'd get caught up in that if we did choose to have Santa (because she is the only grandchild and is spoiled rotten by them, and some other reasons like that). I told her that we give presents because the wise men brought Jesus presents, and because the spirit of Christmas is to give. So it's about Christ and giving here. Now, the Santa thing is unavoidable. We did discuss that it's okay and you don't judge other people for doing Santa and you cannot tell your classmates that there is no Santa. Let their parents handle that. Some people think it's fun and that's ok for them. She's fine with it and actually has made some comments that she's glad we didn't try to trick her and say he was real. So I guess it's worked out for us. We're going to do a lesson next week on the real St.Nick and learn about Hannukah and some other Christmas traditions.
I had one mom at a playgroup tell me I'm ruining Christmas for my kids, and another who said ' oh, you must be one of those religious fanatics' when I said 'we don't really do that' when she asked if I had taken the kids to see Santa. What do you think?
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This is the typical reaction I get, and being homeschoolers makes us even weirder LOL. The first couple of years it bothered me, but she's 7 now. I'm learning more and more with time not to give a rip about what people say about how you choose to raise your kids. I was raised in one of those hypocritical christian in name only homes that sat in church every Sunday but acted like the devil as soon as they got out the door. You know, claim to believe in Jesus then have a worldview totally contradictory to everything He says. I was a brat who got mad when I didn't get everything I wanted from "santa". Most of my parenting is trying to avoid the mistakes my mother made, and being glad her father is involved. Mine was always hunting or working or doing anything he could to get away from my mother. Which is still true today (he's over at my house ALL the time LOL), although she is not quite as rotten as she used to be. I didn't want to set this precedent in our family. Lots of deep rooted reasons why I do what I do. Other people don't know where you've been or what it's like to walk in your shoes. So eventually you just have to learn to roll with the punches and be strong enough in your own convictions to not let everyone else's opinions bother you. Hang in there, you do what you think is best for your children.
 
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Traci Reed said:
This always cracks me up.

Creationism VS. Science
Liberals VS. Christians
Santa VS. Jesus

So many people I've found like to pit Christianity against other things and it always cracks me up (I'm not talking about this thread, just in general). Guess what? I'm a Liberal Christian who believes that the Big Bang was the WAY God Created the universe and we have BOTH Santa AND Jesus at Christmas. I guess I break the mold. LMAO.

As far as it's concerned, Santa represents the magic of this time of year for my kids. The goodwill and blessings that Jesus bestowed upon the Earth now 2000 years later is all bundled up an a fat guy in a suit. We do Christmas musicals at church, go to the nativity, all three of the books we read every night are all representations of the Christmas story but we also leave out cookies and carrots, go sit on Santa's lap and have special presents that Santa brought. Our kids think Santa is Jesus' helper. I don't feel I'm lying to them, when they get old enough to know better I will explain to them that even though he's not in human form, Santa is a representation of all that Christmas is supposed to be, kindess, goodwill and love.

Sorry, guess that was long, I think I get passionate when I get the feeling that people think you can't do certain things (like be a liberal, believe in the Big Bang or incorporate Santa into Christmas too) and be a Christian at the same time. LOL
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Traci, you are a woman after my own heart! :wub:
 
Traci Reed said:
This always cracks me up.

Creationism VS. Science
Liberals VS. Christians
Santa VS. Jesus

So many people I've found like to pit Christianity against other things and it always cracks me up (I'm not talking about this thread, just in general). Guess what? I'm a Liberal Christian who believes that the Big Bang was the WAY God Created the universe and we have BOTH Santa AND Jesus at Christmas. I guess I break the mold. LMAO.

As far as it's concerned, Santa represents the magic of this time of year for my kids. The goodwill and blessings that Jesus bestowed upon the Earth now 2000 years later is all bundled up an a fat guy in a suit. We do Christmas musicals at church, go to the nativity, all three of the books we read every night are all representations of the Christmas story but we also leave out cookies and carrots, go sit on Santa's lap and have special presents that Santa brought. Our kids think Santa is Jesus' helper. I don't feel I'm lying to them, when they get old enough to know better I will explain to them that even though he's not in human form, Santa is a representation of all that Christmas is supposed to be, kindess, goodwill and love.

Sorry, guess that was long, I think I get passionate when I get the feeling that people think you can't do certain things (like be a liberal, believe in the Big Bang or incorporate Santa into Christmas too) and be a Christian at the same time. LOL
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Pretty much how I feel Traci.

I think if you don't want your kids to believe in Santa, that's up to you. But in the long run, its fun for the kids, and I want my kids to have wonderful memories. Its not about the gifts, its about the joy and excitement that they have and that makes me happy.

I might think people that don't do Santa are a little crazy, LOL! I'm just kidding, but then again I think people that spend $1000's on Christmas are also a little crazy.

You have to do what you think is right for your family. I don't think my kids will be upset when they find out there isn't a Santa, I wasn't, neither were my brothers. :)
 
Traci, loved what you said!

We do the santa thing here.. the way I look at it. I loved it as a kid, when i found out he wasn't "real" I wasn't mad.. and now I pass down the magic of santa to my kids and I hope that when they have children of their own they will want to pass it down as well.

There isn't enough excitement and magic left IMO these days... everything has to be facts facts facts... its just one day a year to believe and to love :)

now i'm gonna go back to my campfire and finish singing kumaya :) lol. yes. i'm a dork.
 
We still do Santa in our house, although after this year I'm not sure if Kaylie will still believe (she'll be 7 this Friday) in him much longer. She has decided Santa is bringing her a Nintendo DS this year (and buying her one is just not possible for us this year) and no amount of DH & I explaining to her that it is too expensive of an item for Santa (or Mommy and Daddy) to bring for her will change her mind. There are lots of other things she wants that she will be getting but I'm thinking she's going to be somewhat disappointed on Christmas morning when that Nintendo DS isn't waiting for her under the tree. I don't really remember at exactly what age I figured out he wasn't real but I think I was probably around her age. I was the oldest also so I had to keep quiet since I had younger siblings that still believed though.

My stepsister is now a JW (her husbands family are JW and she converted I guess) and they no longer celebrate holidays with the rest of our family. A couple of things I find a bit hypocritical is that she won't come over on Thanksgiving or Christmas when we have our big family meal but she will come over the day after and eat the leftovers! Some might says it's just food, but to me it's special food that was prepared just for the holiday meal so they shouldn't partake of it at all since they didn't celebrate the holiday in the first place. Oh and she also told my stepmom (her mom) once that she can't buy her or the girls birthday or Christmas gifts and wrap them in holiday wrapping paper but she can buy them gifts and just wrap them in plain paper instead! Of course my stepmom told her that wasn't going to happen lol! Can you tell my stepsister and I don't really get along at all? Actually she doesn't get along with any of our siblings anymore but there's alot more to it than just her being a JW now. She just really annoys us lol.
 
KristinCB said:
Traci, loved what you said!

We do the santa thing here.. the way I look at it. I loved it as a kid, when i found out he wasn't "real" I wasn't mad.. and now I pass down the magic of santa to my kids and I hope that when they have children of their own they will want to pass it down as well.

There isn't enough excitement and magic left IMO these days... everything has to be facts facts facts... its just one day a year to believe and to love :)

now i'm gonna go back to my campfire and finish singing kumaya :) lol. yes. i'm a dork.
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The Christmas story itself - God coming down in human form and being born as a baby - the divine wanting to share a human experience, to know us, to love us. the shepherds, angels, wisemen... the whole thing is full of wonder and beauty and joy to me. Miracles are better than magic to me. And my daughter is catching that this year - she is EXCITED and there is plenty of pretend and play in her life. I'm definetly not agaisnt that.
 
stayawake said:
The Christmas story itself - God coming down in human form and being born as a baby - the divine wanting to share a human experience, to know us, to love us. the shepherds, angels, wisemen... the whole thing is full of wonder and beauty and joy to me. Miracles are better than magic to me. And my daughter is catching that this year - she is EXCITED and there is plenty of pretend and play in her life. I'm definetly not agaisnt that.
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I agree to this as well. We celebrate both. Its a wonderful time of the year in every way :)
 
I am a secular humanist. So, we don't do a religious Christmas. We have Santa and gifts and talk about the the joy of family & friends and the tradition of giving to others.

Susan
 
In our house Santa is one more personification of a facet of the Divine - generosity. (I use many more much smaller words to describe it to the boys:)). I'm pagan and to most of the world none of my gods are 'real', just a bunch of myth & symbolism, so the idea that something is both real and not real is large feature in the faith I am teaching my kids.

We don't play up Santa. We don't actually volunteer anything about him. They see stuff on TV or hear things at school and come & tell us about it and we tell them what we think. Currently they are convinced that the UPS drivers are actually Santa's elves in disguise ('Santa' has been shipping gifts to FL, where we will be for Christmas, so he doesn't miss getting them to us) and there is no internet at the North Pole so you can't email Santa updates to your Christmas list.

They know Santa isn't really real like you & me. He's magic so he is different. They do think Rudolph is real though.
 
Chef said:
I am a secular humanist. So, we don't do a religious Christmas. We have Santa and gifts and talk about the the joy of family & friends and the tradition of giving to others.

Susan
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This describes our beliefs as well, although I don't really refer to myself as a secular humanist. We decorate a tree, exchange gifts, bake holiday goodies, send cards out, and teach the importance of giving to others. We don't celebrate the religious aspects of Christmas (or any holiday) though.
 
rochelle789 said:
This describes our beliefs as well, although I don't really refer to myself as a secular humanist. We decorate a tree, exchange gifts, bake holiday goodies, send cards out, and teach the importance of giving to others. We don't celebrate the religious aspects of Christmas (or any holiday) though.
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Same here, we do these exact same things.
 
This has been a great thread to read as I have been contemplating the whole Santa thing. I was raised with him, the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, the whole nine yards, in a Baptist family. So my parents did both.

My little guy just turned 2 and in two months has experienced Halloween, his birthday and now Christmas and the thought has crossed my mind more than once that I feel I am creating a little consumer - he knows nothing about these holidays except what I teach him. I feel I need to make some decisions right now (probably should have done it sooner) as to what holidays in our family means. Sure his birthday is a special day, but does it need to center around a bunch of gifts? Same with Christmas? This past Sunday we took him to get pictures with Santa and missed Santa! I'm a little glad, wondering if we should even start.

DH and I are strong believers in Christ and want that to be the center of Christmas, Easter, etc. But I have so much FUN buy AND getting gifts:) and I feel like I LOVED believing in all of those magical things as a child so I am torn and feel this is a make-it or break-it year based on ds's age.

Anyway, those are just my ramblings, thanks for an interesting thread and some things to think about!
 
At the center of our traditions and celebrating, is Jesus. So we try to underscore that during the holiday season. While we are working to reduce the whole consumerism frenzy, we still plan on "doing" Santa. There's a magic to that whole experience that we think would be fun for our kids and that we feel still fits with what we want to teach our kids about Christmastime. So for us it's "and" and not "or". But definitely more Jesus than anything else.
 
We celebrate Jesus' birthday...we'll be baking him a birthday cake...donating some toys (as his birthday gift...giving to others).
Rachel has a nativity set to play with and we'll tell her the story as we play with her, and we'll be going to a candlelight Christmas Eve service.
 
We don't do Santa either. We have several reasons:

1) We want the focus to be on Jesus, nothing else. We take this time to focus on sharing with others the blessings and gifts God has given us.

2)I think it could be confusing for our kids. If we lie and say Santa, the Easter Bunny, etc. is real then they may question what we have told them about Jesus. We tell them all kinds of stories about Jesus and they may wonder if we are really telling the truth or if he is just one of those fictional characters we make up.

3) I didn't want to lie to the kids. I was disappointed when I found out the characters weren't real. I felt so guilty because my parents still acted like they were and I didn't want to ruin the fun for them. I was so torn, don't want to put my kids through that.

We don't do Halloween either. We get comments and funny looks sometimes. My relatives asked my parents if we ever let our kids have fun. Ummmmmm, no we just like to torture them and ruin every holiday to make there lives miserable.....LOL! Seriously, they love the holidays and have a lot of fun in different ways.

You are not alone. We are lucky because we have a lot of people in our community with the same views so the kids have others to relate to.
 
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