Simon asked me today if Santa was real. OK, so call me scrooge, but I just can NOT lie to my kid. So, I said, "Santa is a real part of Christmas, but he's pretend like Mickey."
Simon said,
"But Mickey IS real!"
And I said, "Mickey is part of a story."
And he said, "The Mickey on my toon plane is pretend, but the Mickey on the show is real."
And I said, "Oh, you're right." (so much for my honesty policy.)
And then I said, "We like to pretend that Santa is real."
And that seemed to satisfy him.
What does everyone else tell their kids about Santa?
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4 comments:
Tim and I were in the same situation with Peter. We just kind of sat back and let his imagination go wild. He started talking about Santa before we even got the chance to introduce him to the idea. So, we talk about him coming and let the kids see him at the mall, but we also stress, more, the real reason of Christmas. So, Peter understands both sides, but I think by letting Peter think that Santa is a pretty cool, is harmless. They see Santa EVERYWHERE now-a-days! It's hard to resist!
We don't really talk about Santa much. Neither of us believed in him growing up so I don't think David will either. If he asks I'll just say he's part of a story and fun for pretend.
We do let the kids believe in Santa, though I don't know how long Emma will, because she's already asking questions about how he will fit down our extremely skinny chimney, and how will he get out of the gas fireplace (since it's sealed off with glass in the front).
However, we also do stress the REAL meaning of Christmas, and the girls are as excited to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Christmas morning and search for him in the Nativity Scene than they are about everything else.
The only time their theology got a bit confused was when Emma mentioned praying to Santa -- we cleared that one up VERY quickly!!
After reading your blog about Santa I have been really thinking about what to do. Matt and I loved believing in Santa (we probably still do a little) and Christmas morning was a magical time of opening presents from Santa and reading the Christmas story. I would love this for Ellie but I'm worried about it not working out with other family members who don't even acknowledge Santa Claus. How are there kids going to feel when Ellie is the only one on Christmas morning to get a present from Santa? I realize that the point of Santa is to emphasize a spirit of generosity and giving over the Christmas season and that can be done other ways but it will be sad if because other family has done away with the tradition, we can't leave milk and cookies out and look for his sleigh with reindeer in the sky.
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