Believe in Santa

I think we all ought to believe in Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, fairies, goblins, vampires, unicorns, ghosts… the lot. Better than the reality that we wake up to every day when we hear the news.

Aww, his little face 🥰

I bought mine up to believe in Father Christmas as I was and my daughter carried on, sticking present from him, Tree presents from family and friends.

If you don’t believe in Santa you don’t get presents, it’s a no brainer.😄

Deedaa

Well my two grew up believing in Father Christmas and so did their boys. I think they eventually sussed it talking to other children at school. Nobody seems to have been damaged and they've certainly never accused us of lying. It was just a game we all went along with. I used to be careful to use different paper to wrap the stocking presents, so there were no awkward questions about why Father Christmas had used my paper to wrap his presents. I was quite amused when I found my children were doing the same.

I cover all bases at Christmas. My lovely vintage Italian nativity set comes out, the children have stockings, and I work in a bit of pagan stuff as well.

Sounds lovely 😊

Well my two grew up believing in Father Christmas and so did their boys. I think they eventually sussed it talking to other children at school. Nobody seems to have been damaged and they've certainly never accused us of lying. It was just a game we all went along with. I used to be careful to use different paper to wrap the stocking presents, so there were no awkward questions about why Father Christmas had used my paper to wrap his presents. I was quite amused when I found my children were doing the same.

I cover all bases at Christmas. My lovely vintage Italian nativity set comes out, the children have stockings, and I work in a bit of pagan stuff as well.

I don't know about Peter and the twigs.

Allira

Of course Father Christmas is St Nicholas!
Bearer of gifts for the poor and the patron saint of children.

It's a shame if children aren't made aware of him in one way or another, although his Saint's Day is 6th December, not 24th.

Our two were lucky enough to get both the red welly out for the 6th and we were in Germany and FC when we came to the UK for Christmas!I
They were also told about Peter and the twigs for the naughty children in the 6th.

I use to love Christmas, but it's not the same when they have grown up, I can't be bothered with decorations, when I remember making our own with crimping paper with different colours, now I just have a tree, with little presents
And making sure on the first of December everything was in place home made chocolate shapes for Callander, my grandkids spend with other grandparents so I don't see them

In our family we believe in the magic of Father Christmas. He fills a small stocking and leaves a few presents for the children. The rest of the presents are from family and friends that thank you letters need to be written after Christmas.

No Easter Bunny here but we do an Easter egg hunt and do Easter crafts but the tooth fairy aways makes an appearance! I see no harm in a bit of fantasy and magic

The thing is we drill it into kids that lying is bad, yet we constantly lie to them about santa and the rest.

I celebrate yule, there's no santa and it's the original midwinter celebration (Christianity claimed it as Christ's birth and took over). But you say you know the real meaning of Christmas and because your kids grew into good Christians that's the reason... But where does the Bible mention santa or the easter bunny? It doesn't and they have nothing to do with gods or religion. You seem to be confusing two very different concepts.

In my family, we keep that magic alive without lying to the kids

When my DD was about seven she told me that she no longer believed in Father Christmas. I asked her how long she’d known and she said since she was five but she hadn’t wanted to upset me!

Cossy

All our children “did” Santa, Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.

It was fun and magical for us all!

Just put £5 under my grandsons pillow for the tooth fairy. I think it was a shilling when I was a child.
It’s a bit of harmless fun, in my opinion.
I think at nearly seven he’s quite clued up that there is no such thing.

I always think it’s lovely how older siblings usually go along with the Father Christmas story for the sake of their younger brothers or sisters.

Witzend

*TG3465*, when dd1 was only 5, a neighbour took it upon herself to tell dd that FC was ‘a fairytale’.
Dd1 was distraught.

The woman in question had form for loudly arguing, effing and blinding in public, as dd had once witnessed, so I said she’d probably been so naughty when she was little, that FC never came, so no wonder she didn’t believe in him.

Thank goodness, it worked like a dream!

My neighbour ( who’s actually lovely and has no idea that she caused such an upset) said to me when my daughter was standing next to me ‘ of course, DD is too old to believe in Father Christmas now isn’t she’. ‘She’ can still remember how upset she was on hearing those words. When I lived in a bedsit in Birmingham in my late teens I can still remember hearing the milkman one Christmas morning; the sound of the bottles jingling on his milk float sounded like sleigh bells and for a second to me it was sleigh bells.

me too Witzend, please allow me to come along and pelt them too...let children be children for a little bit longer..

TG3465, when dd1 was only 5, a neighbour took it upon herself to tell dd that FC was ‘a fairytale’.
Dd1 was distraught.

The woman in question had form for loudly arguing, effing and blinding in public, as dd had once witnessed, so I said she’d probably been so naughty when she was little, that FC never came, so no wonder she didn’t believe in him.

Thank goodness, it worked like a dream!

For me, the excitement of Christmas Eve, because Father Christmas was coming, was magical, so I wanted the same for dds, and I’m so glad the Gdcs have been allowed to enjoy the same. I do wonder now whether dd1 (now 10) still believes, but 🤞for the two younger ones. It’s all over soon enough anyway - I do absolutely loathe adults who try to spoil it for children, or who accuse parents of ‘lying’ about 🎅🏻.
When I’m a dictator, such miseries will be put in the stocks and pelted with reindeer poo.

And while I’m at it, anyone in the U.K. who talks of putting out ‘milk and cookies’ for FC will suffer a similar fate. That might be considered adequate across the pond, but in the U.K. Father Christmas deserves a tot of something warming on a cold winter’s night, plus a couple of mince pies.

Whitewavemark2

Culturally there can be found a magical figure throughout Europe.

In the U.K. it was Father Christmas.
In Italy it is a witch and St Lucy
In France it was St Nicholas
In Spain it was/is the three wise men
In Holland it is Sinterclaus - who became Santa Claus in the USA
In Norway the Yule goat

And so on -but everywhere - more or less has adopted Santa Claus now - although I prefer our own Father Christmas.

So there has always been a magical Christmas figure for children that adds to the mystery and excitement.

It still is Father Christmas where I live.

My DD and her DH have so far included Father Christmas and Easter Bunny in our GC's lives. The boy is nearly 14 and I hope they have told him it isn't real, but I imagine he has known for a long time.

When my younger DD was about 7 her friend Martin (a week older) found a pile of Christmas presents ready-wrapped in his parents' wardrobe and unwrapped them all, then hot-footed it to ours to tell her there was no such thing as Father Christmas. I never forgave him!

Nobody believes Superman or Cinderella are real do they?
It sounds to me as if you want to relive your children’s early childhood through their children.
With all respect, this is an unhealthy attitude and you need to step right back.

What’s sad about not lying to children

FranP

Santa Claus is not really a myth, just a story that was enlarged upon. St Nicholas was an European medieval bishop who provided food and treats for the poor children in his area at mid-Winter to celebrate the birth of Christ. It was then mixed with other stories about such giving.

The Easter story, I always thought was a bit gory for small children. Never did the bunny, but eggs were a symbol of new life - not sure how that fits with rabbits, we did chicks.

That part of Easter has its origins in paganism, from which the word Easter is derived anyway.

I do think even if you do not agree, that parents do as they see fit as to how they parent their children..One of my grandchildren never believed in him, we took her to see him aged three and she backed away, saying I don't like him, he is not coming in my house. She wouldn't have a present off him.
Same with fairies or elves, she didn't believe in them either..We never knew why, she was treated the same way as her brother so where she got her ideas from, never knew,.