Anyone else do Christmas but not Santa?
If so, what are your reasons? I'm just curious. . . NOT trying to start a debate.
DH and I believe that the reason we celebrate Christmas is to honor and rejoice Christ's birth. We also don't want to lie to DD. I did not believe in Santa as a child, and I have many wonderful memories of Christmas where the focus was always on family and Christ. We had presents, time spent with family, baked and made crafts together and even enjoyed the story of Santa, but we were never taught that our presents came from him or were somehow based on our behavior. We were also taught to respect the choices that other families made and to not spoil it for other kids who believed differently than we did. My favorite moment of every Christmas has always been and still is when my Grandpa reads the Christmas story from the Bible just before we all open our gifts at my BIG family Christmas. He always reminds us that the reason we give gifts to one another is to remember the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. I feel so grateful for the wonderful memories I have and I hope to help my DD have just as many special memories as I have.
Re: Anyone else do Christmas but not Santa?
No. We are the opposite. We don't celebrate anything regarding Jesus as we don't believe in it. We consider Christmas a time for family and friends we love, not as a religious holiday at all.
We do share in the Christmas traditions such as Santa Claus for the kids, decorating the house, etc. etc. We love to put up the tree together, and give gifts, eat great food, and sing songs and be together as a family. This is what we plan to continue now that we have LO as well.
Actually, I shouldn't say we do the opposite you do b/c your celebration sounds exactly like ours. Full of family and love. We just don't do the christian stuff.
That's how I grew up. They didn't want me to question the existence of Jesus if they lied to me about Santa.
My husband and I will take a different approach. We're doing the exact opposite :-)
We do Santa and not Christ. I don't practice any organized religion (i'm not necessarily atheist, I just think there's no need to give your faith a title or rules based on a book or someone else's idea of religion.) I have wonderful memories of Christmas growing up and believing in Santa and Rudolph and all that. I never thought of the story and magic of it all as my parents "lying to me." It's just a fun magical tradition that brings families together to celebrate the season (in my family, anyway.)
Unfortunately, we have lost a few family members during the holidays over the past few years, so it's been a bit less joyous lately. I am so looking forward to this year because now we have a new child/grandchild to bring joy back to the family.
There's nothing like kids on Christmas- whether it's about Jesus, Santa, or just all the lights and presents...
We're Presbyterian and we do Santa, but we also celebrate the Epiphany on January 6th (the 12 days of Christmas/Twelfth Night), and that is a nice time in our family which is a bit more religious, where we anticipate the Three Wise Men following the North Star and arriving to Bethlehem to deliver their gifts to baby Jesus. Each child in the family gets one toy, but also get told the tales of the Magi and the meaning of the birth of Christ.
It's a nice way to celebrate in many ways and prolongs the holiday a bit. And we get to keep our tree up longer!
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I was raised by parents who grew up in church and I still believed in Santa. When I found out he wasn't real, it genuinely did not make me question my beliefs in Jesus. I really don't think it has to be one or the other, and not to offend anyone, but the notion that having your children believe in Santa Claus is lying to them really, really makes me roll my eyes. It's make believe and you better believe I am going to encourage my child's imagination.
I just think if you start down that road then where do you draw the line? Well, I can't let my kid watch Disney movies because mermaids and talking lions are a lie?
I'll teach my daughter about Santa and Jesus. And Snoopy because I love him. I'm sorry if dancing dogs who sleep on top of their dog houses are a lie.
Growing up, we went to church most Sundays, and I went to Sunday school. Christmas was always Jesus's birthday, but we still believed in Santa Claus, and we didn't make the holiday ultra religion-focused. It was a mix of both. And no, just because I found out Santa wasn't real one day, that didn't make me think Jesus also wasn't real. The two were very different and served very different roles. One was a part of God; the other was some jolly, fat dude who brought us presents.
Incidentally, I still get a present from Santa.
All of this. We kept both aspects, I was never confused.
Agree. I believe in Santa, I never felt lied to and I never questioned the existence of of Christ. They were two very different things for me. We will do both for DS.
Same, I remember looking out my window for Santa, and trying to stay up and always falling asleep. I never questioned anything when it came to the Easter Bunny, Santa, Tooth Fairy, are all things I will bring my DD up believing in, because beliving in the impossible is part of the fun of being a kid (to me).
This exactly.
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We don't make Santa a big deal, Santa brings one gift and fills the stocking. Our children are taught that other children in the world go with out so we have to want those toys to go to them.
We also tell them about the real history of Santa not the Santa that is out today.
I am still waiting to meet a maladjusted adult who is upset that their parents lied to them about Santa.
Still.Waiting.
If you tell your child that Santa brings them presents, you are lying to them because he doesn't. If you read your child a story about Santa and they want to pretend to be Santa or one of the elves, that's make-believe / imaginative play. My DD will watch Disney movies, and we'll enjoy Christmas stories together. She will understand that they are stories to be enjoyed as such. We choose to celebrate in a different way than many other people. If you choose to do something different, that's your choice. I was just curious to know what other people's reasons are for not doing the Santa thing.
If you tell your child that Christmas is Jesus's birthday are you lying to them? Because he wasn't born December 25th.
In my opinion, there's a wide gap in fantasy and a pattern of deceit.
I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers or even start a debate. I'm just stating my opinion. Will you not tell your child about the tooth fairy either then?
It is the day we celebrate His birth.
No, I will not tell her that the tooth fairy is real. I won't tell her that the Easter bunny is either. She'll get an Easter basket, dye eggs and have egg hunts. She'll just know that we do these things for her instead of thinking a bunny brings them.
But it's not His birthday, so unless you tell your child "This is the day we celebrate His birthday" rather than "Today is Jesus's birthday!" you are, by definition, lying.
I might have to skip out on the tooth fairy! I totally got quarters from her, but DH's nieces get five dollar bills, what is that. Mama can't afford that business.
I don't recall saying I would tell her it is His birthday. . . Interesting that you are trying so hard to make my choice of celebrating Christmas somehow include me lying to my DD. . . I started this post because I was curious what other people who DO NOT do Santa think. I appreciate the other opinions, but I don't wish to argue about my choice.
Dude, it's not about you. You're not the only one to ever decide not to tell your kid about Santa and what I'm asking are valid questions. Your choice is your choice, no need to get defensive. I was asking a general question, one that I'm genuinely curious about - if telling your kids about Santa is lying, then is telling your kids that Christmas is Jesus's birthday a lie? I wouldn't call either such.
When I say you and your, I'm not directing it at you. It's an open-ended question.
I actually think it's great that you were taught as a child to respect other's opinions on the issue. I know people who were kids who went to school and told everyone else that their parents told them Santa wasn't real, and I think that's wrong and, quite frankly, mean.
All of this! It is not Jesus' birthday, if Jesus even existed at all. Which in my mind he did not. So how can you call any other fairy tale a lie?
bahahahahahah
This issue is still up for debate at our house. My husband did not grow up believing in Santa (or the Easter Bunny, etc) and I did.
We are trying to find a mix of the two, because we want to raise her to realize that Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Christ.
My husband didn't miss anything or have any less of an imagination while growing up.
This is what I was thinking!! I never once questioned my faith when I found out that there was no Santa. Santa is seperate from religion!! We celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday go to church, tell our children the story of Christ's birth etc. We also tell them about Santa. He brings the presents and it is a magical thing to watch!! I woulld never take that away from them!!
Also ditto on still getting a gift from Santa as an adult!!
Same here!
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This.
This exactly!
I grew up going to church. But never once did my parents incorporate Jesus and santa.They were two totally separate beliefs. I fully intend on having our daughter believe in Santa. I have so many wonderful memories of amazing christmas mornings, filled with the joy and happiness that believing in Santa brings. Even to this day, hearing my parents tell stories of how much fun it was getting the presents ready under the tree as "santa", they said thats what made the holidays magical, bringing joy to the kids.
And I totally agree about the lie part. So if that is a lie then i guess we could never tell our children fairy tails, or let them play with my little ponies or dragons, because its make believe and a "lie". Bottom line, it all makes the children happy. It was part of our childhood and made being a kid magical, why shouldn't it be a part of theirs!
This is pretty much our family as well. Get togethers with family and friends, good food, and fun decorations. We plan on doing Santa for DD probably starting next year. My mom still labels my gifts from Santa, lol.
DD2: February 2014
Well, I think my parents tried to get us to believe in Santa, but we just didn't! We saw through all the tricks. I don't know why. It was hard to believe he could fly. I think that was it. I tried to fly so many times. I knew he couldn't do it, even if I wanted it to be true. And it was fun, but they couldn't convince us it was real because we never saw magic happen. So as far as I can remember Santa just seemed like an evasive old fat man, that I couldn't understand why I was supposed to love, and I couldn't believe there was a real one flying all over the world in one night! I knew that was the idea, though. And I was real little! My make-believe world however was vivid and full... full of motorcycles, cowboys, indians, stuffed animals... and motorcycles... soooo vivid and real!! We would play the most fabulous games, all in an imaginary world, for hours. Somehow, make-believe is different than real belief I think. How could people really believe he was flying everywhere? I still don't know. I almost am still convinced that little kids who say they believe in Santa know he really doesn't fly all over the world in one night and give the gift their parents say he did. I think deep down they know, and they know that they are just playing make-believe.
That's why I don't know what to do with LO. It just feels so absurd, I can't imagine how it would really be believing in it all!
But I know it's also a celebration of Jesus' birthday, which is nice, because he really is real, but it wasn't his real birthday and all the traditions are not really accurate... snow, and Christmas trees and stuff. But I love Jesus and we can honor his birthday if we want, and practice all kinds of cozy traditions and gift-giving since they feel so cozy! So, whatever makes my LO cozy I guess. I can understand people who don't celebrate Christmas at all. But it's my favorite time of the year, and a great excuse I think for giving gifts and getting together and making memories!
Well to tell you the truth. We don't do either.. After careful study of the bible, we can clearly see that when Jesus died it was in a month that would be the same (or around) our month of April and he was 33 1/2 years old when he was put to death. So that would mean his birthday would be sometime or around our month of October.. Not December, plus in bible it says on the night Jesus was born that the men were out taking care of the sheep and where he was born it would be too cold to have sheep outside in December, they would be under covering like a barn.
So dec 25 has nothing to do with Jesus. It's all about money.
I could have probably saved myself a LOT of money on Zoloft if I realized all of my anxiety issues are because my parents lied to me and told me Santa was real. ;-)
Santa still brings me a gift... he and I are tight.