Let's talk about Santa Claus

elllaf · December 2013

DH and I don't agree on how Santa will be portrayed in our home. (Yes I know we have a while before it matters..)
Growing up Santa always brought ONE present...unwrapped...and left by the fireplace.
Everything else was from mom and dad. Mom explained that it made more sense if Santa would bring one present for all children. Then the stories aren't conflicting with friends and for the families who choose to or can only afford one gift.
DH grew up with everything being from Santa with the exception of one or two things from his parents. Santa also left presents for him at all of his family's houses (the ones he would visit on the holiday)
Even as 6 years old I would think it's weird Santa left something for me at a place I didn't live.

So how was Santa portrayed to you growing up and will you do the same for your children? Or slightly different?

Discuss!
& Merry Christmas!

sleepy33 · December 2013

Santa always brought me my 'biggest' present, it was saved for last and usually hidden somewhere in the house.

Alexplock · December 2013

Stocking and a few small things were from Santa. Everything else from parents

yesthisiskim0401 · December 2013

Santa always brought us everything. Same for our kids.

Our family tradition is to exchange gifts we buy for one another on Christmas Eve.

elllaf · December 2013

@ytik
I like that idea!
Could be a good compromise. ..

Pickle123 · December 2013

We draw names/exchange Christmas Eve.

Everything is from Santa Christmas Day. Wrapped in Santa paper.

bkeane619 · December 2013

Everything was from Santa except a couple from my parents.

bkeane619 · December 2013

Also sibling gifts and gifts for our parents were done on Xmas eve.

shelley1002 · December 2013

Santa left several gifts (usually toys, books, games, etc) and there were presents from my parents but they were more clothes and a few fun things. There was always one big, unwrapped gift from Santa under the tree at the front of the presents. We will do the same for our boys. We just need to convince FIL/SMIL to stop giving gifts from Santa at their house.

jen-and-ryon · December 2013

Santa brought me and my sister most of our presents/filled our stockings and my parents bought us a few things. Im with you on thinking Santa bringing presents to everyone's house in the family is a little excessive.

bkeane619 · December 2013

jgslr said:
Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.

Dh on the other hand believed in Santa for longer than he cares to admit now, and he got a shit ton gifts from Santa AND his parents. The norm from his parents is 10 gifts per person, I shit you not, 10!! Dh is kind of a brat even till this day about wanting the next bigger, better thing. We each got 10 from them last year..it's ridiculously excessive and I'm sure is going to be a point of contention once LO gets bigger...bc if she's getting 10 gifts from them, giving her gifts from us just seems even more over the top. The generosity behind the act is sweet, but it's just too much, it's overwhelming and I don't want a spoiled/bratty child.

lol I don't think 10 is a lot at all!

deedee1017 · December 2013

I think Santa brought almost everything under our tree, but mom and dad left gifts too (someone had to buy the socks and undies). I remember going to bed Christmas Eve and nothing being under our tree and waking up to find it full of gifts. Also, Santa stuffed our stockings and ate the cookies.

I can't wait to do these things for dd. She already got a letter from Santa this year. I know it means nothing this year, but she can look back on it one day.

AggieAsh23 · December 2013

jgslr said:
Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.

Dh on the other hand believed in Santa for longer than he cares to admit now, and he got a shit ton gifts from Santa AND his parents. The norm from his parents is 10 gifts per person, I shit you not, 10!! Dh is kind of a brat even till this day about wanting the next bigger, better thing. We each got 10 from them last year..it's ridiculously excessive and I'm sure is going to be a point of contention once LO gets bigger...bc if she's getting 10 gifts from them, giving her gifts from us just seems even more over the top. The generosity behind the act is sweet, but it's just too much, it's overwhelming and I don't want a spoiled/bratty child.

Since you didn't do Santa growing up, I'm interested on your take on the whole thing for your own child. Will he/she believe in Santa and to what extent? I ask because its something my DH and I have discussed regarding the whole religious viewpoint as you mentioned.

danandkam · December 2013

yesthisiskim0401 said:
Santa always brought us everything. Same for our kids.

Our family tradition is to exchange gifts we buy for one another on Christmas Eve.

Yup! This! My two year old can tell you all about Santa. Sorry not clicky:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=584334054652

MargaretC5 · December 2013

jgslr said:

Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.

I did not believe in Santa either. I actually would prefer not to have DS believe in Santa (I think Christmas is just as special without Santa and I am not a fan of lying to DS), but Santa is really important to DH so we will be doing it.
My mom forgot to tell me that other kids believed in Santa, I told my whole Kindergarten class there was no Santa because I did not know any better. That got me sent to the principle office for the day! My little sister was told not to tell the other kids.

yesthisiskim0401 · December 2013

jgslr said:
Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.

Dh on the other hand believed in Santa for longer than he cares to admit now, and he got a shit ton gifts from Santa AND his parents. The norm from his parents is 10 gifts per person, I shit you not, 10!! Dh is kind of a brat even till this day about wanting the next bigger, better thing. We each got 10 from them last year..it's ridiculously excessive and I'm sure is going to be a point of contention once LO gets bigger...bc if she's getting 10 gifts from them, giving her gifts from us just seems even more over the top. The generosity behind the act is sweet, but it's just too much, it's overwhelming and I don't want a spoiled/bratty child.

Our DH's are VERY similar. DH has a hard time keeping it simple but I keep him grounded. SIL's kids get about 20+ presents each (she has 3 kids!). My IL's admitted to spending close to $300 per SIL's child this year. BARF!!!

This year DD1 has about 8 presents. 10 seems to be the normal range from Santa. But from family? Nope octopus. Each grandparent was asked to buy one gift for each child and they stick to it. If they have me 10 I would shove 9 of them up their asses.

laurenmdrn16 · December 2013

This year, LO is getting one gift at our house and it is from Santa. I always got one gift from Santa, unwrapped, and one gift from mom and each of my sisters. The whole point for us is to put thought into one special gift. I couldn't imagine expecting more than that. We would open the gift from our west coast family Christmas Eve before church. Total, I would get 5 gifts plus stocking stuffers (toothbrush, mints, small things like that)

MrsTucker2011 · December 2013

I believed in Santa when I was really young. I don't remember when I find it he wasn't real, but it was pretty early. My mom read us stories of the original St. Nicholas after that, and explained how he was a good person who brought gifts to the poor. She would tell us that we give gifts to each other just like he did to show love. So now if you ask my baby bro (7yrs) if Santa is real, he'll say yes, but he lived a long time ago. My mom has an old fashioned looking Santa Claus figurine wearing a leather coat and fur boots similar to the old German Santas, it still makes me smile.

bkeane619 · December 2013

jgslr said:

AggieAsh23 said:

jgslr said:
Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.

Dh on the other hand believed in Santa for longer than he cares to admit now, and he got a shit ton gifts from Santa AND his parents. The norm from his parents is 10 gifts per person, I shit you not, 10!! Dh is kind of a brat even till this day about wanting the next bigger, better thing. We each got 10 from them last year..it's ridiculously excessive and I'm sure is going to be a point of contention once LO gets bigger...bc if she's getting 10 gifts from them, giving her gifts from us just seems even more over the top. The generosity behind the act is sweet, but it's just too much, it's overwhelming and I don't want a spoiled/bratty child.
Since you didn't do Santa growing up, I'm interested on your take on the whole thing for your own child. Will he/she believe in Santa and to what extent? I ask because its something my DH and I have discussed regarding the whole religious viewpoint as you mentioned.

It's still something we're talking about, but of course she will know about the birth of Christ.

I think I'll let dh tell her about Santa, do the whole cookies eaten thing, but if she ever questions if he's real later I'll probably just tell her. I liked knowing the truth as a kid, and if she's anything like me she'll poke holes through the Santa story and want the truth anyway. Maybe I'm just weird like that.

And @kbean , you don't think 10 gifts from grandma/grandpa is a lot?! She'll prob get another 3 or 4 from some of my family too. We didn't buy anything for her this year, but I know next year I'll want to. It's just soooooo much, too much. I was a happy child with my 3 or 4 and feel I can appreciate things more than dh who had gifts up to his eyeballs.

I read it as 10 from Santa not the grandparents. I did talk to my mom the other day and she got DS 11!

chelseyestelle · December 2013

Yeah 10 gifts doesn't seem like a lot at all. It was just my sister and I but we were very spoiled growing up. I'd say about 5 of the gifts were from My parents and the rest were from Santa. (20+)

Phalaenopsis · December 2013

Did anyone celebrate St Nicolas day? In our tradition, thats when you get the gifts. We would have a gathering of all our family friends, prob thirty kids, and wait for Santa to come walking down the block with a bag of gifts. We would look out the window waiting for him to show up He would sit in our living room and call us up individually to sit on his lap so he could give us a gift. It was amazing. To this day I have no idea which dad was Santa. We had some gifts under the tree from our parents but that was our main one.

jen-and-ryon · December 2013

yesthisiskim0401 said:

jgslr said:
Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.

Dh on the other hand believed in Santa for longer than he cares to admit now, and he got a shit ton gifts from Santa AND his parents. The norm from his parents is 10 gifts per person, I shit you not, 10!! Dh is kind of a brat even till this day about wanting the next bigger, better thing. We each got 10 from them last year..it's ridiculously excessive and I'm sure is going to be a point of contention once LO gets bigger...bc if she's getting 10 gifts from them, giving her gifts from us just seems even more over the top. The generosity behind the act is sweet, but it's just too much, it's overwhelming and I don't want a spoiled/bratty child.
Our DH's are VERY similar. DH has a hard time keeping it simple but I keep him grounded. SIL's kids get about 20+ presents each (she has 3 kids!). My IL's admitted to spending close to $300 per SIL's child this year. BARF!!!

This year DD1 has about 8 presents. 10 seems to be the normal range from Santa. But from family? Nope octopus. Each grandparent was asked to buy one gift for each child and they stick to it. If they have me 10 I would shove 9 of them up their asses.

I totally agree with the one gift per grandparent rule. My kids have 2 sets of grandparents and 2 single grandparents. I don't want my house looking like a damn toy store!!

PixiesDust · December 2013

Santa brought the majority of our gifts -- everything from toys, to clothes, to books, and stupid stuff like toothbrushes. We usually got 20 or so gifts each, plus silly stuff in our stockings. Our parents would also give us a few gifts (5 or so), including a new outfit and pajamas we would open on Christmas Eve. All gifts, including our stocking, were wrapped.

DH's family was similar in their gifting but didnt wrap stocking gifts or each child's big gift.

Only 1 gift from Santa is sad to me and 10 is not that outlandish. I realize every family's budget is different but you can buy a lot of crap that kids love (or need) for not a lot of money.

yesthisiskim0401 · December 2013

MosyMama said:
Gifts in my house were from all different "people": Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, Mom, Dad, pets, etc. The main gifts were always from Santa. We'll probably do something similar for our kids.

Frosty and Rudolph bought gifts? This is a first for me.

Heather91011 · December 2013

Our gifts were about half and half ones from Santa being unwrapped with a just a big bow on it... and stocking was filled by Sants as well.

PixiesDust · December 2013

yesthisiskim0401 said:

Gifts in my house were from all different "people": Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, Mom, Dad, pets, etc. The main gifts were always from Santa. We'll probably do something similar for our kids.
Frosty and Rudolph bought gifts? This is a first for me.

My dad would often get gifts from Pamela Anderson, Farrah Fawcett, Brook Shields and other attractive, famous women

jen-and-ryon · December 2013

MosyMama said:
Gifts in my house were from all different "people": Santa, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph, Frosty, Mom, Dad, pets, etc. The main gifts were always from Santa. We'll probably do something similar for our kids.

My family would do gifts from the dog or some other random person. I remember thinking it was so funny as a kid. I def want to do this with my kids!

elllaf · December 2013

I've never heard of gifts from the reindeer or mrs. Claus either.
And I'm just going to throw it out there...
I don't think doing the Santa thing is "lying" to your children.
It's giving them something to believe in and grow their imaginations!
I've never heard of a child being scarred for life because they found out Santa wasn't real. they are usually older and have been suspicious for a little while.
It's sad to me that some of you missed out on that excitement.

norbert5 · December 2013

DH and I had very similiar Santa experiences so we continue with that. One big gift and a stocking full of the necessities based on age (socks, undies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair ties, vodka etc.). Everything else is from us. However we have a pretty small budget so the girls don't get a ton and most of it is still utilitarian.

In reality St. Nicholas is kind of a bad ass and I want my girls to know about him. My favorite non-religious story about Santa Claus is Yes, Virginia.

yesthisiskim0401 · December 2013

norbert5 said:
DH and I had very similiar Santa experiences so we continue with that. One big gift and a stocking full of the necessities based on age (socks, undies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hair ties, vodka etc.). Everything else is from us. However we have a pretty small budget so the girls don't get a ton and most of it is still utilitarian.

In reality St. Nicholas is kind of a bad ass and I want my girls to know about him. My favorite non-religious story about Santa Claus is Yes, Virginia.

#dead

bionicb · December 2013

I don't have much to add. I dont actually remember how FIs fam did Santa. Huh. I am gonna pip a thing I found on pinterest on a neat way to address "wait, are you (mom and dad) santa?"

pmarie33 · December 2013

Santa left an unwrapped gift under our tree. No where else.

elllaf · December 2013

I also should add...

I really think getting just one present from Santa taught me to appreciate my parents and their generosity more.

What about the Elf on the Shelf?
Who does/will do this?
Dh says fuck no...The concept is creepy.
Also how do you explain to your child why there is no elf at their home but at all of their friend's homes?

slh6363 · December 2013

Interesting traditions! Growing up it was probably half from Santa, half parents, wrapped in different paper of course. I was actually thinking of this as I was wrapping DS gifts this year...not that it matters now Lol but for the future. I did 1 big gift from Santa the rest from us.

EmJ&B · December 2013

jgslr said:
Am I the only one who never believed in Santa? Mom was religious, maybe a little too much, when I was small and everything was from my parents. She did tell me not to ruin it for the kids who believed in Santa and tell them he wasn't real. The gifts were limited, 3 or 4 max and nothing crazy.d.

I posted on the other thread but this ... v religious upbringing. No Santa

yesthisiskim0401 · December 2013

carriet2018 said:
hold the phone.......santa isnt real?!?!!?!?!?!?!?

Don't believe anything they say!! He IS real and don't worry, you're on the nice list @carriet2018

EmJ&B · December 2013

carriet2018 said:
hold the phone.......santa isnt real?!?!!?!?!?!?!?

Flutterby00 · December 2013

I grew up not believing in Santa. DH's side of the family celebrate the Santa way, and the kids run down the stairs and tear through all the presents so fast. Like Tasmanian devil fast. And the entire living room floor was covered last year with presents. The first time I witnessed it, I was in such shock that it made me sick to my stomach.

When I was little, my parents would put out all the presents the eve of Christmas. The morning of, we were not allowed to come down the stairs until we heard the Christmas music. We would come downstairs, have a special mug of hot cocoa, sit in the living room where the only light was from the candles lit. We'd read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then, we'd light the tree and open gifts, one at a time. We had a lot of gifts, but we enjoyed the process of opening them. It often took hours and is such a special memory!

I am struggling with the balance of my tradition, which I love, and their tradition. We live in CO and his family is in GA, and I am sure we will often go to GA to be with the family for Christmas. It makes me sad that their kind of Christmas is what he'll experience, but I don't think it could be any other way without offending his family. I love them, I love being there with them for the holidays, I just wish that gift giving was a little bit more of a cherished tradition.

juliemay623 · December 2013

Flutterby00 said:
I grew up not believing in Santa. DH's side of the family celebrate the Santa way, and the kids run down the stairs and tear through all the presents so fast. Like Tasmanian devil fast. And the entire living room floor was covered last year with presents. The first time I witnessed it, I was in such shock that it made me sick to my stomach.

I HATE when people do this at Xmas. I know it's probably hard for the little ones to be patient, but I like to take turns and see what people got and see their reaction to what I got for them.

knottied2a666e3e38a2a87 · December 2013

My Christmases varied dramatically based on what was going on financially. During the glory days, I would say we had 20+ presents of all sorts, wrapped, from Santa, stocking presents wrapped too. A few gifts like clothes from mom/dad. Later, it may have dwindled to about 10 presents from Santa and stayed that way as we got older. We always open stocking contents first in no order, then other gifts one at a time taking turns and playing with/modeling/saying thank you for each one. Even now as we are all adults, we will each get up in the middle of the night to put out stashed Santa presents and fill stockings. I would say one gift from grandparents or other relatives each is plenty. Oh and by the time I realized I was getting gifts from Santa in different locations, I was old enough to know the truth about Santa but have always played along. I was never that jerk kid, "Santa's not real!!!!"

pandaglitter · December 2013

Santa gave us our biggest presents. Sometimes wrapped but sometimes not if they were large. My parents put together a hot wheel town one year I think just because they wanted to play with it. Santa brought us presents where we were that year since my parents divorced...a couple times to my grandmas house.

We make one or two gifts from Santa and a few little ones from us. Santa's are wrapped in wrapping paper and ours are in reusable fabric bags my MIL makes us use because she hates wrapping paper. It works out because it turns out Santa is not as environmentally friendly as us!

Want a personalized experience?

Let's talk about Santa Claus

Re: Let's talk about Santa Claus

Choose Another Board

Search Boards