Guys, Santa is AWESOME! I fully intend to be the dorky mom that insists Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. are real until I reach the grave, even if it's with a little wink! DH's mom is like that and though her kids are all 21-39, she still insists that Santa stopped by with a present for each of us and makes us Easter Baskets and such. Of course she knows that we all know the truth, but its SO sweet and adorable how she likes to keep that 'magic' and 'innocence' in life and it comes from such a deep love. I don't think children will have lifelong trust issues over it... that's rather extreme!
When my cousin was 12, though, he was starting to get made fun of at school for still believing in Santa Clause, so my Aunt sat down and told him the truth. She explained it to him by saying "...you know, Daniel, it's kind of like the Easter Bunny." and he replied, "NOT THE EASTER BUNNY TOO!!!!" The poor kid :-( lol That was a rough day for him... but he is a fully functioning 27 year old now! Haha
@MamaD233 I'm so glad to hear, you don't want to pop the bubbles of the Santa doers. My son came home one day a few years ago and said some kid told him that something (can't remember which character) wasn't real. I told my son, well maybe he was bad and didn't get anything. I felt kind of bad but I was like NOOOOO don't ruin it yet!!
@TeacherMom2517 my son just got moved up to a different school age level with 4th and 5th graders so I'm afraid that this is "the year". Once my son knows the truth about 1 he will surely know it's true for all the others too but I'm excited to get to be starting over with this baby. I'm totally for pretending until I'm in the grave as well. It's more fun, and I do it partially for me. I just like it.
I can't wait to be able to do all the fun holiday stuff with this baby! Santa, Elf on the shelf, etc. I have always loved holidays in general but I think there is something even more special seeing them from a child's perspective
Guys, Santa is AWESOME! I fully intend to be the dorky mom that insists Santa, the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc. are real until I reach the grave, even if it's with a little wink! DH's mom is like that and though her kids are all 21-39, she still insists that Santa stopped by with a present for each of us and makes us Easter Baskets and such. Of course she knows that we all know the truth, but its SO sweet and adorable how she likes to keep that 'magic' and 'innocence' in life and it comes from such a deep love. I don't think children will have lifelong trust issues over it... that's rather extreme!
When my cousin was 12, though, he was starting to get made fun of at school for still believing in Santa Clause, so my Aunt sat down and told him the truth. She explained it to him by saying "...you know, Daniel, it's kind of like the Easter Bunny." and he replied, "NOT THE EASTER BUNNY TOO!!!!" The poor kid :-( lol That was a rough day for him... but he is a fully functioning 27 year old now! Haha
This was pretty much my nephew!! When my sister told him Santa wasn't real he responded with, "Well at least I still have the Easter Bunny". Poor kid
Just let kids enjoy being kids and do the whole Santa thing. Plus, you don't want your kid ruining it for everyone else!!
Here are my thoughts on Elf on a Shelf - the idea is cool, I like being able to be creative, and DS gets a kick out of trying to find him in the morning.
But dude, after a week of this, H and I start to lose our motivation. We start off strong with cool poses and themes and then we just get bored of it. One of us will remember, while laying in bed, that we forgot to move him and then do rock, paper, scissors to see who has to shuffle downstairs and take care of it.
And to think, DS now looks forward to him. We've committed to doing this for the next however many years
If someone tries to rob the joy and magic of the holidays from my kids, I will loose my shit. Seriously, kids grow up too fast, let them be kids and enjoy the few years they can!
On another note, elf on a shelf creep the hell out of me, but I know I'll probably cave and get one once they kids are old enough to find it fun.
I think I could could probably scare my hub with the elf. Growing up his mother made porcelain dolls and had an entire room of them. He was terrified to go past it at night to use the bathroom and would often wait until the morning. To this day porcelain dolls creep him out.
Santa will definitely be coming to our house & i can't wait! It just adds to the magic & joy of Christmas for me. When my sister told my parents that she was pregnant nearly 3 years ago, one of my mums first reactions was "santa will be coming to our house again".
Idk if we'll do Santa or not at our house. I don't want to personally but DH does. I feel like Christmas celebrations will be what you make it and can be just as magical without the made up story of Santa but DH is concerned that if we tell our kid there is no Santa he/she will ruin it for other kids and I don't want that either.
Me: 33 | DH: 34 Married: October, 19, 2015 EDD 2/22/17 DS1 born on 3/2/17 EDD 3/8/20 DS2 born on 3/10/20 EDD 11/24/23 (Formerly Marriedhamstermom Feb ‘17)
I might do elf-on-the-shelf this year. I helped my sister do it last year for her daughter and I really enjoyed it. I think our elf would have lazy days where not much happens. We will do Santa. We are Christian so I put more emphasis on other aspects and tell the story of St. Nicholas/Santa Claus but also the Christmas story. (not the movie). I do love the Christmas movies though! When my sons got older they weren't angry or upset to find out he is more of a spirit than a guy in a suit. I didn't admit he wasn't real, just that he wasn't a guy coming down the chimney.
Growing up my parents always had some gifts marked from Santa and some from them. I did and do the same. I can understand people wanting to keep gifts from Santa from getting out of hand not because of wanting the credit but so when a child who received next to nothing hears about it, the expensive stuff came from the parents. Not from an unfair Santa. I don't think it is necessary at all but I like to do it that way.
This may not be a UO but ever since we had DS, we decided that on Christmas Day, we were going to spend the day in our home. Prior to him being born, it was a day filled with going to breakfast at X house, dinner at Y house, and then dessert at Z house. I love being with family but I can't imagine dragging kids out for that and plus, we wanted to start our own traditions and having our kids wake up in their home on Christmas morning to open their gifts, have a yummy breakfast, and not be carted to and fro.
Family is more than welcome to come to us but we do not travel anymore on Christmas day. My mom was not happy about this and I felt guilty for awhile. But whatever.
Soooooooooo I'm a little reluctant to admit this because of all the shit that's happening in the world. I'm coming out guys......I'm Muslim. Dun dun dun. I'm sure many of you have figured it out by now. But anyhow, ya, neither my husband or I celebrate Christmas. But you know what, I LOVE Christmas time!! To me, the religious part of it doesn't concern me. All I knowz is that growing up in America, Christmas is beautiful and magical. I love everything about it! I even have a mid-sized Christmas tree I put up. So, here's the story. When we first moved to America I was very little. We lived in an apartment with the BESTEST neighbors/owners of the building. We were poor. My parents didn't know what "imagination" is because they weren't raised with that stuff, themselves. But I remember our first Christmas in America...our neighbors took me and my sister to their apartment to celebrate with them. They had a grandchild that was my age, too. We helped them decorate their beautiful Xmas tree. Sang Xmas songs, baked cookies, etc. etc. On Xmas Eve, "Santa" left gifts for me and my sister on our doorstep. You have to understand, these were rough years for us. We didn't have any toys, my parents would be fighting a lot, we didn't fit in at school. But these sweet simple gestures from our neighbors meant the world to me. I love them so much. (They've since passed away. ) When I first got my own place and put up a Christmas tree. My parents were upset. I sat them down and explained to them that to me it doesn't have anything to do with religion. It's just beautiful memories that I want to keep forever. And I'm going to keep doing it with my kids, as well. I already told my husband and he's totally cool about it. This year, I wanted to go all out and get ourselves a full size tree, but money is tight, so I think I'll have to wait another year. But ya, team Santa/Xmas all the way!!
@BumpasaurusRex I want to do this also. Right now we all travel to the grandparents house for it but I really want Christmas tradition to be waking up in our own house in the morning.
I'm with you on it not having to be about religion @Afkash . I am not religious at all, and my husband is kind of on the fence. We don't celebrate Christmas as a Christian holiday. We celebrate Christmas as a time to be with family and tell the story of Santa Clause. We have a Christmas tree and go all out on décor, but none of it is religious. It's all snowmen, reindeer, Santa, and elves.
@AfKash that is such a sweet story. How awesome to have such great neighbors!
We do Elf on the Shelf but we don't do anything creative. We just move it around the house as a behavior motivation tool. Not wanting to do your homework, tomorrow the Elf will be hanging from the pendant light over the chair where you sit in to do it. Taking too damn long to put your shoes on before school, tomorrow the Elf is sitting on top of the bench thing next to the shoes.
@BumpasaurusRex I wouldn't feel guilty for that. Our holidays involve several events spread over the course of days. X Christmas Eve morning, Y and Z that night, α Christmas morning, β on the Sunday following. All of these events are 3 hours or so away in Nashville. We end up staying in a central-ish hotel.
I've been looking forward to having kids, so I can use them as an excuse to not spend 4 nights in a hotel in Nashville. It's almost like what you're doing, but in a premeditated, gleefully happy to have an excuse way. I should feel guilty, and I haven't even done it yet. I'm disapointed I can't use them to reduce Thanksgiving. That's always Thursday-Sunday trapped in Nashville
@AfKash - I think that's one of the most wonderful part about the holidays - sharing the joy and good tidings with everyone around you. In college, I lived in a dorm-suite where half of us celebrated Christmas and half of us Hanukkah. We decorated our common room with Christmas lights and a tree and the Jewish girls would lead us through the tradition of lighting the menorah each night. In grad school, I dated a Muslim man who taught me a lot about the two different Eid's (not sure how they are handled in plural) and the traditions his family had that went along with them.
I know that it might seem superficial to focus on the holidays of religions; but I think there is a lot of learning that can come when people realize that other groups of people celebrate in similar ways to themselves: gathering with family, eating certain foods, being generous to people around them and (sometimes) getting gifts. We're not all that different in the end.
I plan on doing every fun and crazy holiday tradition with my kids. I loved it growing up and agree that kids are only little for so long. My mom would put food coloring under our feral on our birthday. When we sat down she would pour in the milk and and the it would change colors and it was one of my favorite birthday traditions.
This is more of a FFFC but whatever. I was the kid who ruined Christmas by telling all the other 6 years olds in my class that Santa wasn't real. In my defense, a mean little boy told me Santa wasn't coming to my house because I was a bad little girl and I explained that Santa wasn't coming to any of the Jewish boys and girls houses. So he said that was because all of the Jewish kids were naughty. So I dropped the there's no such thing as Santa bomb. A little girl in my class cried and the teacher didn't know what to do.
But I will be telling my kids Santa isn't real because I don't want them to feel bad he doesn't visit them. This is a huge point of contention with my husband who is Jewish, but converted so was raised Christian. So, we'll have to see how that works out.
I do think it's very confusing for kids to be raised two religions but I think I'm mostly bothered by it cause everyone I know who was raised both picked Christianity because it's more "fun" (they're words not mine) and none of them have grown up to be very spiritual, but that's just the people I know.
H's family is like superstitious Muslim. Like they don't fast for Ramadan but we all get a new dollar for Eid? We are not religious at all but our son goes to prespitatian pre school and we celebrate the fuck out of Christmas. I love family traditions and think it kinda makes your childhood magical.
I also LOVE buying presents for people. I totally get off on it.
@MLRocha two "Eids" is fine. Lol. @PerraSucia you guys literally get a brand new dollar bill? Is it just one dollar, too? I know it's tradition to give money to those younger than you but I didn't know people give new bills. Maybe that's something some families do. Not sure.
@AfKash yeah like they go to the bank and everything to get freshies. something about new beginnings. Afghan / Persian new year is also HUGE and we get fish (that we can never keep alive) and some weird fruit soup that's like the equivalent to a liquid fruit cake.
We are definitely doing Santa, but neither of our families ever got into the Easter Bunny. To be honest, I don't even know the rules of the Easter Bunny. Does it just bring Easter baskets and eggs? Is there a cool claymation movie to explain it like with Santa and Rudolph?
@BumpasaurusRex and @Lafreeman21 I could not agree more! When I was 8, our family moved across the country from the rest of all of our extended family. There have been very few holidays since then that we have actually spent at home, and even now I'm the odd-ball sibling that has moved away from the rest of the family and such. Even when I tried the 'it's too expensive to fly on Thanksgiving' excuse, we started "faux family Thanksgiving" so I could fly in sometimes earlier in October or November to have Thanksgiving. Once babies are out, people can come to us! And if they don't come, well, they don't get to see baby! haha Too bad, so sad.
@AfKash yeah like they go to the bank and everything to get freshies. something about new beginnings. Afghan / Persian new year is also HUGE and we get fish (that we can never keep alive) and some weird fruit soup that's like the equivalent to a liquid fruit cake.
Haha! That is awesome! (Not for your poor fish,though. )
"Spending Christmas in my own damn house" is far, FAR from an Unpopular Opinion for me. It is an EXTREMELY popular opinion in our house. We've been saying for years, as we travel from house to house in the crappy weather, that when we have our own kids we are celebrating in our own house. And now this munchkin is doing me a solid and I am going to be 37 weeks and change come Christmas time, so no travelling to extended family, starting THIS YEAR.
*TW* Which I'm super thankful for, because last Christmas was 2 weeks after my miscarriage, and like an idiot we didn't cancel anything, so Christmas was this forced march through cheeriness when I just wanted to be alone. Having to be back at those houses doing those events over again just seems like an awful awful idea, so I am so stoked that I get to just be massive and eat turkey in my sweatpants.
Ohhhh @poetryandoceans you must have incredible strength! I probably would have cancelled on everyone if mine was that close to such big and populated events. We have already toyed with not traveling to see family this Christmas and my mom has done the half-guilt trip then turned into 'well, maybe we will come see you.... maybe..." haha I'm cool either way, I just wanna be in sweatpants and relaxing! If it was snowing, that would be an additional bonus! But anywhere we go will need to be at least a 6 hour drive, if not more, or a plane flight (Nope! Not happening!)... give me hot chocolate, marshmallows, and Elf and I'm happy!!!
@TeacherMom2517 I don't know if it was strength so much as shock. I was pretty numb.
My MIL has been making noise about coming and making dinner for us here, NOT on Christmas itself, which I'm open to. The "can't be more than an hour from the hospital" rule is coming in super handy!
My best friend is Jewish and never "got" to celebrate Christmas. So now every year she comes and helps me decorate my tree and celebrates Christmas Day with my family. My parents even buy her gifts.
I think Christmas is about family, for me it is not religious even though I was raised Christian and my mother still loves Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
For those with family far away I'll share my experience (if it helps): When I was a kid we had family Christmas on Christmas Eve. We made a buffet of stuff (toasted ravioli, cheese, olives, bread, sausage... nothing fancy) and spent Christmas Eve night together in front of the fire opening gifts. Then on Christmas morning we woke up to gifts from Santa on the hearth -- we still do to this day. Then we would get in the car and drive the 4+ hours to spend the day with family (we alternated years between mom and dad's families.) We drove home that night. it was a long day but I got to know my extended family, had strong holiday traditions and still got alone time with my immediate family.
Anyone who doesn't like Adele is evil and wrong and has no soul. I love her and want to make her my best friend and listen to her unselfconscious swearing all day long. She's like the British Jennifer Lawrence.
I'm meh on Santa. I think Christmas is pretty awesome and magical either way, but my husband is passionately pro-Santa, so I'm fine with boarding the Santa train. No elf on the shelf, though. As if we moms don't have enough crap to do at Christmas without having to come up with some creative scenario for our kids' creepy smiling stalker doll every day. You superwoman mommas who do it are awesome, but I know myself well enough to be sure that I am NOT up to the task.
Re: UO 9/29
When my cousin was 12, though, he was starting to get made fun of at school for still believing in Santa Clause, so my Aunt sat down and told him the truth. She explained it to him by saying "...you know, Daniel, it's kind of like the Easter Bunny." and he replied, "NOT THE EASTER BUNNY TOO!!!!" The poor kid :-( lol That was a rough day for him... but he is a fully functioning 27 year old now! Haha
@TeacherMom2517 my son just got moved up to a different school age level with 4th and 5th graders so I'm afraid that this is "the year". Once my son knows the truth about 1 he will surely know it's true for all the others too but I'm excited to get to be starting over with this baby. I'm totally for pretending until I'm in the grave as well. It's more fun, and I do it partially for me. I just like it.
This was pretty much my nephew!! When my sister told him Santa wasn't real he responded with, "Well at least I still have the Easter Bunny". Poor kid
Just let kids enjoy being kids and do the whole Santa thing. Plus, you don't want your kid ruining it for everyone else!!
But dude, after a week of this, H and I start to lose our motivation. We start off strong with cool poses and themes and then we just get bored of it. One of us will remember, while laying in bed, that we forgot to move him and then do rock, paper, scissors to see who has to shuffle downstairs and take care of it.
And to think, DS now looks forward to him. We've committed to doing this for the next however many years
::starts planning EOAS Pinterest board::
Big Bro 7/14/13
Little Bro 2/6/17
Im hoping that DD doesn't realize this is an actual thing.
I think I could could probably scare my hub with the elf. Growing up his mother made porcelain dolls and had an entire room of them. He was terrified to go past it at night to use the bathroom and would often wait until the morning. To this day porcelain dolls creep him out.
ME: 25, DH: 27
TTC #1 since 09/2015
Miscarriage @ 10 wks 02/28/2016
BFP 05/28/2016!
When my sister told my parents that she was pregnant nearly 3 years ago, one of my mums first reactions was "santa will be coming to our house again".
Big Bro 7/14/13
Little Bro 2/6/17
Married: October, 19, 2015
EDD 2/22/17 DS1 born on 3/2/17
EDD 3/8/20 DS2 born on 3/10/20
EDD 11/24/23
(Formerly Marriedhamstermom Feb ‘17)
Growing up my parents always had some gifts marked from Santa and some from them. I did and do the same. I can understand people wanting to keep gifts from Santa from getting out of hand not because of wanting the credit but so when a child who received next to nothing hears about it, the expensive stuff came from the parents. Not from an unfair Santa. I don't think it is necessary at all but I like to do it that way.
Family is more than welcome to come to us but we do not travel anymore on Christmas day. My mom was not happy about this and I felt guilty for awhile. But whatever.
Big Bro 7/14/13
Little Bro 2/6/17
I'm sure many of you have figured it out by now.
But anyhow, ya, neither my husband or I celebrate Christmas. But you know what, I LOVE Christmas time!! To me, the religious part of it doesn't concern me. All I knowz is that growing up in America, Christmas is beautiful and magical. I love everything about it! I even have a mid-sized Christmas tree I put up.
So, here's the story.
When we first moved to America I was very little. We lived in an apartment with the BESTEST neighbors/owners of the building.
We were poor. My parents didn't know what "imagination" is because they weren't raised with that stuff, themselves. But I remember our first Christmas in America...our neighbors took me and my sister to their apartment to celebrate with them. They had a grandchild that was my age, too. We helped them decorate their beautiful Xmas tree. Sang Xmas songs, baked cookies, etc. etc.
On Xmas Eve, "Santa" left gifts for me and my sister on our doorstep. You have to understand, these were rough years for us. We didn't have any toys, my parents would be fighting a lot, we didn't fit in at school.
But these sweet simple gestures from our neighbors meant the world to me. I love them so much. (They've since passed away. )
When I first got my own place and put up a Christmas tree. My parents were upset. I sat them down and explained to them that to me it doesn't have anything to do with religion. It's just beautiful memories that I want to keep forever. And I'm going to keep doing it with my kids, as well. I already told my husband and he's totally cool about it.
This year, I wanted to go all out and get ourselves a full size tree, but money is tight, so I think I'll have to wait another year.
But ya, team Santa/Xmas all the way!!
ME: 25, DH: 27
TTC #1 since 09/2015
Miscarriage @ 10 wks 02/28/2016
BFP 05/28/2016!
We do Elf on the Shelf but we don't do anything creative. We just move it around the house as a behavior motivation tool. Not wanting to do your homework, tomorrow the Elf will be hanging from the pendant light over the chair where you sit in to do it. Taking too damn long to put your shoes on before school, tomorrow the Elf is sitting on top of the bench thing next to the shoes.
I've been looking forward to having kids, so I can use them as an excuse to not spend 4 nights in a hotel in Nashville. It's almost like what you're doing, but in a premeditated, gleefully happy to have an excuse way. I should feel guilty, and I haven't even done it yet. I'm disapointed I can't use them to reduce Thanksgiving. That's always Thursday-Sunday trapped in Nashville
Married: 10/10
EDD: 8/27/16 MMC 1/16
Rainbow Boy: 2/04/17
TTC: 4/18 BFP: 1/2/19
EDD: 9/6/19
I know that it might seem superficial to focus on the holidays of religions; but I think there is a lot of learning that can come when people realize that other groups of people celebrate in similar ways to themselves: gathering with family, eating certain foods, being generous to people around them and (sometimes) getting gifts. We're not all that different in the end.
But I will be telling my kids Santa isn't real because I don't want them to feel bad he doesn't visit them. This is a huge point of contention with my husband who is Jewish, but converted so was raised Christian. So, we'll have to see how that works out.
I do think it's very confusing for kids to be raised two religions but I think I'm mostly bothered by it cause everyone I know who was raised both picked Christianity because it's more "fun" (they're words not mine) and none of them have grown up to be very spiritual, but that's just the people I know.
TTC since January 2016
BFP - 3/12/16 - MC 4/5/16
BFP - 6/11/16
I also LOVE buying presents for people. I totally get off on it.
@PerraSucia you guys literally get a brand new dollar bill? Is it just one dollar, too? I know it's tradition to give money to those younger than you but I didn't know people give new bills. Maybe that's something some families do. Not sure.
*TW*
Which I'm super thankful for, because last Christmas was 2 weeks after my miscarriage, and like an idiot we didn't cancel anything, so Christmas was this forced march through cheeriness when I just wanted to be alone. Having to be back at those houses doing those events over again just seems like an awful awful idea, so I am so stoked that I get to just be massive and eat turkey in my sweatpants.
My MIL has been making noise about coming and making dinner for us here, NOT on Christmas itself, which I'm open to. The "can't be more than an hour from the hospital" rule is coming in super handy!
My best friend is Jewish and never "got" to celebrate Christmas. So now every year she comes and helps me decorate my tree and celebrates Christmas Day with my family. My parents even buy her gifts.
I think Christmas is about family, for me it is not religious even though I was raised Christian and my mother still loves Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.
For those with family far away I'll share my experience (if it helps): When I was a kid we had family Christmas on Christmas Eve. We made a buffet of stuff (toasted ravioli, cheese, olives, bread, sausage... nothing fancy) and spent Christmas Eve night together in front of the fire opening gifts. Then on Christmas morning we woke up to gifts from Santa on the hearth -- we still do to this day. Then we would get in the car and drive the 4+ hours to spend the day with family (we alternated years between mom and dad's families.) We drove home that night. it was a long day but I got to know my extended family, had strong holiday traditions and still got alone time with my immediate family.
I'm meh on Santa. I think Christmas is pretty awesome and magical either way, but my husband is passionately pro-Santa, so I'm fine with boarding the Santa train. No elf on the shelf, though. As if we moms don't have enough crap to do at Christmas without having to come up with some creative scenario for our kids' creepy smiling stalker doll every day. You superwoman mommas who do it are awesome, but I know myself well enough to be sure that I am NOT up to the task.
If it were up to me I would have my tree up yesterday.