how do you explain all the different Santas?

[Madnson]

Just that really, there all so different. The Santa she met at school on Friday was a little skinny fella who spoke like Paul ogrady. We're going to a panto next week and paid an extra couple of quid to have mince pie with Santa before the show, then on Christmas Eve where going to Santa express where he'll be different again. This will be the first year my DD kinda gets it, she's just turned 4 and I know she'll question the differences. How do you explain it?

[Sirzy]

Santa is busy this time of year so sometimes has to send one of his helpers to dress up and help him.

[SirChenjin]

Yep - Santas helpers here too.

[SecretLocation]

Same as Sirzy. Santa is busy so he has lots of helpers. My 8 year old is still happy with this explanation!

[OohMrDarcy]

Santa helpers....

though both DC regularly decide the one they've just seen is definitely the real one!

[PrincessHairyMclary]

Santas helpers, write up a list after seeing children and send it to Santa

[BrianButterfield]

I said some of the Santas you see are not real. But you never know if the one who you see might be the real one.

[ginmakesitallok]

Santa helpers here. Which has been a pain in the ass, because until tonight she said all the santas she saw weren't the real one, so refused to go near them. Thankfully tonight the real one came by the house on his sleigh, so she's handed over her list.....

[wanderingwondering]

I had a quiet 'big girl' whisper in my dd's ear last year when she was 5 to tell her that lots of the santas aren't real. I think she was relieved as was getting a bit of confused. She plays along for the sake of Ds (3) who doesn't seem to have noticed yet.
We always discuss whether the one we've seen might have been 'the real' one and it doesn't seem to have dented her belief in the main man.

[namechangingagainagain]

Father Christmas asks kind (normally older) men to help him out .... this explains why sometimes they recognise friends grandpas dressed up as Santa. DH has already told them that he hopes to get the call up one day.

However, you can never tell if its the real one or not..... hence why we stalked one around a garden centre recently... he had a real beard but ended up leaving in a ford mondeo so probably not the big man after all.
DS 6 happy with this explanation ( and DS8 and DS11 play along to humour me).

[CinnamonStar]

I never tried to pretend it was the real Father Christmas. The real Father Christmas is magic, and you can't see him.

But sometimes people dress up as FC and give out presents, because it is fun and they are kind, and when they do it they are helping FC.

My DC have accepted this completely.

[megletthesecond]

Santa's helpers. He's got enough to do in the North Pole organising the sleigh and the elves, so other people have to visit children beforehand to check letters and keep an eye on behaviour.

[OSETmum]

DS decided by himself that they are Santa's helpers, but the real one goes to his school fair ( I really think he is the real Santa!) so we don't bother with any others anymore.

[southeastastra]

only take them to one santa

[GloopyGhoul]

Yup, busy man, hires help. Prolly pays them in mince pies tho.

[LyndaNotLinda]

Santa's helpers/people dressing up because it's fun. The real Santa is the one on Portable North Pole :o

[wanderingwondering]

Tried that southeast but he gets around! Last week we saw him in ikea, then went to. Christmas party 30 miles away and he was there as well, then walked out and he was also outside on his rotary club sleigh! That was awkward

[Permanentlyexhausted]

They're just people dressing up as Santa. The real Santa is at the North Pole getting presents and only comes out on Christmas Eve.

[LittleReindeerwithcloggson]

All the Santas are helpers who have to have Santa training and pass messages back to the real one. BUT the real santa chooses places to visit himself every now and then so they might actually see the real one. They have great fun deciding if he's real or not!

[Tootssweet]

The Real Santa is so busy he gives a little of his magic to ordinary people so they can help by getting round all the girls & boys. They pass messages back & sometimes - if he has the time to - he will sit in & talk to children.

My (now 25 yo) niece used to refer to this as 'Santa's magic hand'

[d270r0]

My ds is 4 and a half, we didn't go to see Santa last year but did this year. But when he came out he said 'thats not the real father christmas, the real father christmas doesn't talk like that'. (Young and strong Glos accent). Fair enough. So I came up with the 'santas helpers' thing too, which he seemed to be happy with. It helped that the father christmas knew his name in advance and gave him a cool train, I said the real father christmas told him his name and gave him the train to give to him.

[Mehitabel6]

You have to have 'Santa's helpers' when you see a whole group of them!

[drspouse]

Are all the pictures/Santas in films/models/decorations, of the real one?
Or are some of those also of his helpers?

Because some of those also look very different e.g. fat, skinny, white, black etc.

Do other people pose as Santa for pictures or act as Santa in films?

(I'm guessing the answer is yes - and you can never be sure what the real Santa will look like. Rather like, we don't know what Jesus really looked like).

[APlaceOnTheCouch]

Yep, Santa's helpers here too. DS decided the Portable North Pole one was the real one.

[ovenchips]

I would echo SouthEastAstra!

What I did about all those tricky Christmas questions is just tell my DC I don't actually know, because the Santa magic is very strong but parents don't get told how everything works.

My son has come up with his own story which makes complete sense to him. So in that way, he's created a cast iron explanation (in his eyes) for everything, and doesn't keep asking me questions I can't give very good answers to!