Who are Santa's presents from, him or us?

[MrsWembley]

New argument with DP.

He just told me that Santa's pressies come from us and Santa just delivers them. I said, nooooo, that's so wrong in sooo many ways. Santa's pressies are all to do with him. DD sends him the begging letter and also the thank-you afterwards. We know nothing about anything until Christmas morning.

Anyway, I told him that I had never heard of that before and I would put it to MN to find out let him know it's bollocks.

She'll be 2.6 at Christmas so it's her first one where she'll really get the build up and DP is also very excited about the glass of sherry and mince pie extravaganza that Santa will get. Again .

Mums and Dads only buy for non-believers
FC/SC/StN bring presents big and small and puts them into a sack or pillowcase. That is the point of him.

Presents from extended family and friends are under the tree, with gift tags on.

In our house, when I was growing up, Santa used to do the stocking.

But a load of presents would also appear under the tree on christmas tree on christmas morning, courtesy of all sorts of different characters, e.g:

• an annual about rabbits, courtesy of our rabbit;
• a selection of dog stickers, courtesy of our dog (who else?);
• 'the neighbours game', courtesy of 'Kylie and Jason' (showing my age);
• a 'my little pony' tennis outfit, courtesy of 'Bow Tie' (again, showing my age).

No wonder I'm conflicted!

So, the general consensus is;

Stocking - Father Christmas/Santa Claus
Under the tree - whoever bought them (inc. one or two from parents)

?

Pretty much what I told DP.

[Shock] about how many agree with DP though. Seriously never heard of it before, and I'm getting on a bit.

Santa brings the presents, always has, always will. :D

Why didn't my work?

DS is only 2 so we have started as we mean to go on. FC brings him a stocking and one big present.
I know the "we pay santa to bring it" story and understand that it is an easy way to explain why X got a top of the range whatever with all the extras and he is a bully, yet child who tries so hard to be good gets last years Buzz lightyear as it is half the price of the new one.

Capital letter

*iwouldgoouttonight You tell them, "well that was really a bit much to ask Father Christmas for - you know how many kids he has to buy for, and some aren't as lucky as you are, so he couldn't get you X. So he let us know you wanted it, and we did."

My sister knew someone who told their child that every present they got was from Santa. Needless to say most people stopped buying decent gifts for her daughter as they never got any thanks .

Good plan FredFredGeorge - think we'll do that. I am normally quite good at explaining things to the DCs, but as soon as fictional men with stockings the magic of Father Christmas is involved I just can't get my story straight.

Father Christmas brings the stocking gifts, other presents are from whoever they are from. Otherwise how do you write thankyou letters?

Had to explain this to MIL who was saying that her gifts were from Him, despite the fact she didn't arrive until after Boxing Day, bearing the presents.

'So what do we say when he asks why Santa didn't bring it when he asked him for it??'

Well, how about - 'We knew you wanted it so we got it for you and FC knew and gave you the other stuff?' Why would Santa object to you giving your son the thing he wanted?!

OP, this thread comes up every year, several times, in different forms. Often descending into snobbery a bit of a bunfight, ending with people telling each other that

a) their DC will grow up ungrateful brats if they don't write 2 page thank you letters for every satsuma received
b) that others will destroy the magic of Christmas unless they rip all the tags off each gift anyone gives their DC and then pretend Santa brought the Bike and the Wii and the laptop and no-one else gave anything but cards

For those who only do small presents/stockings from 'Him' do your DC still send a list with other stuff on it or do they just ask for stocking fillers?

Father Christmas brings the gifts in the stocking and the rather lovely embroidered loot sack.

We/friends and family buy the gifts that are under the tree.

Gifts from family members have tags to say who they are from.

SIL has been discouraged from telling LO that FC accidentally left a gift for him at her house by mistake, with the promise of being sent a thank you scribble from LO if she just admits it's from her.

I remember being about 7 and feeling very when I found my present from my grandparents in a cupboard and they hastily tried to convince me that although they bought it for me they had to post it to the North Pole for FC to bring back on Christmas Eve. I think it was the point I almost stopped believing. So there'll be none of that business in our house.

We told Dc that parents have to send Santa the money so that he and the elves can make the presents which explains that why some children don't get any presents. Presents from relatives are from them on that they say thank you.

Many a argument discussion between myself and dh to get to this! His upbringing was that everyone gave presents to Santa for him o deliver

We do one present from Father Christmas, in completely different (appropriately gorgeous) paper and tied with string. The rest are from who is on the label.

My children don't write Him a list. He brings random and unexpected presents. I always think presents are better if you don't know what you're getting.

Lists don't work well here, anyway - when older boy was able to ask for what he wanted he told me "I'd like a jellyfish with wheels". Younger boy says "I want that" to pretty much every toy he sees advertised on TV (with the exception of the dolls that wee).

Father Christmas brings the contents of the stocking and one big present. Everything else is from us and from friends and family.

'For those who only do small presents/stockings from 'Him' do your DC still send a list with other stuff on it or do they just ask for stocking fillers?'

The whole lot gets asked for. Trips into space. Their own Army Tank (full size), etc etc. No fuss on the day when Santa doesn't bring everything they want! They do know that you can't get everything you wish for. CHristmas Day isn't all about presents so it's not that big a deal. And if there's something they really wanted they can go and look under the tree...

Ha! love the jellyfish with wheels.

Right then...

Lemon I didn't realise/never seen a thread on this subject before. Sorry for the upset.

I'm off to bed now. Sleep deprivation being best helped by sleeping when DCs are asleep. Only thing is, do I wake DP or leave him snoring on the sofa?

I was only asking out of curiosity Lemondifficult not suggesting they would make a fuss or anything!

OOoooooh no need to apologise! It's a bunfight I embrace

Father Christmas does the stockings and sacks, we do the tree presents.

I have a relative who refuses to fully allow her DD to believe in FC as she wants credit for buying the presents. It simply doesn't occur to her that her DD will appreciate her making Christmas magical when she's old enough to look back. Then she will realise it was her mum that did the buying.