to ask how you explain santa and presents to dc's

[doorbellringer]

Do you tell them you bought the presents and Santa collected them and delivered them back so they appreciate you are paying for them? or Santa's elves made them hence no cost to you.
How do you explain presents at gp's house etc?

Would really appreciate your take on it as it seems a bit confusing balancing cost/gratitude/xmas magic.

The really key central message of the xmas present buying season is that money = love.

But don't worry about explaining that...it's already blatantly obvious to children - what with the non stop advertising they are exposed to aimed at ramming home that very message.

It turns out that it isn't in the interests of anyone buying advertising space to emphasis that other forms of love exist or that it may in fact be massively damaging to society for love and money to be implicitly equated in peoples heads...

I told Dd this evening that there wouldn't be very many presents this year and she replied: 'That's alright Mummy' I'm thinking Aw! how sweet is she!! when she continued 'All the other people that will visit will bring lots more for me' Sadly, i had to tell her that actually, there wouldn't be any more...think her bubble burst :(

Parents and family give us gifts - we do this as it is a tradition to remember a man who helped people less fortunate than him. It's a nice story but FC isn't real ( actually I never had to say that bit because the way we presented it, FC thing has always been a nice story)

Mine haven't really questioned it as they are only 5 and 3.

FC fills the stockings and brings a main present for them, and one for DH and I (we've been good too :o) or a family present type thing. These presents are as much of a surprise for us as they are for the DCs

The rest of the presents are from whomever bought them.

My DD is only 3.6 so this is her first one where she is really excited and gets it. We will do it the way I was brought up, FC brings small fun things and she also gets presents from other people. She will get a big main present for her birthday.

I was really confused why I didn't get any thank you notes at Christmas from my godson & his brothers. We lived far away so I posted presents. It turns out that their parents took off my tags and put ones on saying they were from Santa. I stopped sending anything and spending the money when we saw them.

as a child, & how we are approaching it, stocking & 1 other present from santa. others from mum & dad, gps, aunt & uncle etc etc.

I was really confused why I didn't get any thank you notes at Christmas from my godson & his brothers. We lived far away so I posted presents. It turns out that their parents took off my tags and put ones on saying they were from Santa

I'd be fuming at that. One thing to decide to say all YOUR gifts are actually from FC, but quite another to do it on behalf of a well meaning generous relative!

Stockings are from Santa and everything else comes from whoever buys it cause of much friction with ILs in the past, it helps to explain why they don't necessarily get the bigger things they ask for, such as a train set, when they've already got 3! We also had a "green Santa" who we sent toys to when they were outgrown and who brought second hand things in stockings, which had come from children who had outgrown the toys in their turn. (Big money saver, that one!)

Wow I had no idea people said all the presents were from Santa. Stockings at end of bed are from Santa and everything under the tree is from named people. Kids get one present each from me and DH. If everything is from Santa you miss the "fun" of forcing the little darlings to write thank you letters.

Santa brings gifts off THE letter. Ask for to much on THE letter tho and you may get nothing! FC doesnt like greedy children.All other pressies are from mum dad gps etc and labelled...

we buy the main presents and santa does the stockings - however all 3 are too old for santa now really but I want to believe !