To think this won't ruin Christmas?

[CaterpillarInTheGarden]

Mil was saying it won't be long until dc will believe in santa-claus (dc is only 22 months so surely it would be next Christmas not the upcoming Christmas ). I mentioned we were thinking of not doing the whole santa-claus thing and telling him the truth. Mil said how awful I was, and I will be ruining Christmas for my dc and that I'm a very selfish women.

AIBU to think that's a over reaction and it won't ruin Christmas. Any of you not do the whole santa-claus thing for Christmas?

I never "believed", it was always very nudge nudge wink wink and I had lovely magical Christmases as a child.

I should add that mine were brought up in a largely multicultural area with people of all faiths and none, many of whom did not celebrate Christmas nor have Santa.

@hanahshaunt would love to hear about St Nicholas books!

I agree with this

Christmas isn't "magic" it is a disgusting festival of greed and over consumption and messes up your finances for the entire year

I think anyone who agrees with this needs to take a look at themselves and how they celebrate Christmas. No greed, no over consumption and no debt over Christmas here. Still love it though.

Why not let him have the fun and excitement of Christmas whilst he’s young. Life only gets harder as we get older. Keep the magic while he’s young I say. There’ll be tough times ahead.

DH and I want our DC’s to have Santa but also want for our DC’s to know that their presents come from the family who work hard to provide them and not all from some mystical figure so we’ve decided to hopefully convince them that all the presents we buy are sent to Santa and he provides one gift each especially for them, or something like that my twins aren’t even 2 yet 😂😂

To be honest, I find the only disturbing thing about people making different choices is the huge pressure to conform. There is an almost frantic rush to make sure that everybody does this the "right" (by which I mean the same) way and
I don't believe for one moment that it's all for the children's benefit.

OP, if you can work out a way that suits your family, it shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks. There will be conversations about friends who have different traditions and religious/spiritual beliefs and this can fit neatly into the "different people believe different things" box. I do strongly recommend you don't go with the story I told my son though, because it can cause some tricky scenes at the school gate!

I still haven't told my children that he isn't real and the eldest 2 are 24 and 16

Trust issues 😆

Christmas isn't "magic" it is a disgusting festival of greed and over consumption and messes up your finances for the entire year

I agree with a pp, if this is your Christmas you are doing it wrong.

I wasn't mad keen on the idea of Santa but dc have loved it and the Xmas gnomes we have had. They are now in secondary school so that is finishing and I will miss it.
But we only ever had stockings so it was fairly low key.
Your Xmas needs to work for you but you need to think a little about the messages you give your dc because in an area where Santa is normal you will not be thanked for being too blunt about him being made up.

I should add that mine were brought up in a largely multicultural area with people of all faiths and none, many of whom did not celebrate Christmas nor have Santa.

Mine did too BUT most of the other faiths DID have Santa. Sikhs, Muslims you name it all queuing up to see Santa in the malls.

That is sooo mean of you

Haha, I completely agree with you, OP, but either you haven't been on MN very long or you're a fully paid-up grenade thrower.

soydora really? You don't buy additional crap over christmas that unnecessarily uses up the earth's finite resources?

Are you gifting exclusively recycled toilet paper?

I think your child would be really unhappy with you in years to come....

It only spoils things when kids find out he is not real- so why don’t more people realise that if they never say he IS real then they never spoil the joy of Christmas.

It doesn’t spoil things at all. How weird to think that.

You just move on to the next phase.

Has anyone else experienced pressure to include an elf on the shelf in their Christmas tradition?

DN is a couple of years older than my DD and we have had to tell MIL and SIL firmly last year that we will not be getting one. Expecting similar again this year.

Luckily my DH thinks they are very naff too

Has anyone else experienced pressure to include an elf on the shelf in their Christmas tradition?

No pressure at all. But we chose to do it and DS loves it.

We did the Elf.

No reporting back to santa. Kids involved. Just a fun christmas decoration.

Ds isnt bothered this year but is looking forward to helping to help with it for his younger cousin.

I've told my children that Elf On The Shelf is for really naughty children to scare them into behaving. As my two are soooooo good, we don't need an EOTS. They can't argue with that.

I never do elf on a shelf - creepy little fucker, he is!
My kids knew they were getting presents regardless of their behaviour 😁. I never ever threatened them with Santa not coming

I like your style Anon

Do what you want. I did not grow up believing in Santa (different culture- grew up outside the UK). I reluctantly went along with the Santa thing. Found it boring to be honest. All the pretend excitement. Promise I’m not Scrooge 😀

If I have grandchildren one day I hope their parents won’t follow this tradition.

Sorry should have said our Elf plays no role in surveillance.

I haven’t RTFT but I wish that I could go back in time to when my DD was young and the wonder & magic when she thought Father Xmas had been in the night. That lasted a couple of years until another girl at school ( whose mother was a strict Christian) told her he didn’t exist

YANBU. Of course it won't, you'll have treats, a few presents - your child will have a blast!! No need for Santa at all, its mindless consumerism.