Christmas ruined - what do I do?

[Mummytotwonow]

My 8yr old has hunted and found all the Christmas presents wrapped up for her and her brother. I have spent bloody weeks getting the presents, organising fun things to do, school admin, whilst juggling FT work and all the other mental load women have to do. This has just fking topped it off. What’s the bloody point. Do I just tell her there’s no father Xmas and ruin Xmas for her and her brother or do I re-wrap everything? I feel like fking walking away. I’ve had enough :(

At 8 she’s old enough to know better. Don’t rewrap just say Santa came early if you want to carry on with Santa that is.
BTw there is no right way to do presents. My DC had a pillowcase with all presents from Santa bar one from us that I put under the tree.

Children believe want they want to believe. I can remember being a child and justifying my belief in FC in order to keep it going. E.g deciding there must be more than one FC as how could he visit so many kids in one night etc....

If OP wants to maintain the 'magic' for a bit longer but gets questioned, she could say FC is really busy on Christmas Eve so he brings some presents early, or whatever. Or let the cat out of the bag. 8 and 9 are getting on a bit to still believe to be fair.

BTW one of mine got scared of the tooth fairy around that age. Said they could hear the fairy's wings. I decided to tell the truth to reassure them no strange creature was flying into their bedroom at night - but they still kept up their belief in an actual tooth fairy for some time afterwards! Magical thinking is very powerful in young children.

Mine believed until 12! Or decided it was in their interest to. Same with me.

Give most of her gifts to her for her birthday on NYE.
Give some from you and most of your son's gifts from you for Christmas. Put some smaller unseen gifts in the stockings from Santa.

You could also consult together the North Pole Department of Christmas Affairs official Naughty and Nice List 2023.
Her name might be on the naughty list now.

A good sleep will make all the diference.

The thing is all the Christmas movies and programmes spin the tale that Santa is delivering the presents!

He is always, always placing big presents under the tree while the children sleep.

Well we know it as wrapped presents are gifts from people... nothing to do with Santa.

Our gifts have been wrapped under the tree for weeks, my 2, 5 and 15 year old can clearly see them.

Stuff Santa 'delivers' is in my bedroom. My kids have never snooped but frankly I couldn't possibly replace it all now it would be impossible. If they are wrapped they have no idea whats in them right so no surprise has been ruined.

While I hate parents 'telling' kids Santa isn't real (most logically know they just want to 'believe' and enjoy the whimsy... trying to make them stop having fun is like shitting on someone for being religious, its a dick move) in reality most 8 year olds that aren't mentally delayed do know a magic flying man that breaks into every house in the world in one night to give gifts made at the north pole by elves is bullshit.

They’re empty boxes, the elves don’t have time to wrap all the presents so parents leave the empty boxes for them to fill. Always worked on me as a child x

Is Christmas really ruined without Santa?

My 4 year old is incredibly excited to be getting presents from her family for Christmas. That she has a safe loving home with family who are able to give her all the presents she has asked for is more than many children have.

It's so easy to get sucked into the idea of what a perfect Christmas should look like.

This is the biggest overreaction I've ever seen. I clicked this thread expecting to see a thread from someone whose partner had abused them or they'd had a miscarriage or their parents had been in a car crash or something.

Sitting here reading this watching the news with footage of a child in Gaza lying in a hospital bed missing a leg.

Get some perspective.

Depending on what you've already said/done, you could feign surprise that Santa magically hid the presents in your house.

Sounds to me if she is looking for presents she already knows they are from you, not Santa.

I don't remember ever believing in Santa. Maybe that's because my sister proudly told me that she saw my parents sneaking into her bedroom and filling the stocking one year.

I think kids are more astute than we give them credit for. I never believed in the tooth fairy but went along with it to get the money. Same as the 'magic kiss' my mother would apply to a crazed knee, which apparently would make it feel better. It never did, but I pretended it had.

If your dd does mention it again, @Mummytotwonow, perhaps you could say that Santa has so many presents to deliver this year that he asked if he could deliver hers and her brother's early, then just nip in to put them out on Christmas Eve - so the reindeer have a lighter load to pull.

Can’t stand sneakiness in kids. Worst trait. Greedy little sneakies get nothing my house.

How Grinch like.

You sound lovely!☺️

Op just chill out - so she found her presents and she found out there ‘s no Santa - you can lose the plot and makes this a big deal or you can breeze through it and be honest - the ruining of Christmas is in your attitude - be the grown up.

She'll be feeling awful I guarantee. She ruined her own Christmas but carry on as normal with the rest and I bet anything she doesn't try another stunt like that again, it's a lesson learned the hard way.

Yep I think that’s a good suggestion

I used to tell my children that I posted all the presents to Santa and he delivered them. Like a postal service! There would be just one present on Christmas Day wrapped in different paper which was from Santa, rather than all of them. They seemed happy with this explanation!

Nothing helpful to add really. I genuinely don’t understand why anyone would buy their kids loads of presents and then pretend they’re all from Santa! Just seems ridiculous that their DC’s will think that you didn’t get them anything. My kids get stockings from Santa and all the gifts under the tree are from us and other friends/family.

in the OP’s case, I’d rewrap a few and say that you’ve added to Santa’s gifts this year as he couldn’t get them much.

I tell my kids that sometimes I have to get the presents and wrap them up and send them to Santa to deliver. They’ve never questioned it. Because sometimes they are with me when I buy a sibling a gift or something. My kids have always known it’s my money that gets the gifts Santa just brings them on Xmas eve. Don’t spoil the magic just make something up and stick with it xx

Your hilarious 😂

You need to take a deep breath, count to 10 and calm down. Christmas isn’t ruined - you’re being a wee bit over dramatic there. Yes, you’re cross, I understand that, but your child is 8 - she’s not an adult. She’s got herself somewhat excited and found the stash of pressies and hasn’t been able to resist opening them. Lesson for you there for next time - hide them where she won’t find them, perhaps the loft, perhaps at a family members house.
Re-wrap them and put them out Xmas Eve, and hide them well before then this time (just don’t forget where 😂). Whatever you do, don’t take the sparkle of what Christmas is to young children by bursting her bubble (and her brothers) - she’ll find out soon enough that there’s no Santa, in the meantime enjoy her excitement - she’ll be grown up before you know it.

I did the same.

I grew up with everything delivered unwrapped to the sofa on Xmas morning.

I never questioned who the present where from (knew from 5 that Santa wasn't real as someone told me in reception) but the sending it to Santa came naturally too me when my DS asked about Santa.

Also without having to say anymore it subconsciously explained why some kids might get more than others if they ever where to wonder about that.

re-wrap your sons gifts don’t spoil it for him but don’t rewrap your daughters what’s the point she knows what’s under the paper so no surprise it’s her loss and will tech her not to snoop again next year.