To think the magic of small children at Christmas is a load of old bollocks

[Pavementworrier]

Adult Christmas is where it's at

I don’t miss it to be honest. Three teens and Christmas is better to be honest. Much more chilled, the games are better because we laugh more with them. They can have a tipple with us. They don’t have wild expectations about what Santa will bring. They all love the Christmas dinner I cook. I’m enjoying this stage very much.

It’s amazing with young kids! But also a lot of work. Constant go go keeping them going. No time to sit and chill.
Christmas is about chilling too…. But with young children, it’s magic for them and busy busy for parents.

YABU- everything about Christmas Eve build up then watching our 2 young DCs discovering Father Christmas has been and finding their presents is utterly magical. DH agrees. We haven’t enjoyed Christmas as much since we were little ourselves. Brilliant!

I agree - I keep seeing all of this ‘magic’ but it’s actually just parents running themselves into the ground and into debt to create it. Then on the day it’s over in a flash and the parents are exhausted and the kids couldn’t care less!

I loved it, but happy with the next stage too.

This is a key reason why we never bothered with “the magic”. Partly because I am awful at lying. And it’s hypocritical to lie to kids but also teach them it’s wrong to lie. The added bonus is if you celebrate Christmas without “the magic” is just as much fun but without the stress of having to maintain the pretence of it all.

It’s busy but magical. I’m enjoying these years.

So your kids didn’t ever believe in Santa. Sheesh.

Shit for your kids and shit for your kids friends and their parents who are trying their best and your kids are told not to believe. It’s a bit lazy!

Lol, they are wearing but they're only young once

Your poor kids.

Both can be lovely but I’m glad I have experienced Christmas with my children when they were young and so excited. Nothing matches that really for us. Those Christmas were our favourite ones.

Our children are now adults and teens and it’s still lovely, but very different.

I enjoy it with my kids as it’s lovely watching them so excited – we don’t even really do Santa or anything. They just love the day for lots of reasons. It’s a season of life to appreciate.

I do, however, miss childfree Christmases. I really enjoyed them too, and am sure I will transition into them again when my kids gets older. I miss getting up late morning, lazing all day if I want to, watching Xmas films all day, going to bed late and not suffering the repercussions of being woken at 6am the next day.

Each to their own. We do the whole Santa magic, my 4 yr old has been declaring for the past week Santa is just a story and the elves are just people in costumes. She's not upset by it, she's just decided it's sully. 7 yr old still vehemently believes. Neither seems to have changed the mind of the other

My kids are 32, 21 and 17 and praise the lord that the years of playing santa are over! Only DD at home this year. Had video calls with both my boys, and next year i’m hosting. Enjoyed those days, but I don’t miss them!

If I could have one more Xmas when our kids were aged 3 - 7, I definitely would. Really happy times. I also loved when my older ones knew Santa wasn’t real, but helped to keep it all magical for the younger ones. They really enjoyed doing that and it was lovely to see.

We never did Santa with our children so don’t have the lack of that to worry about now they are older. Our youngest is 8 and still gets properly into the Christmas spirit. They have been happily playing by themselves, together and all of us with board games all day long. It’s been fabulous

What an incredibly nasty and miserable thing to say to someone just because they celebrate Christmas differently to you.

My parents didn’t do Santa with me and my siblings. Why? Because my dad was the village Santa, so we all knew from day one. It never spoiled anything for us. I adored Christmas and still do, and my parents put in an incredible amount of effort for us.

Have a go looking outside yourself.

Christmas was magical when they were little. But to be honest, I was kind of done with it once they weren’t little anymore. The whole Santa thing is kind of stressful.

really enjoying my Christmases with my young adult DC these days.

My kids have never been lied to about Santa, they’ve always been told it’s a funny story, doesn’t make it not exciting. They couldn’t wait to open their stocking presents this morning and absolutely loved the idea of Mummy and Daddy sneaking around filling them up with presents. Found the whole thing so exciting and also hilarious.

As for spoiling what other parents are up to, I vaguely mentioned some people believe he’s real just in case. If other parents want to lie to their children I don’t really see that as my problem tbh.

I actually completely know where you are coming from with this. My two have older cousins so, when DC1 was little we just went along with what they did with little thought - all presents are from Santa.

DC1 asked us back in November why he doesn’t get any presents from us despite us buying for everyone else, including other kids. Completely matter of fact.

And it occurred to me, DH and I are driving ourselves into the ground working compressed hours to give the kids our time (in the form of a day off each a week) all while keeping a nice roof over their heads. So why shouldn’t he understand why grownups have to work?

So we told him this year, the bigger presents under the tree are from mummy and daddy and stocking is from Santa. But needless to say that just opened up a huge can of worms about previous years and why it’s different for some kids. He’s a very black and white, literal child who thinks deeply and has no interest in magic or fantasy so I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Wish we’d just gone the whole hog and told him the truth. Just couldn’t quite bring myself to do that when he’s only just turning 6.

Your kids missed out big time….and you will never get those years back…..bet your kids go all out when they have kids of their own…..make up for what they never had

What exactly does "adult Christmas" involve?

I've spent the last two days with mostly adults and it has been exhausting. Looking forward to boxing day at home with my child.

It depends what stage of life you're at surely?

After years of infertility and with the help of IVF it's my first Christmas as a mum and it feels really magical to me, even though my baby has no clue what Christmas is.

I'd imagine it's different for each adult/group of adults but probably some of these - lay in, visiting, hosting, TV, films, music, games, hobbies, sports, country walks, presents, putting presents together eg lego/puzzles, phone calls/video calls, pub, party, relaxing, naps, cooking, snacking, beach, walk the dogs, drop presents off, volunteering, reading.