Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

What do you tell kids about father Christmas?

45 replies

lancslass17 · 26/08/2021 06:57

My Ds is 3 now so understands I want some magic but don't want him to think he can ask for anything, also how does FC get in your house (we have a log burner) and how do you explain if you are at relatives on Christmas?

Trying to get my story straight!

OP posts:
MrsMiddleMother · 26/08/2021 10:36

We have a Santa key decoration that stays on the tree until Christmas eve, then we leave it outside so he can get in the house (no chimney) but only his magic can make it fit! Then he brings 1 gift (not the main present) and their stocking which stays downstairs with the other presents.

Squashpocket · 26/08/2021 10:40

They're allowed to ask Santa for 3 things on their Christmas list (he can't fit big things on his sleigh). Mine are only small still, so I can still steer them towards affordable things. Santa brings those gifts and a stocking of random stuff. The presents under the tree are from family and friends.

ShoppingBasket · 26/08/2021 10:42

Mine was always told it was a wish list and santa would pick one or two things from it. Also told him that because santa had to bring toys to other children it couldn't be anything crazy. Now I am at the other end of how to break it that there isn't a santa. Saying that I wouldn't change the memories of excitement and wonder.

LindaEllen · 26/08/2021 10:53

@MrsSkylerWhite

Never explained anything. FC is magic sufficed. He also continued to come as long as you believed. Our 26 year old still does, apparently. Never really thought that policy through Grin
Ha ha, I'm 30 and still using this policy to my advantage with my parents!
mam0918 · 26/08/2021 11:00

My kids never really asked much so I never needed to tell them much. There ideas are formed from pop culture and its never come up about the chimney etc... we do have 2 fireplaces and the kids know they're open because birds keep falling down them so if a bird can get in Santa must be able too right?.

Sometimes I would have to buy stuff with them present when they where at the 'magic' age so I told them that we send money and toys to Santa and he brings them at xmas.

Kids realise Santas not real fairly quickly though, I dont believe anyone truely believes in their teens because they realise raindeers dont fly and no one fit down a chimney (unless your a victorian small orphan) like people worry just that some kids enjoy keeping up with whimsy and pre-tense.

I was 5 when I found out through a rumor at school and DS was 6-7-ish (hes a xmas baby) we both carried on 'pretending' for years though.

St. Nick does the stockings in our house, thats a fact here as he was a real person who actually did that its much easy to explain and 'prove' is 'real' and isnt exactly a lie where as Santa falls by the wayside due to the ridiculousness of the stories.

BeeFloof · 26/08/2021 11:08

I have one DC who has always held a certain degree of suspicion about the big man, and now at 7 he has decided he definitely isn’t real. I have a photo of him from nursery when Santa was there and he’s got an expression just like the straight mouth emoji. He still adores Christmas - the parties, presents and food and games etc.

My other DC loves it all - Santa-related events, putting the mince pies out, talking about Santa. It’s quite nice having one DC that does get excited about that element of Christmas!

BeeFloof · 26/08/2021 11:08

^^she hasn’t questioned how he gets in though - probably just go with a ‘because he’s magic!’ if she asks

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 26/08/2021 22:40

In our family FC only ever brought little things in stockings, so it was no use asking for anything big, expensive, or impossible, e.g. a puppy - he’s officially not allowed to bring animals.
All other presents were/are from family, who need to be thanked.

A Gdd of 5 was worried last year about him getting down the chimney when there was a wood burner in the way, so we told her he had a magic key.

MysteriesOfTheOrganism · 26/08/2021 22:50

FC brings the stocking. Presents are from mum and dad. Always had a fireplace, so it was always the chimney route!

SemiFeralDalek · 27/08/2021 01:16

Santa is the magical delivery man, he brings everything but Mummy sends him money.

You can write a letter with some ideas/requests.

We shop and DS (who will be 5 this November) chooses a couple of presents to send to Santa for children whose parents don't have a lot of money so Santa can deliver them. Loads of charities do toy collections at Christmas, we've done this since he was tiny.

Kollamoolitumarellipawkyrollo · 27/08/2021 09:04

We don’t over egg it. I don’t want to go down the route of elaborate lies and the ‘magic of Christmas’ hasn’t been lost because of it. They seem to assume Father Christmas does the stockings but we are very clear that the presents are from us. Otherwise, why would he give some families lots and others not so much? We treat it more like a traditional story with them but I’d say they believe in him at the moment.

IggyAce · 27/08/2021 09:07

Santa brought one present in our house, no tech. All the rest were from us or whoever the tag said.

mamatoTails · 27/08/2021 12:09

Mummy & Daddy buy the presents. We send them to the North Pole. Father Christmas decides if you've made the good list, and if so will deliver the presents on Christmas Eve. If not, he'll send them back to the shops.

mamatoTails · 27/08/2021 12:10

@mamatoTails

Mummy & Daddy buy the presents. We send them to the North Pole. Father Christmas decides if you've made the good list, and if so will deliver the presents on Christmas Eve. If not, he'll send them back to the shops.
Oh and we have a magic key that the children put on the doorstep before bed.
Rachellow · 28/08/2021 02:41

Santa doesn’t wrap his presents (genius idea inherited from parents). He does stocking (quite small ones) and some other things but we also have presents from us. He also loves a bit of Guinness, my dad was always very enthusiastic about what Santa got haha. You can write a list to inspire him but he won’t get everything and likes to do surprises. He doesn’t have space for big things or animals. DS is only 2 but as a child a lot of it for us was put down to magic, there were no real philosophical concerns.

Jumpingintosummer · 28/08/2021 11:13

FC brings one gift (not the biggest) and fills stockings in our house. If you believe you receive.

Jumpingintosummer · 28/08/2021 11:14

Ps FC does not deal in livestock.

nocutsnobuttsnococonuts · 28/08/2021 17:01

In our house father Christmas fills the stocking and brings 1 gift from their letter that they have asked for. No electronics - elf magic interferes with games consoles etc 😉 and no animals - they would make too much mess in the sleigh.

They open santa gifts 1st thing. Then we have breakfast, get ready, put dinner on. Then around lunchtime we give them presents from us. (This is where we can manage expectations, sometimes there's been lots other years not so much)

CarolinaWeeper · 28/08/2021 17:55

We're another household that does stockings from Father Christmas and everything else is from family and friends. It keeps things simpler as FC brings a stocking with surprises and then anything they specially would like we can discuss.

HungryHippo11 · 28/08/2021 21:11

Stocking from FC
All other gifts from whoever they are actually from - so they say thank you rather than FC getting all the credit!
No fireplace so we have a magic key

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread