Different traditions re Santa

[daisyflowergirl123]

Hi all

Needing some insight into people's Christmas traditions please!

For me as a child, Santa would bring a sack which had a selection of presents (small things like pjs/books/chocolates) and these would be specifically from and delivered by Santa. My parents would then have main presents under the tree from them.

DH has discussed that as a child, the parents that Santa delivered were actually from his parents, so no presents under the tree but his tradition was that the presents in the Santa sack/stocking delivered by Santa were from the parents.

Now my DD is at the age of starting to understand Christmas's were having discussions over which tradition to follow!

So what is/was the tradition in your household?

She sends her list to Santa, we give him money and he delivers whatever presents he sees fit off her list, that was affordable with the money we gave him. Anything given directly to her (instead of asked of Santa) goes under the tree. Anything additional we buy while she’s there / that she knows we’ve bought gets ‘sent to Santa’ to be brought at the same time as the other presents in Christmas Day.

this year we’re doing family in Christmas Eve so Daddy has arranged for Santa to bring some of her presents when he first sets off on his rounds (she knows Australia is ahead of us in timezones), with the rest as normal on Christmas Day.

Same except Santa brought stockings in our house… I’ve adapted it so kids get a few presents from DP and I. But it’s basically the same as when I was a kid.

But you're still giving a mum and dad gift that is perhaps a larger item or something that costs more than the bits in the stocking, right? Why not say it comes from Santa?

And why not tell your children that it's not cool to brag about what Santa brings, and that children who do are not very nice?

Also, to the poster who mentioned the good/ bad children and SC rewarding the good, why not abandon all of that completely?

Stocking and some smaller things, or maybe clothes etc from Father Christmas, the rest from us. There are several reasons why I think this is the best way:

• as parents / extended family you get the credit (and the thanks) for the big ticket items. It’s really important kids are grateful and appreciative. They can’t thank a mythical being who isn’t there when they open presents.
• if FC brings everything then the children don’t always understand that some things are too expensive and they can’t just expect FC will bring it. I actually found it really frustrating when other parents gave big ticket items from FC - other kids might feel that that they weren’t good enough if they didn't get the same kind of thing, whereas children can generally accept some parents have more money than others.
• when I was little my parents followed the ‘everything from FC’ policy, and I kid you not I genuinely was upset that they hadn’t given me anything!
• as other posters have said, it also means it’s not as big a disaster if your present hiding system fails.

Stockings are from Father Christmas, a few fun little things, but practical things too like socks and gloves, value is usually £30 in total max. They can open these as soon as they wake up.

All presents under the tree are from named family members. We open those after breakfast.

Everything comes from Santa in our household 😁😁

Im French and this is the way things are done there. No stockings either.

But we have stockings at the end of the bed as this is what DH used to do as a child.

So a mix of both traditions.

I think we’re lucky in that my husband and I had totally different upbringings in terms of finance, location and class, but the Christmas traditions were very similar. Father Christmas brought a selection of small inexpensive gifts which he put into a stocking hung at the end of the bed or on the fireplace. All other gifts were downstairs under the tree named for the intended recipient and from whoever was giving the gift. These would begin to arrive really as soon as the tree was chopped and put up in the house, and so it is the same in our house for our children. They hang their stockings on the fireplace downstairs in the sitting room on Christmas Eve, hoping for a visit from Father Christmas. However all other gifts are from us or family and friends. Our tree at the moment has 5 or 6 gifts under it already as great-aunts have recently begun the rounds of delivering cards and presents.

As a child, I believed everything was delivered by Santa but my parents actually paid, I followed this with my children but it has made some difficult Christmas eve’s when large gifts need building! I also got to the stage where children still believed but we wanted to get more experiences rather than toys and then ended up with a half way house, so your way does sound easier as a parent to be honest. But I would definitely have to have some gifts downstairs so not just a stocking as part of the fun is creeping down together to see what’s there and acting totally surprised….i don’t know. It’s a tough one.

Stocking at the end of the bed with token things like chocolate and Lego men were from Santa. Under the tree were gifts from us and family with 1 Santa present. Santa delivered all of it though.
I didn’t and still don’t like the idea of all of the gifts being from Santa as I hated the thought of my sons telling friends that Santa had bought them something expensive when I know so many other families struggle. I don’t ever recall them asking about the details in regards to who delivered what and why though so I never had to make any explanations. They just took it for what it was.

Inexpensive stocking gifts only from Santa, really helps explain why they don't get what they asked for!

@TheGhostOfTheOpera
Yes, I think stockings are a very British tradition. I only encountered them in stories as a child, and exH never had one either (American).

Santa brings the stocking and one small gift that is wrapped in Red paper.
Everything else is wrapped and tagged under the tree.

Growing up my parents used to say they sent the gifts to Father Christmas who decided if we’d been good enough to get them. I always thought this was a bit stupid, I figured out the Santa thing when I was six but was too polite to say anything so just went along with it.

in our house Santa brings one gift.

Father Christmas fills the stocking on the end of the bed here (as a child it was an old pair of my mum's tights with a knot in one leg!). It is easier if the stocking is downstairs but I have nostalgic memories of the joy of waking and feeling the weight of the stocking on the duvet. Stocking presents are chocolate/books/fun toys/activities that will keep the kids entertained all morning!

All other presents to everyone (children and adults) are from named people under the tree. They magically appeared there overnight in my husband's family but we've given that up as we have a lot of guests (7/8 adults + kids) staying and there's simply not room in the house for everyone to hide a bag of presents before Christmas eve night. I just direct everyone to put the presents under the tree when they arrive (usually Christmas eve or the day before) and add ours too. If there's a big obvious present we can't hide in the general stack (like a bike!) We hide it somewhere and bring it out at unwrapping time (after lunch).

We don't do writing letters to Santa / making a big wishlist. Presents are mostly surprises but if they really want a particular thing I suggest maybe we/aunty bob/etc can buy it for them for Christmas.

I don't particularly care about 'getting the credit' but we do emphasise the 'giving is more important than recieving' element of Christmas, so it's important to us that the children see that everyone is giving (not just Santa).

We also have a family tradition from my grandma of 'tree presents' which is a couple of small things that go on the tree and are opened Christmas Eve and Boxing day before bed.

And I've started my own tradition of a 'family present' like a jigsaw/boardgame/all the bits to make a gingerbread house etc. that I bring out for the kids to unwrap on the day after all our guests leave (usually the day before new year's) so they don't get too sad about everyone leaving.

I read something when DS was a baby about only having one present from Santa and it not being too big. The reason being some parents can’t afford big presents so if one kids gets a PlayStation from ‘Santa’ but another kid only gets hat and gloves, the kid who gets the hat and gloves thinks they haven’t been good enough to deserve a PlayStation. Effectively you give more expensive presents from mum and dad and a small gift from ‘Santa’. It’s kinder to kids whose families who can’t afford bigger presents. Our Santa gift is typically in the range of £15-25 and I tell DS that Santa has to give presents to every child in the world so he needs to ask for things that aren’t too big from Santa. He knows we will get him presents as will grandparents etc so he builds a longer list for that.

Most presents from parents. Usually a main present from Santa or a collective family present from Santa, one year it was a computer (which doesn’t exist anymore)

Santa brings all the gifts we the parents buy in my house. But everything from family and friends is from them .

Everything from Santa which was and still is the norm where I grew up (Ireland).

By everything I mean from parents. Presents from aunts, uncles, grandparents etc are from them.

I've always told mine there are two sorts of presents at Christmas. There are those brought by Father Christmas, and there are those we swap with people we love.
Santa's presents (stocking and a small pile of other presents - not usually the big ticket items, as someone else called them) are opened when they get up. We always make sure there's things to occupy them in that pile.
The other kind are under the tree - we open those after lunch, and that's for everyone. They are involved in the giving as well as the receiving - and it means they can thank people who have sent things, because they know who they really came from.

They can ask for 3 things when they write to Santa. They've also had years when I've had to reiterate that Santa knows his stuff - if he knows Grandad has already bought you that Lego police station, then he'll get you a surprise instead...

I've never understood the "parents send presents to Santa" thing - probably just because it was never the story when I grew up, so personal preference. To me it doesn't make sense, why not just give them yourself then? And why write to Santa, if Mum and Dad are the ones choosing them anyway...?

Honestly, come up with your own way of doing things (it took us a few years and 3 kids - and a spreadsheet 😂- to iron it out) and enjoy. Come up with your own traditions. For us, it was two presents on Christmas Eve - a new book to read together, and new PJs to go to bed in. Our kids still insist on that now and at least one of them is officially an adult... The book disappeared as the years went by - but the PJs are sacred! As is the watching of Muppets Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve - a tradition that only started about 5 years ago when we had the sofas pushed together to decorate and the kids loved the huge "bed" they made 😆

My concern about Father Christmas bringing stuff, is that not everyone can afford lots of gifts and also the whole naughty/nice thing, plus not everyone does Christmas ( Muslim/Jewish etc). So very hard for children to understand why X gets lots in a stocking, Y gets everything from Santa and Z gets nothing( because there is no money, or as in our circle just not their religion - and not because that child was naughty).
I don’t want her thinking it’s about being good or bad, and that there is all the money in the world for things, so my family does main presents under tree and labelled with the giver.
My DD gets 1 special Father Christmas gift in a stocking/sack and he also brings a stocking that I have ‘given him’ to bring sprinkled with his magic (glitter) that she knows comes from me. She’s more than happy with this. I don’t have to hide a ton of wrapped gifts and stress about why Santa uses the same wrapping paper etc!

My DH's family have everything delivered by Santa. I got a row of SiL for asking the kids if they liked the gifts we gave them. It wasn't from me - it was all from Santa. No one except Santa bright them gifts. .
I thought that was odd.
We do something you want (often a toy when little but more likely some overpriced trainers or concert tickets now)
something you need (seems to always be slippers here but they choose)
Something to wear (this year one getting an oodie and one getting some earrings)
Something to read (this has often been chosen for months in advance!)
All other presents and big expensive stuff from Mum and Dad.

We had all of big gifts from santa, but my parents always told us that they had to pay towards the cost of the gifts.

Parents buy a couple of small gifts under the tree, Santa brings everything else. Normally this includes 1 big or main gift, and several other less expensive/smaller gifts usually piled in front of the tree. Santa also fills the stocking.

As a child I got a pillowcase full of presents entirely from Santa. With my own children, I split the presents and there are some from us under the tree and some from Santa by the fireplace, usually specific things they asked for in their letters. Nothing super expensive like iPads would come from Santa. I use different paper for each. I bought large stockings for my kids to use rather than use the pillowcases I had as a child, they look pretty but they are cotton and not really stretchy, so you can only fit smaller/medium size items in. Something like a Beano annual just doesn't fit, so the Santa pile usually flows out onto the hearth. The older one no longer believes and the younger is definitely wavering maybe just carrying on for me, but the older one is keen to carry on the Santa traditions like letter writing and putting out mince pies, which I love