What do you tell your kids about Santa & who the presents came from?

[shinyshilling]

What do you tell your kids about Santa & who the presents came from?

We want our little girl to beleive in the excitement of Christmas. We're both drama teachers so are happy to go along with the role play and sense of suspended disbelief and don't see it as misleading...It never harmed us, but we're both debating what we tell her about various aspects of Christmas.
Don't really know why we're worrying as we're also expecting our second child who is ten days late in arriving and may well turn up on Christmasd day...then who brought it? Santa or us?

Do you tell the kids that Santa's in shops etc are Santa's helpers? Who do you say the presents are from? We want her to be polite and thank the people who gave her them also. I'm sure I remember my parents saying that they were Santa's helpers and that family etc, chose presents to send to Santa who then delivered them?

Anyone got any other angles on it all?

[TWINSETinapeartree]

stocking from santa everything else from whoever's name is on the card.
We had a very moving sermon at mass this evening about children being a gift, I had a lump in my throat.

[TinselBaublesMistletoe]

Ah NappyAddict, it all makes sense now!

[NAB3hundredChristmaslights]

I really don't think you can say Santa brought the baby. I know he has a big tummy but hopefully you do too.

[NAB3hundredChristmaslights]

Fc brings stocking presents but we have to pay towards them.

Other presents under the tree are from us.

Other presents from friends and relatives are labelled and the necessary thank you noted sent.

[Trafficcone]

Every time I read these threads I wonder why the OPs didnt have their own childhoods? Our kids do what we did. Dh and I had to compromise on a few issues, but basically they're having the same tradtions we had. 'Father Christmas men' in shops are fakes put there to keep children entertained, we tell our kids this as that's exactly what our parents told us. Only stocking presents are from Father Christmas, we tell them this because thats what our mothers told us etc etc etc ad infinitum.
Why the need to ask what other people you've never met do it?

[nappyaddict]

TBM - the reasoning is that only Santa knows if you've been naughty or good all the time cos Mum and Dad can't always be watching you but he can. So then when Santa sees you being naughty he can take a present away and put one back if you are good again.

[TinselBaublesMistletoe]

I wasn't gullible, I think! I couldn't understand why go to all the effort to send everything to FC for him to bring it back. I did think that eventually people would realise it was a stupid idea and stop doing it. I think I was trying not to think about the obvious!

[nooonit]

These FC threads have really made me laugh, as I have realised what a completely gullible child I was, and amusingly how DD1 is following in my footsteps.

During my childhood, friends and relatives brought presents which were put under the tree till Christmas (followed by dutiful thank you letters, often on Holly Hobbie paper - it was the 70s /80s!) Never questioned once that all the rest came in the night from FC - and nothing from my M and D!

We do just the same with DD1 (4 1/2)- there will be enough years in their teens when it's us buying stuff. Having said that I still had a stocking at my parents until I had DD when it was passed on to her.

[Astrophe]

glad to hear, shinshilling! Best of luck

[nooka]

shinyshilling, I thought it probably was a joke, but you never know, and the baby as a present concept used to be quite common. Your home birth plans sound lovely! I hope it all goes to plan. Can't think that anything Santa does will top that really

[TinselBaublesMistletoe]

We still have a Christian Christmas in our family, I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. We don't have any presents from FC (apart from, as I said before, the grotto) and we were always told to make sure we knew who presents had come from - either keeping the tags or making a note.

[shinyshilling]

Just to let you all know...it was just an ironic joke about Santa delivering our baby! Our mid wife (who is small, slim and beautiful and resembles Santa in no way whatsoever) is on stand by for a home water birth delivery any day now that our two and a half year old daughter is fully intending on being present at. She knows that babies come from Mammy's womb and the placenta and not some rosy cheeked man's hessian sack...(on second thoughts maybe that's not telling lies lol!)

[kitbit]

Mummy and Daddy give Santa our presents so that he can bring them to ds on Xmas eve. Santa brings a stocking for ds. Because we live far away from family, Santa also stops by granny's house on his way around the world and collects presents from granny and ds's other friends at home, and brings those for ds as well.
We have no chimney, so it's all magic.
When he starts understanding the cost of things (prob next year, he's just starting to get it, but hasn't related it to Xmas yet!) we'll tell him that mummies and daddies send Santa some money for the presents. My mum told me this when I was about 5, and I think it made me appreciate Santa a little more, instead of just thinking he was a bottomless pit of presents!

The santas you see in shopping malls are messengers, authorised by santa, as the real santa is busy in the north pole making toys. You can still tell them what you'd like for Xmas as they have a hotline to the man himself.

Our santa is also a freecycler - ds is going to give santa his milky bottle so santa can give it to another child who might really need it.

[Astrophe]

agree nooka - babies are not presents! Imagine older DC deciding they didn't like their 'present' and wanted to take it back to the shop!

[twentypence]

Santa brings the presents (that we buy) and they are from Santa, but if anything is wrong with them (the elves must have been tired when they forgot to put that bit in) then Santa thinks it's okay to take to the toyshop to swap for another one, and he will pick up the broken one next time he is passing.

All the Santas in the shops are not real Santas (but we haven't discussed who they are).

The Santa we go to see has his own beard (and is therefore the real Santa) and is only at the place for 2 hour a day for 5 days, which ds thinks is a realistic amount of time "as he's got a lot on Mummy".

Relatives and my pupils bring their own presents. Santa's sleigh is way too full of toys to take them too.

Santa can also take things away (such as cloth nappies at toilet training time) and swap for presents. He's a one man freecycle.

[nooka]

Oh, and it is supposed to be a very bad idea to suggest that baby brothers and sisters are a present (Santa or otherwise)

[nooka]

We don't do FC either. I was brought up a Catholic with lots of religious pre-Christmas events that seemed pretty magical at the time. dh and I are aetheists, so now we concentrate on the giving aspect, and our pre-Christmas preparations are to do with making presents and cooking food. I've never met anyone in RL that does anything special on the FC front, but I can see it might be fun, except I wonder how you introduce the concept of giving presents, if they are all from FC. My children, and nephews and neices get a lot of pleasure out of giving family the things they have made or chosen.

[Astrophe]

We don't do Santa at all in our house. The kids get presents from us, including a small stocking with sweets in it, and all their doting relatives.

DD is 4.5, doesn't believe in Santa, DS is 2.5 and doesn't really know anything about Santa. For them, its Jesus' Birthday, and they are extremely excited about makig 'Jesus' Birthday cake' on Christmas Eve (as they have free rein on the decorating...its always a monstrosity!).

[sandcastles]

Oh & presents from family/friends are just that...not form FC.

[bobs]

Santa just brings stocking pressies which used to be left at the end of the beds, but after one yr when Santa was nearly caught -ie stocking had disappeared and me found hiding on the floor on the other side of my bed at 2am by dd2, stockings are now left on the landing. They are actually too old to believe - dd2 stopped believng at 10 but I tell them that as long as they still believe in Santa he will contine to fill stockings .
Btw, there used to be a website run by Norad showing where Santa is in the world on Xmas Eve - gets the kids to bed a bit quicker

[sandcastles]

My 5 yr old beleives the following

The stockings are filled by FC, with stuff from FC.

He also brings her other presents, even tho she knows they are from us. I have no idea why she believes this, but I am happy to go along with it.

She believes that we buy pressies for fmaily & friends 'because FC is just to busy to do it all'

[Vainglorious]

I have told my children that FC HAS (when Aunts & Uncles bought them) to see every present and decide whether the children have been good enough. Believe me I swore when asking DH to take them up into the loft. He swore too and told me I was stupid to let our kids think that it's true. Tosser.

Anyway, DS now tells everyone that the presents have to go to FC to be x rayed to make sure they are for you.

I love Christmas

[TinselBaublesMistletoe]

Our presents were sent to Father Christmas. If my parents went shopping they would tell us they were going to talk to Father Christmas and sometimes we'd get little teasers if we were desperate for something "I told Father Christmas that you really wanted... and he said he will see what he can do". We never had presents from him, himself apart from when we went to a grotto. We were told that it wasn't the real FC at grottos, that he was just a helper as FC was so busy.

When I was older I asked Mum about lying to us and she said she never did. She told us he existed which is true in many ways (real person - ie St Nick - the parents who do the work etc), when she said she was going to talk to him she went to the shop, when she sent things to him they either went in the loft or her parents house.

My granddad apparantly had to be stopped from telling us the truth (this is the man who plays FC each year for a particular organisation), he said that we wouldn't trust our parents anymore and it would have an effect on us. Mum pointed out that he hadn't changed his feelings towards his own mum and he wasn't traumatised by it.

[nappyaddict]

Lily - Me and my sister realised that from doing the santa thing for 16 years the things my mum had to say to keep it real a little bit longer were quite complex! This is how FC played a part in our lives.

1. FC was in charge of all the toy factories and wrapping paper factories in the world. That is why he is able to bring the same presents that are sold in the shops and the same wrapping paper and tags mummy and daddy use. There is a factory at the north pole where only elves work and make unbranded toys. normal people work in all the other factories and make tomy, fisher price vtech etc

1. When you visited FC before the big day it might be one his helpers (normal person not elf) because he is very busy and can't be in a million places at once to see all the children who wanted to see him.

1. FC can talk telepathically to mummys and daddys even in dreams.

1. On Xmas eve FC freezes time so he can get to everyone on time. He hides the present in a secret place to make it fun for mummy and daddy to find them and then put them under the tree or in your stocking. As he is leaving he telepathically sends them a clue so they can go and find them and unfreezes time for a bit until they have done it.

1. FC doesn't go in house order like the postman he goes in the order of whoevers presents he pulls out of his sack next.

1. FC can make himself, his sleigh and reindeer invisible if he senses someone is watching for him.

1. When you are naughty FC takes one of your presents away but you get it back if you are good again.

1. Sometimes FC isn't hungry or thirsty so leaves some or all of what we left for him and then mummy and daddy can eat it instead. (Note you must always eat the mince pie or whatever after you have put the presents under the tree. My friends dd caught her and said well FC can't have told you he didn't want them cos he didn't leave any presents yet so he can't have been. doh!)

10. Sometimes FC brings all the presents and sometimes he only brings a few. Some parents want FC to bring all of them so they send him a lot of money but some parents want to get some things by themselves so they only send FC a bit of money.

11. Presents from FC aren't labelled. They are put in stocking, pillowcase, sack etc and any that don't fit are put by the side.

12. When FC is walking around the house and carrying the presents he might leave some magic dust about (ie glitter spray)

13. On Xmas Eve we go outside to sprinkle reindeer food so they can see our house from the sky. We hear a bell and find magic pjs hidden with a note saying you have to wear them so FC knows when you are asleep.

14. In the morning we find a bit of red material on the door handle (no chimney) from FC's pocket and he has dropped a trail of choccy coins to where the presents are.

15. Everyday at exactly the same time FC or his elves magically switch the xmas tree lights and outside lights on and off (timer switch)

16. Some people say when friends/family bring presents over before Christmas they have to be sent off to FC. This is because FC can watch over you all the time and see if you're being naughty and then he has to take a present away from you. If you are good again you earn it back. Mum always said we won't send ours to FC he can decide from the presents he's got at the northpole if he has to take any away.

Luckily DS is only 2.6 so have only told him some of these yet. But thanks to my mum I am very prepared for when the questions start!!