Kids and Santa

[Redz]

Hey Redz,

Great post.

Over here in Holland we don't have the same kind of Christmas. There is no Santa, since we got a similar saint here, Sinterklaas. He does about the same thing Santa does, just on a different date (5th of December.)

There has been a shift over the past few years, and more and more people start giving each other gifts on Christmas instead of Sinterklaas. It fits quite well with all the christian traditions and the general holiday feeling.

My point however, is that you worded it brilliantly. Most people nowadays speak of Santa as a tool for commerce to yearly generate enormous amounts of profit. While this is probably true, I wish more people could see it for what it *is*, and not for its intended purpose.

I am, as some of you might have noticed, very fond of "looking on the bright side of life" (thank you, Monty Python) and people should more often be grateful for what they get, instead of wondering why they got it in the first place.

Sorry for polluting this topic with this slightly off-topic source for a serious debate, but I really think a lot of people in this world are not ignorant enough to live happy lives. There *is* a good side of ignorance, and it generally serves to cancel out the nasty side-effects. If you choose to be ignorant about for example Santa Clause, and accept it as a fun way to spend money and time, you'll get a lot of fond memories in return. If you choose to be ****ed off at the media, you'll ruin something beautiful without getting anything in return.

Again, sorry for the rant



Here, to make up for it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ



Your post seriously made me appreciate Christmas again. See how special it can be.

IFC has been running a great six part documentary on Monty Python.  Some lovely tidbits of info.  For instance, I never knew that the Life of Brian likely would never have been made if George Harrision hadn't financed it at the 23rd hour after the big film company (I forget which one) got cold feet and pulled out because of the topic.

As to your other point, I am a firm believer that we humans are too [dang] smart and inquisitive for own good.

[nickagneta]

I have three sons with only 16 months separating the oldest two before a 6 year gap between my second son and my third. We have with all three promoted the myth of Santa Claus but also taught the spirit and existence of a Santa Claus. Let me explain.

The youngest two being so close in age were inseparable around the house and neighborhood so the myth of Santa pretty much ended for them when the oldest reached the age of 8 in the third grade and a precocious boy with an older and equally precocious sister let the whole third grade know there was no such thing as Santa Claus. Well, of course my oldest told my middle son and they snickered when opening their Santa Claus presents and, being intelligent kids with a wit, they asked how much a certain present cost us....er Santa Claus.

Well, the cat was out of the bag and the oldest two weren't too broken up about it as long as the presents were still rolling in and they figured they were smarter than most kids their age and mom and dad. But the youngest boy was still only two so we kept Santa going.

Fast forward 6 years until my youngest hit the third grade and met another precocious boy who needed to show just how smart he was on the subject of Santa Claus. Well, the little one didn't take it as well as the other two. He desperately wanted and in some way, needed to believe in Santa Claus. Sensing this I explained the reality of the existence of Santa Claus and his spirit.

You see to me, Santa Claus does exist. He is that spirit in all of us that comes out when we feel the need to give of ourselves and in an unselfish gesture wants to make other people happier than they have ever been, ever. But he is also the spirit in a person that clamors to care for, love, and enrich the lives of others. Everyone is Santa Claus and everyone has a Santa Claus. My little one did indeed have a Santa Claus that came on Christmas Day and brought presents to my little one to make his life a happier more joyful place.

He asked who was his Santa Claus. I told him that for him it was some who loved him dearly and who he loved more than anyone. Some people even had more than one Santa Claus and every person had a different Santa Claus.

He stopped crying and went to bed that night pensive with a lot of questions trying to rework his entire thinking of Santa Claus. My two oldest who by that time were in the 8th and 10th grades, overheard our conversation and came over and gave their mom and me hugs saying that they thought that was a great way to look at things and that they were glad we were their Santa Claus.

Well, emboldened with new, better information, my son went to school and told his friend that there was indeed a Santa Claus and that the precocious boy wasn't near as smart as he thought he was. He went on believing deeply in Santa for a few more years before coming out and telling us that he knew we were his Santa Claus.

So the myth of Santa Claus was over for my boys, but as I found out later on the spirit of Santa Claus lived on.

A couple of years ago, on Christmas eve, as is the tradition with my family we were giving out presents and as always, Dad, Nick, was the person with the least amount of presents. This is usually due to the fact that my brothers and sister give combination presents to my wife and I and my wife usually takes those gifts in her pile and opens them, my parents don't give out presents to their kids anymore, only the grandkids and because my wife and I exchange presents on Christmas morning so those presents don't go to where we do Christmas eve.

So my oldest came over to me and said, "Dad, you always seem to get the least amount of presents, that's not fair." I explained that Christmas was about the spirit of Santa Claus and giving as much as receiving and that I loved Christmas and the amount of presents I got meant little as long as I could be with the people I loved. That was all the presents I needed.

The next day as I was handing out the presents from under the tree there were three presents to "Big Nick" from Santa Claus. As I turned around my three sons came over and gave me a hug. They told me they knew who they wanted to be Santa Claus to.

[Kiorrik]

Ugh. I'm a sucker for this topic. Very moving story Nick. And something to be very, very proud of.

I kind of never felt like I had that kind of love in my life until actually very recently. You should be proud of your family.

This season, the darker days, the cold and fatigue have literally turned me into an emotional wreck :]

[Casperian]

Santa is your typical catholic concept of "manipulating with guilt", imo.

Seriously, I remember that I´ve found out Santa isn´t real when I was six, and how it ruined my christmas.
Not because he doesn´t exist, but because my parents lied to me. I didn´t understand that they only tried to be good parents and raise a normal kid.
I think the problem was that I´ve learned it from my 12-year-old cousin, who thought it was fun to destroy my beliefs, and not from my parents.

Next christmas, I suggest you tell your older daughter the truth, and take her with you when you buy the presents for the younger one. She will be disappointed, but if you tell her that you´d think she´s now old enough to know the truth, and make the whole "buying presents"-thingy a good experience for her (maybe tell her it´s still possible that Santa exists, you just never saw him), at least you won´t have to deal with any trust-issues.

Not trying to give any smart advices, I don´t have any kids myself, I was simply talking from my own experience as a kid here.

I think my older daughter already sort of gets that Santa's not 100% real, but she loves the idea so much that she buys into it.  They'll be ok with it. 

Definitly.  

It happened exactly on Christmas, which is probably the reason why I can remember nonsense like that.

[Bankshot]

I tried talking to my daughter about Santa when she was 3 years old.  She said to me "you know Santa isn't real, right?" 

[Kiorrik]

I tried talking to my daughter about Santa when she was 3 years old.  She said to me "you know Santa isn't real, right?" 

What, you didn't know?

[Bankshot]

I tried talking to my daughter about Santa when she was 3 years old.  She said to me "you know Santa isn't real, right?" 

What, you didn't know?

LOL.  I was surprised that she knew though.  Anyway, Santa was never big in my household.

[Redz]

Great story Nick.  I think that that's my older daughter's take on it already.  She's very much in tune with "spirits" (unfortunately we've had to cover the topic of death and sickness a bunch already with her).

[blackbird]

We never had Santa in our house either, because my mother was so religious she thought that when we found out that Santa isn't real that we would also decide that Jesus isn't real either. I think that all four of her kids turned out to be atheists anyway.

My son is almost eight now, and he is a True Believer. The seeds of doubt have been planted by the kids at school, but he so badly wants it to be true that he's willing to just write off those kids as crazy. It's going to be a hard crash, I imagine, so I'm going to employ the defense used so effectively by the Bush administration: deny, deny, and deny again in the face of overwhelming evidence. Hopefully when he's a little bit older he'll be able to grasp the Santa-as-a-spirit-within-us concept.

It's funny that now that I have my own kids I love Christmas so much more than I did when I was young.

[GreenFaith1819]

Another good discussion...

We always taught our kids that Santa is an American Tradition. Both boys took pictures with Santa when they were small.

As time wore on, though, we taught them that it's Mommy and Daddy that provides their Christmas. But we certainly gave them a window to experience Santa.

They are both older now (one is 11 and the other just turned 6) and amazingly the youngest one has ALWAYS been terrified of Santa, lol....he took one pic a few years ago with him and had tears in his eyes..he wasn't a happy fellow to say the least. After that we never really pushed Santa on him.

[Redz]

Another good discussion...

We always taught our kids that Santa is an American Tradition. Both boys took pictures with Santa when they were small.

As time wore on, though, we taught them that it's Mommy and Daddy that provides their Christmas. But we certainly gave them a window to experience Santa.

They are both older now (one is 11 and the other just turned 6) and amazingly the youngest one has ALWAYS been terrified of Santa, lol....he took one pic a few years ago with him and had tears in his eyes..he wasn't a happy fellow to say the least. After that we never really pushed Santa on him.

I actually have a pretty priceless picture of me bawling on Santa's lap when I was about 3.

[RAcker]

Another good discussion...

We always taught our kids that Santa is an American Tradition. Both boys took pictures with Santa when they were small.

As time wore on, though, we taught them that it's Mommy and Daddy that provides their Christmas. But we certainly gave them a window to experience Santa.

They are both older now (one is 11 and the other just turned 6) and amazingly the youngest one has ALWAYS been terrified of Santa, lol....he took one pic a few years ago with him and had tears in his eyes..he wasn't a happy fellow to say the least. After that we never really pushed Santa on him.

I actually have a pretty priceless picture of me bawling on Santa's lap when I was about 3.

Wuss.   

[Redz]

Another good discussion...

We always taught our kids that Santa is an American Tradition. Both boys took pictures with Santa when they were small.

As time wore on, though, we taught them that it's Mommy and Daddy that provides their Christmas. But we certainly gave them a window to experience Santa.

They are both older now (one is 11 and the other just turned 6) and amazingly the youngest one has ALWAYS been terrified of Santa, lol....he took one pic a few years ago with him and had tears in his eyes..he wasn't a happy fellow to say the least. After that we never really pushed Santa on him.

I actually have a pretty priceless picture of me bawling on Santa's lap when I was about 3.

Wuss.   

It may have just been the clothes my mother had me wearing.

[RAcker]

Another good discussion...

We always taught our kids that Santa is an American Tradition. Both boys took pictures with Santa when they were small.

As time wore on, though, we taught them that it's Mommy and Daddy that provides their Christmas. But we certainly gave them a window to experience Santa.

They are both older now (one is 11 and the other just turned 6) and amazingly the youngest one has ALWAYS been terrified of Santa, lol....he took one pic a few years ago with him and had tears in his eyes..he wasn't a happy fellow to say the least. After that we never really pushed Santa on him.

I actually have a pretty priceless picture of me bawling on Santa's lap when I was about 3.

Wuss.   

It may have just been the clothes my mother had me wearing.

Redz, that's a future thread idea.  Everyone can submit their kid pictures and we can vote on whose Mom dressed them the worst. 

[nickagneta]

Another good discussion...

We always taught our kids that Santa is an American Tradition. Both boys took pictures with Santa when they were small.

As time wore on, though, we taught them that it's Mommy and Daddy that provides their Christmas. But we certainly gave them a window to experience Santa.

They are both older now (one is 11 and the other just turned 6) and amazingly the youngest one has ALWAYS been terrified of Santa, lol....he took one pic a few years ago with him and had tears in his eyes..he wasn't a happy fellow to say the least. After that we never really pushed Santa on him.

I actually have a pretty priceless picture of me bawling on Santa's lap when I was about 3.

Wuss.   

It may have just been the clothes my mother had me wearing.

Redz, that's a future thread idea.  Everyone can submit their kid pictures and we can vote on whose Mom dressed them the worst. 

Obviously the older guys will win. You just gotta see my Easter picture circa 1971 wearing plaid and stripes with lots of red and yellow and orange with a huge belt buckle and shoulder length hair. I was 6 and my parents were hippies.