I recently read a blog post from a mom that talked about the reasons she doesn't let her kids believe in Santa Claus. As I was reading through it I just felt like we might need to clarify things with our kids in regards to Santa Claus. When Owen was young I thought about not doing the whole Santa thing, but then I remembered that I grew up believing in Santa and I wasn't harmed by it. I do remember hearing in the girls bathroom when I was about 8 years old that Santa wasn't real and I remember asking my mom about it, but I don't remember it dramatically affecting me...I was disappointed of course, but...I still got presents, the stockings were still full on Christmas morning and I still played along and left cookies for Santa knowing full well my Dad was going to be the one eating them. But now my kids are getting older and wiser and I really want them to trust me. We have always been one to tell them the truth....when we go to the doctor, yes you are getting a shot and yes it's going to hurt a little bit. We are just upfront and honest with them. We have found that things just work out better that way. I don't want the kids to get confused and think that Jesus is something we lied about to them as well and maybe all those stories are just made up too. For some reason Santa has been different....I don't know if it's just be the idea is so prevalent or if it was just because it was fun, but we've let the kids believe and we've fed into their belief by buying Santa gifts and playing along. We haven't made a huge deal about it....we do put more of the focus on Jesus, but the Santa stuff is still there.
But this year we are going to tell them that Santa's not real. We are going to explain to them the story of St. Nicholas and how that's where the legend of Santa came from. We are going to tell them that it's just like those characters that dressed up like Mickey Mouse at Disneyland....it's not really Mickey Mouse it's a person wearing a costume....they already know this so it won't be a new concept to them. It's just fun to pretend and play along. I do believe in the magic of Christmas and joy that comes from being with family and giving to those you love and I don't think that just because Santa isn't real that that part will be forever tainted in their minds. Even though we don't believe in the Easter Bunny we still play along and go to Egg Hunts. It's fun! We do want to make sure that they don't ruin it for other kids like it was ruined for me in school all those years ago so we are going to explain that some people don't know it's a game and they just need to let them go on pretending. Hopefully they won't be that child that breaks the news to some other kid!
So what does your family do in regards to Santa Claus? Do you put more of the focus on Jesus?
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