Yesterday when I was researching I found one persons opinion that fit pretty well with me and how I feel about things.
" I remember my reaction to finding out that Santa wasn't real. What upset me the most about this revelation wasn't losing my fantasy about Santa. It was realizing that my parents had told me something that was completely WRONG about something that was so IMPORTANT to me. I stopped seeing my parents as a source of unerring wisdom! And THAT is the child's fantasy that I want to foster in my own children. So, to that end, when my DC ask me about Santa, I say it is a wonderful, famous Christmastime STORY. I tell them the STORY of Santa is about a wonderful man who gives to others without expecting anything in return. He isn't even there when the presents are open, so he doesn't even receive thanks and gratitude. I tell them that I love the story of Santa because he follows the example of Christ: giving to others and loving everyone because that is what God wants us all to do. But, when my DC ask if Santa is real, I tell them that I love the story, but I don't think he's real. Then I ask them if THEY think he's real...and so far, they've always said YES!! (Of course they would say the same thing about Dora, Winnie the Pooh, and Nate the Great.) This way, my DC get to enjoy their Santa fantasy, and when they finally realize that he is just a nice story, they will think "Wow, Mommy was right after all!". Lolli, Brian (6) Katherine (3) PS For safety reasons, I have stressed that a big part of the sory is that NOBODY ever sees Santa. So if they see a man dressed as him, that is simply somebody who loves the story of Santa, too. But he is still an ordinary person, so they should never leave with him without me or Daddy."
Not entirely, but that is close to my feelings on the subject.
This may seem like a stupid thing to waste my time worrying about or thinking about but I do and that's me - and I thought I would share and see if there is anyone out there that had thoughts about this subject too.
And of course Morgan sees Santa everywhere; but I'm not willing to outright lie to him.
So with all that rigamarole we saw Santa twice on Saturday; once for a pancake breakfast and once at a book store event. And I went about it along the lines of the comment above.....it's about the spirit of giving and some people believe. He asked me if I believed and I said I don't think so and he said 'well I do' - and I told him that was perfectly fine.
So there you have it....my ramblings on and on and my waffling back and forth about whether or not to post this - Thanks for following this......if that's even possible!!!!
So here are our pictures from yesterday - the last picture is actually the author of a pretty cool book and he read the book to the kids.
2 comments:
We pretty much indicate that we know the Santas around town are not real but they could be spies for the real one.
Belo asked if Santa was real. My response was that I would never say out loud that I didn't believe in Santa because if he was real and I said that, I would totally ruin everything. It wasn't a chance I wanted to take.
Right now it's a big deal in school. He's firmly in the He is Real category. Apparently, someone told him that Santa is just their dad going out shopping and dressed up in a Santa suit. Belo tried to envision *that* and found that to be a much more implausible idea than elves, flying reindeer and sliding down chimneys with a magic bag. As do I. :)
I have no feeling one way or the other what you tell your kid, it just bugs the crap out of me when people ruin for other kids who do want to believe in magic/fairytales. You know, tales like tax cuts for the rich trickle down to the poor and Water into Wine and Corporate Personhood.
i was just talking w/ my friend becca about this very thing. she doesn't do santa w/ her son (he's 4)(or the easter bunny, etc) because she doesn't want to lie to him, she wants him to know that CHRIST is the reason for Christmas, and she doesn't want santa to get credit for loving her son more than she does (or knowing what he wants or getting him the cool gifts).
w/ leyton, i have chosen never to lie to him, but since i'm the aunt, i don't have to decide really what to do about santa. i LOVE the position of making sure to portray santa as a STORY and pointing it back to the true Reason we have Christmas. : )
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