Santa Poll

[PrincessFiona]

What do you tell your kids about Santa?

[SueC]

We tell them that if they don't pick up their toys, get along, obey the rules, then Santa might not be as good to them this year. We probably shouldn't hold it over their heads, but its the one time of year where they have some really great incentive to be good.
I plan on feeding them the Santa myth for as long as they want to believe. I need to start teaching the real meaning of Christmas, though. They know the basic story, but for them, Christmas is still mostly about the gifts.

[Meenah]

I thought the idea of Santa was fun.
Luanne

[Rapunzel]

Well, Santa Claus is actually based on a man that was alive at one point in history. I think that it's 1) a sweet fairy tale to believe in when you're young and innocent and you believe there are also monsters under your bed and 2) it is a story that teaches an important part of Christianity - charity (in that Santa Claus gives and expects nothing in return).

I believe that what Santa Claus STANDS for exists and I don't see a conflict between having that holiday tradition and having a Christ-centered Christmas. So, we do have a Santa tradition in our household - although it is a very, very small part of the rest of our Christmas activities and definitely not emphasized very much.

Jennifer

[houseelf]

We're somewhere in between. We talk about Santa, but we won't perpetuate lie upon lie when ds starts asking questions. When the time comes, I will try to respond to his questions with, "what do you think" because I want him to draw his own conclusions. I don't think that perpetuating the Santa belief is harmful, however.

Kelly

Our son was devestated when our new house didn't have a chimney in it either. "How will Santa get in? He can't come through the door or the alarm will go off?"
We don't play it up either, it is a neat idea and when the time comes that he wants to know, we ask the same- what does he think?

[peggyfromwastate]

Kate came to me the other day and told me that some kids at her school were saying that Santa doesn't really exist. (She's 8, I think she's suspected for a while.) Anyway, I asked her what she thought, and she kind of shrugged and said that she knew that when she asked Santa for something, she got whatever she asked for, and so she guessed she'd continue to go along with the Santa thing... Anyway, we never did Santa as I was growing up, so it's kind of fun to have Santa for my kids, but we don't really make a big deal of it. They all get a gift from Santa each, wrapped in Santa's own paper...