Ah, yes, the age old question. Is Santa real?
Once your first child is old enough to understand the Santa concept you have to decide as parents how you are going to handle Santa in your house. For us, the decision was made easy by Caroline. With her birthday being at the beginning of January, she was almost a year for her first Christmas. We took her to the mall and walked past Santa, Brian's company had a party where Santa gave gifts to the children. In all of these cases she started crying and would cling to us. Plain and simple, she was scared.
We figured that as time went on that first Christmas she would get used to the idea. Nope. We even asked if Santa could leave the presents on the front porch, thinking the scary part was someone coming into your house. Nope. She wanted nothing to do with the man.
Well, that decision was made easy! By the next Christmas Julia was born and only being 6 months old she didn't understand the Santa concept either. So, we just went on like there wasn't anything important about Santa.
People ask how we explained it to our kids and it actually wasn't a big deal. Caroline was scared and we told her it was a person dressed up like Santa. That helped a little. When Christmas Day came the presents were under the tree (if not before the actual day) and no questions were asked where they came from.
Now Caroline and Julia both knew not to tell other friends that Santa wasn't real. We didn't want them to ruin the magic for other kids. And we can say they did very well at keeping the secret. Of course, when you don't believe in Santa out goes the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy.
This year is the first time Sarah is able to understand the Santa concept. And while we like her daycare, they do things to promote the Santa idea. We've talked to her and so have the older girls about how Santa isn't real and what the true meaning of Christmas is - Baby Jesus' birthday.
Both Caroline and Julia know the answers to the questions:
Why do we celebrate Christmas or What is Christmas really about? Jesus' birthday.
Why do we give gifts at Christmas? To show our love to others.
Sarah understands that and the Santa parts will become clearer over the next year. Christmas has become much more commercialized. This makes it harder to focus on the real meaning, but we try our best by reading books, baking a Jesus birthday cake and spending time talking about it. No matter if your children believe in Santa or not, we hope the real reason for Christmas is made the focal point of the season.
Once your first child is old enough to understand the Santa concept you have to decide as parents how you are going to handle Santa in your house. For us, the decision was made easy by Caroline. With her birthday being at the beginning of January, she was almost a year for her first Christmas. We took her to the mall and walked past Santa, Brian's company had a party where Santa gave gifts to the children. In all of these cases she started crying and would cling to us. Plain and simple, she was scared.
We figured that as time went on that first Christmas she would get used to the idea. Nope. We even asked if Santa could leave the presents on the front porch, thinking the scary part was someone coming into your house. Nope. She wanted nothing to do with the man.
Well, that decision was made easy! By the next Christmas Julia was born and only being 6 months old she didn't understand the Santa concept either. So, we just went on like there wasn't anything important about Santa.
People ask how we explained it to our kids and it actually wasn't a big deal. Caroline was scared and we told her it was a person dressed up like Santa. That helped a little. When Christmas Day came the presents were under the tree (if not before the actual day) and no questions were asked where they came from.
Now Caroline and Julia both knew not to tell other friends that Santa wasn't real. We didn't want them to ruin the magic for other kids. And we can say they did very well at keeping the secret. Of course, when you don't believe in Santa out goes the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy.
This year is the first time Sarah is able to understand the Santa concept. And while we like her daycare, they do things to promote the Santa idea. We've talked to her and so have the older girls about how Santa isn't real and what the true meaning of Christmas is - Baby Jesus' birthday.
Both Caroline and Julia know the answers to the questions:
Why do we celebrate Christmas or What is Christmas really about? Jesus' birthday.
Why do we give gifts at Christmas? To show our love to others.
Sarah understands that and the Santa parts will become clearer over the next year. Christmas has become much more commercialized. This makes it harder to focus on the real meaning, but we try our best by reading books, baking a Jesus birthday cake and spending time talking about it. No matter if your children believe in Santa or not, we hope the real reason for Christmas is made the focal point of the season.
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