What is your family's Santa Mythology? I need some help

[Violet2]

So this is the first year we tried to do Santa. Dd is a little young and doesn't quite grasp it all yet, which thank goodness, b/c it has become clear I don't fully grasp it yet.

So in your family...

How many gifts does Santa bring? All of them? Some of them?

Does Santa wrap gifts in a special way? My mom says the Santa gift is supposed to be unwrapped and the big 'wishlist' gift of the season--but I swear she never did that with me!

If you open some things Xmas eve and some things Xmas day, what do you do? We had a terrible time deciding whether or not to open gifts Xmas eve or stockings. We did stockings, but did those come from Santa? From us?

My childhood memory is Santa came while I slept and delivered gifts for Xmas day. I don't have to do it the same way and am open to a new tradition. Which is good b/c DH is European and they do everything Xmas Eve. He's flexible. I'm flexible. We're probably trying to honor too many traditions.

We've been telling DD so many versions of what Santa does/doesn't do that I'm sure she's even more confused than we are!

So how do you handle Santa at your house?

V

PS I know some families aren't into Santa and some feel that it's a big lie, but we do want to do Santa.

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

In our house, Santa only brings one or two gifts -- generally the big one(s). This year it was a Wii for the family -- so one gift for both kids to share. Other years its been the bike or similar type of thing.

Santa gifts are not wrapped and Santa comes ONLY after the kids are asleep on Christmas Eve.

Gifts are opened on Christmas morning, with the exception of the new Christmas PJs that my mother brings, they get opened on Christmas Eve so they are worn to bed and show up in the pictures.

Stockings come from Santa and have just little things in them -- this year it was a new Webkinz, Leotard for DD and Karate shirt for DS, new hot drink mugs and new stylus' for their Nintendos.

Santa brings presents as a way to show everyone that Christmas is about loving and giving, just like God gave Jesus to show his love. (This to tie Santa and Jesus' birth together -- obviously not an issue if you aren't Christian).

Santa has lots of "assistant Santas" which is why you see them all over the place in December.

Since both DH and I sing in the church choir, Christmas Eve is devoted to "religious Christmas" and Christmas morning is "secular Christmas".

[Aufilia]

In our family Santa only brings 1 or 2 gifts, typically something big and much-wanted. Santa's gift(s) is unwrapped and sitting in front of the tree Christmas morning, where he left it when he came at midnight(ish).

All the other gifts are just regular presents, wrapped with to/from labels. Santa does not fill the stockings, either, those are just regular but small gifts (usually things like candy and socks).

We don't open any gifts on Christmas eve.

On Christmas eve we attend the Family Service at my parents' church, then go to a holiday party at their neighbor's house.

[butterfly_mommy]

Well this is what we are doing with DS, although right now he is still too young to get it. These traditions come from my side of the family as DH's parent's are Eastern European and celebrate Orthodox Christmas on Jan 7th and never really did the Santa thing.

On Christmas Eve we open a gift, it is a special ornament for the tree (everyone gets one) Then we read A Night Before Christmas (new tradition this year) then leave milk and cookies for Santa. I like to hang the stockings when the tree goes up so usually a week before Christmas (but they are empty) Once everyone (DS) is asleep Santa comes and fills the stockings, eats the cookies and leaves one big present unwrapped for DS with just a bow on it and tag that says Love Santa. When DS is old enough to write a letter to Santa then the Gift from Santa will come off that list. DH and I then give him a few presents from us. In the morning we wake up and open stockings first on the bed and then go and see what Santa left under the tree. I think I will also include once DS gets older that he needs to have Mama or Dada to check to make sure Santa is gone (my dad used to do this and I loved it )

That's about it I think, I may include a note from Santa when DS gets older

[Barefoot~Baker]

We don't celebrate Christmas anymore, but, I was just thinking that if Santa did some of the presents, and some of the presents are from you or other family members, it might make it easier for your children when they are older and find out about Santa, kwim?

Not judging whatsoever, just thought it might help you decide

[Lasater]

dd is only 1 year old, so Santa is not an issue at this point...however, Santa will bring ONE gift and HE fills the stockings. His gift is unwrapped and stockings are the first thing we "open". The rest of the presents are from Dad and Mom. Stockings generally have things like vitamins, lipgloss/chapstick, deoderants, bath salts, perfumes, playing cards, books, candy...etc. So much of our Christmas is already centered around God, the Story of Jesus' birth, family gatherings....Santa will be a fun, magical character in it all, but I have no doubt that my child/children will fully grasp the fun and serious aspects of Christmas.

[kristenok18]

Santa comes to our house while ds is sleeping, and brings probably too much. He also fills the stockings and hangs candy canes on the tree. In my sister's house, Santa only brings one smaller present and fills the stockings. In both cases, the gifts from Santa are wrapped. Her husband, otoh, grew up with a completely different tradition. Santa visited while they were at Christmas Eve service, and then they opened their gifts upon coming home. Somehow the kids never caught on that daddy or uncle so-and-so managed to forget his scarf or his car keys and have to run inside for a minute before leaving for church.

When dh was younger, we spread gifts out. He could open a few early when they came in the mail, opened more from us on Christmas Eve, then Santa's in the morning. Now that he's a little older (7), he can handle waiting. We let him open 1 or 2 from us before church (dh and I play for all 3 services, and are there for a LONG time, so this gives him a chance to have something new that might make the long evening a little less boring). When we get home, still wound up from the service and the drive home, we all get in our pjs and open a few more presents. Ideally, we then go to bed and Santa comes. Except this year ds was SOOOOOO excited that he popped up every 20-30 minutes to see if it was time to get up. Made it hard for Santa to do his thing! And it made for a pretty exhausted set of parents today, let me tell you.

[Belia]

When we were growing up the presents under the tree were about half and half- half from family, and half from Santa. The family presents appeared gradually under the tree whenever they got wrapped, but the Santa presents appeared only after everyone was asleep on Christmas Eve. Santa also did the stockings.

Everything was wrapped, but no special Santa paper (that I recall, anyway). But the tags read "To Belia, from Santa" in special handwriting.

The iron clad rule in my family was no one could go downstairs on Christmas morning until they got mom and dad. Sometimes they would torture us... "We can't go downstairs until everyone has their slippers on!" Then... "We can't go downstairs until everyone has a robe on!" And so on and so on.

Every year we also baked a birthday cake for baby Jesus and sang to him and blew out candles and everything, too.

[Twinklefae]

We do what I did while I was growing up. (DH didn't like the Santa mythology as a kid - they had to tell him that Santa wasn't real because he was having a panic attack about the old man breaking into the house when he was 4!)

We wrote to Santa early in December, and an elf named "Peek-a-boo" was our familiy's elf. He took our lists, reported on our behaviour to Santa and occasionally left Christmas related gifts. (Music/books/decorations. The kind of things that are frustrating to give on the day of.)

On Xmas Eve we left out milk and cookies and our stockings. (We didn't have a chimney) Santa came while we slept and filled the stockings and put them by our bedroom doors. When we woke in the morning, we were allowed to play with the stockings in bed until it was 7am.

Santa gifts were not wrapped, they were displayed nicely in the room with the tree. They tended to be toys/fun and exciting things. I got roller skates one year.

Cookies were always eaten and milk drunk, occasionally there were boot prints on the the deck/snow on the stairs. (One year, the carrot we left for Rudolph was chewed up and in bits on the stairs. My mom vacuumed it up cursing out Santa, saying that if he couldn't treat her house with more respect he wouldn't be invited back!)

We got one or two smaller presents from Mom and Dad. They were wrapped and under the tree.

I liked the un-wrapped Santa gifts because you don't have to deal with separate paper or the writing on the tags. Plus, the kids can play while the adults make coffee and tea before you get to the tree.

DS was really excited to see his toys laid out this morning! I love the Santa thing! I believed til I was 11.

[EviesMom]

In our house, Santa only fills stockings. He may wrap a thing or two in the stocking, if they're near the top and he wants to make a bit of a surprise, and he always uses Santa-themed paper.

On Christmas Eve, the kids get 1 gift to open from mom and dad, containing pjs or slippers and a book, to wear and read on Christmas Eve.

In the morning, we open stockings, then have breakfast, then we open the tree presents one at a time, which gives the kids time to play with the gift they just opened before they open a new one. It also ensures that we don't get into an overbuying situation, because if we get tired of it, we put the rest away to open the next week (I've done this with too many gifts at grandmas before, our house is manageable). So far, the eldest is 5 and we've been able to keep this tradition.

OTOH, My parents will literally fill the room with gifts to and from them and my brothers and their wives. They also tag EVERYTHING from Santa. I told DD that grandpa thinks it's funny to write names of other people and cartoon characters on the tag but Santa doesn't bring presents under the tree, so she can just thank Grandpa.

[Carlyle]

One thing that has helped me with the lying to my kid thing is the line my mom used with me "Santa is real for everyone who believes in him." I actually had to use the line already this year with my 3 year old! She was talking about Santa and his "real-deer" and I said, Oh they're called "Reindeer" and she said "But are they real mama?" Yikes. I was glad to have my mom's line ready!

[Kailey's mom]

Originally Posted by Evan&Anna's_Mom

In our house, Santa only brings one or two gifts -- generally the big one(s). This year it was a Wii for the family -- so one gift for both kids to share. Other years its been the bike or similar type of thing.

Santa gifts are not wrapped and Santa comes ONLY after the kids are asleep on Christmas Eve.

Gifts are opened on Christmas morning, with the exception of the new Christmas PJs that my mother brings, they get opened on Christmas Eve so they are worn to bed and show up in the pictures.

Stockings come from Santa and have just little things in them -- this year it was a new Webkinz, Leotard for DD and Karate shirt for DS, new hot drink mugs and new stylus' for their Nintendos.

Santa brings presents as a way to show everyone that Christmas is about loving and giving, just like God gave Jesus to show his love. (This to tie Santa and Jesus' birth together -- obviously not an issue if you aren't Christian).

Santa has lots of "assistant Santas" which is why you see them all over the place in December.

Since both DH and I sing in the church choir, Christmas Eve is devoted to "religious Christmas" and Christmas morning is "secular Christmas".

Same here.. although dd is 3.5 and I don't think she believes in Santa. She kindof rolls her eyes when we mentioned him coming lol. Maybe it's just me, but she's looking at US like we are idiots

[mamadebug]

In our house, Santa brings a few presents and fills the stockings. DS got 4 gifts from Santa this year. He didn't want anything huge this year, but if he did have a big thing he wanted (like a bike or something), we probably would have done more like one or two gifts from Santa plus the stocking. The gifts were all wrapped - unwrapping them is half the fun in our house!

Santa comes while DS is asleep and we wake up and go out and open presents first thing when he wakes up - which was so early today because he was so excited!

We leave cookies and milk for Santa, which is of course gone in the morning - the empty plate is there with a note form Santa.

We haven't done gifts from mama and daddy to DS in the past. But this year we did as DS was really into picking out gifts for each of us. He was really into the idea of picking out something he thought we would each like so it seemed keeping in the spirit to give him something from us.

Gifts from other people, I let him open as we get them. DS gets overwhelmed by too many presents and likes to play with each one for a while before opening the next, so it works well for us to do it this way.

[octobermom]

We both do the myth and give some truth to the santa situation. My DD knows that "santa" as seen on TV malls ect are made up weve talked about who St Nicholas was the gifts of the wise man ect and the Santa spirt and that Santa is "real" because the spirt of giving is often carried on in the hearts and actions of those living today. That santa can eb a parents a friend or even a stranger.. That mall santas and TV santas can be fun to pretend but there pretend. I don't like rub it in but its the choice we made in approaching the subject so shes still gets to hold onto some wonder and pretend but is somewhat aware and at 7 she goes back and forth on the degree of "magic" she wants to still hold on to.
Her Santa brings a few special things and maybe a few "filler gifts" this year he brought
2 board games
a scooter
a disney paint pen marker set
2 new T shirts
a horse Calander
There was not real this is it its jsut how it worked Cecilia decided that because sehs got 7 things maybe he brought one for each year It jsut turned out that way. I don't wrap Santa gifts and if needed things are pre assembled so its all ready to se enjoy and play with upon waking up.. It just appears...

Deanna

[MacKinnon]

In our family Santa brings 2 to 3 gifts, usually "the big one" if there is one (there wasn't this year) and some of the stocking/chair things (some are from Mom and Dad). In my family we had "chairs" in addition to our stockings which had a pair of pjs, a hat/scarf, a book and a small toy/stuffed animal. We do stockings and chairs, then breakfast, then presents. We open one gift on Christmas Eve (from Mom and Dad) and leave out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the Reindeer. The kids get new Christmas jammies in the weeks leading up to Christmas, which they wear on Christmas eve. And we get a new Christmas book on Christmas eve. All Santa's at malls/etc. are "Santa's Helpers" as the real Santa is far too busy in the North Pole! Luckily, DH and I grew up with similar traditions, so blending them hasn't been too big of an issue. Except that DH does NOT like the breakfast before gifts thing! Every year he swears he doesn't remember that being the way we did things the year before. This morning DS said, "OK, I'm hungry now! Let's eat breakfast then open presents!" DH was forced to concede when his 3 yo disagreed with him!

[Hoopin' Mama]

Santa comes when we are sleeping and leaves 1 gift and fills the stocking. This year it was wrapped because it was small. Kind of a pain b/c I had to go out and buy a special roll of paper. Previous years they were larger and put together and unwrapped. We put out reindeer food (bird seed) and milk and cookies.
Other fun traditions we have are reading Polar Express, Twas the Night Before Christmas and Nutcracker. The Nutcracker we start reading after Thanksgiving. I'm hoping to see the ballet next year.

[mntnmom]

At our house Santa comes Xmas eve and fills the stocking with small toys and candies. On Xmas morning the kids get those, and whatever wrapped presents there are to open from other people. A that point we've already opened our Midwinter presents, as that's our big holiday.
Here in Germany, many families leave shoes outside the front door, or bedroom door for St.Nicolaus to fill, but they do it on Dec. 6, St.Nicolaus Day.
It took us a couple years to work out the kinks. And don't worry too much about the conflicting messages. Every family does it a little differently, regardless of where you live. Work out what works best for your family. There is no *right* way.
We've always answered questions about Santa " I always heard <x>, what do you think?". My 6yr old figured it out this year, and I explained that Santa is the spirit of giving, not a real person. Anytime someone gives things to people, and asks for nothing back, or spends time dressing up for kids, or ringing a bell out in the cold they are really Santa. Anyone can be the "real" Santa.

[Red Pajama]

When my father was a child, his mother worked out a special arrangement with santa that has continued into my kids' generation. Santa (or the elves, it depends on how busy he is) comes for 12 days before christmas and delivers one small (sometimes needed, sometimes toy, think under 4 dollars) to the stocking after children are asleep. He cannot deliver when kids are awake. He also delivers one or two presents for christmas day and fills the stockings. The presents are wrapped in a special paper unique to santa gifts. We've worked it out with santa that he deliver those to our house even though we're not home christmas eve, since we come home for christmas day.

When I was a child, we would gather at my grandparent's house for christmas eve. After dinner, we'd all sing christmas carols, and while we were sining santa would deliver the christmas gifts for all the kids.

So when I was a kid, we had a tradition of santa delivering and us opening on christmas eve. Now, he delivers to our home on christmas eve, but we open upon our return home. The 12 days of stockings have remained the same for my family.

We explain differences in santa tradition to our kids by telling them it's what ever the parents work out with santa. He's a flexible guy.

[JL83]

Here Santa brings the stockings. He only puts a couple small things in them (often things that we would "never" buy...). This year that was a Disney movie that we'd been saying 'no' to for weeks and some play jewelry. Last year Santa brought a My Little Pony.

All the presents that are wrapped come from real people.

[Storm Bride]

Santa comes while we're sleeping (HAHAHA - I don't sleep much on Christmas Eve).

He brings one gift per child. Occasionally, he'll also bring one gift to all the kids (this is usually really something for dd1 and ds2, but we put ds1's name on it, and he's okay with that, because he enjoys doing Santa, too). The kids each get two gifts from us. The Santa gift is usually kind a mid-range kind of gift. It's never the big one. (This year, Santa gave the Marvel Encyclopedia to ds1, a black widow spider lego set for dd1, a Playmobil dragon for ds2, and a stuffed bear for dd2.)

The Santa gifts are all wrapped in a special paper that we don't use for anything else. The tags are made from pieces of the same paper.

Santa also fills the stockings (he has issues, and WAY overdoes it every year, despite the intent to cut back). There's always an orange in the toe, because it's not a Christmas stocking without one, in Santa's not-so-humble opinion. There are always nuts, for the same reason. There's always an assortment of Christmas candy. For the middle kids, there's always a stuffy (this year's was tiny). The rest of the contents vary a lot.

That's about it. We do leave out cookies and a drink (this year was egg nog and a glass of water) for Santa, as well.