The youngest ones dont know what anything costs, so we just try to make it the same amount of gifts. We probly spend a little more on the older ones because they want better stuff,
Kinda funny how santa always brought what you wanted most. I think that the kids probly forgot what they asked for after they see what they got for the most part. Of course those little birdies go tell santa what they wanted too.
You could "blame" it on your wife, Brad. Act suprised as hell the next time she talks about Santa, and then have your Mom sit the two of you down, explain that Santa only lives in the love in our hearts, and it was passed down from woman to woman and mother to mother, when Alli was born, and all the gifts from Santa and all the love from Santa was really your wife teaching Ally to be loved and to love others (in totally appropriate ways) - and now that she knows, she can carry on the tradition. Nary, she must!
You could totally pull that off, it'd be a great memory of her mom, and you could be a total buffoon for fun, like when the 40 year old Virgin takes his GF's daughter to the clinic for Sex Ed.
"So what you're telling me, Mom, is that Fire truck that I loved when I was 12, that really was from you all along...I see."
I remeber an ex GF's kid wanted a sailboat one year for his birthday. He was 5 or 6. My ex GF's parents always bought a lot of gifts and spent a lot of money. My ex GF did too. Nobody got him the sail boat. I went to walgreens and paid 99 cents for a cheap plastic sail boat. He later told me that was the "best present" he got that day.
I remember seeing a big box on the shelf in my parent's closet once close to Christmas, so I took it down and it was a beautiful doll. I thought it was for me and was so excited! On Christmas day I got a different doll - Mary Beth. Still have her. Turns out the other doll was for my cousin and my mother was hiding it at our house for my aunt.
My dad would used to wake me up silently on easter Sunday, telling me that mom was talking to the easter bunny in the kitchen. We'd stalk halfway down the stairs, then all of a sudden there'd be a ruckus in the kitchen. I'd run down the rest of the stairs, jump into the kitchen, and mom and grandma would be looking out the door and say "You JUST missed him! look, he ran out so quickly he ripped his tail!" And there'd be a big tuft of cotton in the door jamb. And I'd resolve to wake up earlier the next year.
When I was about 9 they stopped when I said "Boy he must have a ratty tail by now."
My parents always wrapped Santa's gifts. We don't for the boys. By time Christmas gets here I usually have run out of time.hah..
I will say that when I "thought" I figured it out I approached my mom...I will never forget the look on her face and her exact words "If you don't believe he doesn't bring you anything". That did it for me "I STILL BELIEVE!!"
I can also say a child's memory is an amazing thing. I remember taking a walk around the block on the night of Christmas Eve I was probably 9 (it was about 80 degrees hehe) I looked in the sky and saw Santa and his sleigh flying over the houses. Rudolph's nose was as bright as can be....to this day I can tell you with a straight face that is what I saw.....I can't explain it.
As for the Easter bunny....if you ask the boys they will say the Easter bunny doesn't exist (must be the dumb costumes in the mall). But ask them about Santa and they will not back down that he is the real deal....
I saw a witch riding on her broom in the sky when I was little. I insisted my sisters take me home immediately. But the truth is, I think they planted that idea in my head so they could continue on without me. :angry:
I heard the reindeer on my grandmas rooftop and the sleighbells
I love the sound of sleighbells to this day.
I will always believe
my parents never told me there was no Santa Claus, at least I don't ever remember them telling me - which I think was wise because I think it helped make my spirit in Christmas what it is today. No hallmark holiday for me.
Soooo, I usually buy for 2 months and then lay it all out in the livingroom on the floor to be sure everyone is equal in size or price and than wrap everything. If someone has too much than I save it for a birthday or if someone has too little it goes on a last minute shopping list.
This is what I do too. Normally there is a lot fo last minute rearranging or buying.
but you do need to figure it out as the easterbunny is coming up..
Funny story from last year...My girls and my neice were having a horrible time falling asleep but finally when they were alseep the bunny comes and starts hiding baskets and eggs....all of a sudden the bedroom door opens the two oldest woke up and saw egg's hiding. we told them the Bunny Jumped out side when he heard them get up and didn't have time to hide the rest...well they didn't want to go back to sleep and finally Mike saw a bunny hoping around out in the front yard we are talking its like 12am and he brought the girls out and told them to be real quiet and showed them the easter bunnies helper was keeping an eye out for them to go back to sleep...I have to say I've never seen two kids so freaking excited actually fall asleep so fast.
I really hate little kids that count gifts and throw tantrums EVEN BEFORE THEY OPEN THEM because someone else has 'more'.
On Sunday I have to go to a girl's birthday party of my wife's best friend. This kid is the female version of the "Omen". Her little sister's birthday was a month ago, and she STILL remembers EXACTLY how many gifts her sister got. I don't know what this couple did to deserve this kid, but she's scary - she's been scary like that since age three. I think she's eight now.
Jeez, my two brothers and I just played with everything - didn't matter who got it for Christmas. All the 'cool' gifts usually broke by December 27th, so fights for them didn't last, either. All of our LEGO sets just ended up in one huge bucket after a week or so - but we did fight over who got the "cool" LEGO bricks...
I saved all that stuff, Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, GI Joes (the ones that weren't blown up during battle anyway) and "Peoples". That's what they called those Fisher Price sets with the little characters. It's all in a room upstairs where the kids play when they come over. They think it's cool that the old Lincoln Logs have wooden slats to make roofs instead of molded plastic roofs like they have now.
Funny thing is nowadays - our houses are made with the crappy plastic on the WALLS and the roof shingles are so bad they might've been made from Linkin Logs slats
because the girls would not share the games that went with gameboys back in the day.... when they each got nintendo ds lites.... all games were in both their names and even once in a while I put it in mine and a kids name cause even if Im mom they dont always wanna share. Anything to avoid future arguments or issues.
my parents told me Santa was dead when they got the BIG D!! and I told them if you guys thought for a min. I bought in to Santa then you guys where more brainwashed then I was!!
But after meeting Santa Dave I now know there is always a Santa out there Some where!! he lives in you friends and in your hearts just like mine!!!
I carry on with some of it for the younger ones and every year for X-Mas For my mom we go get or family pic. with Santa!! Hay I could help you out CM!! I could bring the Pic. board out on Sunday and show you guys how much I have changed over the years!! and then if she brings it up I could start to CRY!!! and play the YOU dont think HE IS REAL???? Card!! lol then I could start to call my brothers and have them get in on it!! I could ask her why every year I go to get my pic. taking with him every year since I was born if he isn't real??? lol
Chiming in a bit late as usual but I had some thoughts anyway.
I don't have kids any maybe never will. My nephews and niece have never seemed concerned with my opinion on the Santa subject. But I do have one. I think if I did have a kid, I wouldn't try to convince them that Santa Claus was a real person. It seems to me that all it does is set the kid up to think that their parents lie to them about stuff.
My guess is kids don't really care about Santa Claus per se. They're more excited about the idea that someone will give them whatever presents they ask for. And yes it would be cool to see flying reindeer and all that, but you never really do (more disappointment). If anything, I would think the whole Santa thing, if played up as real, is more likely to leave kids jaded than full of Christmas magic.
Now that's not to say I don't believe in a Christmas magic. Christmas is my favorite time of year. People tend to be friendlier and more generous. With all the decorations, everything tends to be more beautiful. And then the day itself brings a certain magic because of the way it brings everyone together. Even if you're not Christian, you can't escape the fact that it is Christmas, and even though it means something different to everyone, we're all united in the knowledge that it's the biggest holiday of the year. It's easy to overlook a lot of that stuff if you're focusing on Santa, and then it's also easy to continue overlooking it if learning that Santa isn't real leads you to feel like none of it is. If Santa is going to be a part of the equation, I would tell it as a story, something to evoke the Christmas story without ever having to revoke it because it doesn't mesh with reality.
I appreciate it Icedooode but I think I have things covered for now. Thanks for the offer though. Nice dedication.
My guess is kids don't really care about Santa Claus per se'. They're more excited about the idea that someone will give them whatever presents they ask for
Which leads me to what happened tonight. They do care. Ali asked 'the question' earlier tonight while we were at Walmart picking out an outfit for her spring pictures tomorrow. She said "I think I know something dad and I don't believe in Santa anymore" waiting for my reaction. I jumped the gun and said "Why, because of that old Christmas wrapping paper that's in the garage?" and then continued "I knew I should have tossed that out when we moved in. Especially when I seen what Santa wrapped his presents in." And as a diversion I added "I couldn't believe how close it was to the same paper that your presents are wrapped in from him. I compared the two and they were close but not exact."
She said that she was going to see what I said and didn't buy it. I said "fine, you can stop believing if you want, as I did the same thing right around your age too. But I'm going to continue to believe now even if you don't. It's only been since you were alive that I started getting gifts from him again because I started believing in him again." "I'm not about to stop now as I believe in him more than ever. But I won't stop you because I know nothing I say will change your mind".
And I walked away pushing the cart over to the pop aisle. She was tagging behind me saying "OK, I do believe but I thought you were Santa". I said that I wished I could play Santa and would love to wrap up her presents from me with the old paper in the garage. It would be fun to play the Big Guy for a night. She said that she didn't like that at all and to leave it alone.
That lead me to believe that she's not quite ready for 'the talk' even if it ever needs to be said. It also lead me to believe that it wasn't all about the presents. The Santa lore seemed to be more important at that point so I felt it OK to drop it and ask her about the never-sharpen pencils she was asking about. (which I bought because I wanted to see if hardened graphite actually printed the same as a No.2 pencil - it does BTW :cool: )
I guess what I did realize is that my parents never told me about Santa or even tried to embellish on the story to make it work for a certain situation. And I can't remember holding any grudge towards them for 'lying' to me all those years. It actually allowed me to see it for what it really is in my own personal way without a grown-up trying to explain it to me in words I couldn't comprehend anyway. Very similar to religion for me. That's why Ali hasn't been baptized yet as I want her to make her own educated decisions when it comes to that.
Thanks again for all the valuable and diverse opinions on this subject. It really means alot. And it's just one of many more reasons why this little tight-knit group of ours is the best in the world! :sheepish: :cool:
I think we're OK for now as Ali mentioned later tonight that she was jealous that two of the kids in her class last year found some chocolate gold coins when looking for a leprechaun on St. Patricks Day. So her and her best friend were planning on searching out the little rascals this year.
One thing you touched on that I want to clarify a bit is when I say they don't care about Santa per se, I mean there's nothing inherent about the Santa story that they need to connect it to Christmas. If the story was that the presents are brought by a rabbit and eggs are hidden by a fairy, and Santa comes to collect lost teeth, the kids would probably have the same reactions to it all. What is important is that this is the story they've been told by those that they trust to tell them what's going on in the world. In that way it is very much like religion. And I think that's also why parents find it so hard to explain the truth about Santa to their kids when these inconsistencies pop up, because it's like you have to admit that you were lying. And they'll just hear the truth from other kids at school anyway.
If all that doesn't work then just admit her into the secret society of people that know Santa doesn't exist and must therefore carry on his work for him and use it as an excuse to do some charitable stuff around Christmas time.
I hear ya AW. I never really cared about the link between Santa and Jesus and Christmas. It's just one more exciting thing about that time of year. I get the tie-in now but it didn't make a difference at that age. Ali introduced me to who the Sandman character is a few months ago. I never knew that story until then. I heard the term Sandman but didn't know there was a story behind it. Each family has their own traditions I guess. I know the rest of the world looks at our Halloween as being a really screwed up holiday but we celebrate it nonetheless.
As far as explaining the 'secret society', my sister told me a story of when her daughter asked her why she didn't tell her earlier and sis just ask her if she would tell her younger brother now that she knew. And her daughter said "Why would I do that? That would ruin the fun for him". Sis said "Well there ya go".
It's the few kids who don't understand that same feeling and go to school blabbing to the other kids thinking they're better than the rest because they know something the others don't. They only find out that many kids already knew before they said a thing but had the sensitivity to keep it to themselves.
Beautiful tribute to Santa, Iceman!! I believed even more after I met Santa Dave.
Clue Master - what you said to Ali about you still believing is the absolute truth, and giving her permission to believe or not believe was perfect, IMHO.
Personally I think that whole "Santa Dave Dying" is just a fictional story concocted by Jake and a few other co-conspirators. It allowed this so-called 'Dave' to head further North and continue his REAL work undisturbed. :wink:
BTW - does anybody know the Area Code for the North Pole?
I for one am glad this conversation was started simpley because I have a daughter who is pretty darn smart I think she'll be one of the "earlier to see through the Santa thing" Its good to see other parents opinion.
We had an oops with the tooth fairy recently about a month ago she lost one and was trying to get out of the whole going ot bed thing and told me she needed to wash off her tooth for the tooth fairy after having every other excuse used up, I told her stop making excuses the tooth fairy can clean it herself if she wants...The tooth fairy was studying very hard that night for a test and well, the next morning Lisa says to me MOM SEE I TOLD YOU IT HAD TO BE WASHED OFF SHE DIDN'T WANT IT SHE LEFT MY TOOTH!!! I was like ooops glad I got outta that one easy...
Kinda funny how santa always brought what you wanted most. I think that the kids probly forgot what they asked for after they see what they got for the most part. Of course those little birdies go tell santa what they wanted too.
You could "blame" it on your wife, Brad. Act suprised as hell the next time she talks about Santa, and then have your Mom sit the two of you down, explain that Santa only lives in the love in our hearts, and it was passed down from woman to woman and mother to mother, when Alli was born, and all the gifts from Santa and all the love from Santa was really your wife teaching Ally to be loved and to love others (in totally appropriate ways) - and now that she knows, she can carry on the tradition. Nary, she must!
You could totally pull that off, it'd be a great memory of her mom, and you could be a total buffoon for fun, like when the 40 year old Virgin takes his GF's daughter to the clinic for Sex Ed.
"So what you're telling me, Mom, is that Fire truck that I loved when I was 12, that really was from you all along...I see."
I remember the lifesize barbie ....to today....nintendo ds lites, cell phones, guitars and puppies. ::sigh::
but you do need to figure it out as the easterbunny is coming up..
heh
How come your not working?
When I was about 9 they stopped when I said "Boy he must have a ratty tail by now."
(Actually the've been there for a while. Cluemaster put some in and so did I)
I will say that when I "thought" I figured it out I approached my mom...I will never forget the look on her face and her exact words "If you don't believe he doesn't bring you anything". That did it for me "I STILL BELIEVE!!"
I can also say a child's memory is an amazing thing. I remember taking a walk around the block on the night of Christmas Eve I was probably 9 (it was about 80 degrees hehe) I looked in the sky and saw Santa and his sleigh flying over the houses. Rudolph's nose was as bright as can be....to this day I can tell you with a straight face that is what I saw.....I can't explain it.
As for the Easter bunny....if you ask the boys they will say the Easter bunny doesn't exist (must be the dumb costumes in the mall). But ask them about Santa and they will not back down that he is the real deal....
I love the sound of sleighbells to this day.
I will always believe
my parents never told me there was no Santa Claus, at least I don't ever remember them telling me - which I think was wise because I think it helped make my spirit in Christmas what it is today. No hallmark holiday for me.
I really need you guys around right now so Im stealing every chance I can to be here.
This is what I do too. Normally there is a lot fo last minute rearranging or buying.
Funny story from last year...My girls and my neice were having a horrible time falling asleep but finally when they were alseep the bunny comes and starts hiding baskets and eggs....all of a sudden the bedroom door opens the two oldest woke up and saw egg's hiding. we told them the Bunny Jumped out side when he heard them get up and didn't have time to hide the rest...well they didn't want to go back to sleep and finally Mike saw a bunny hoping around out in the front yard we are talking its like 12am and he brought the girls out and told them to be real quiet and showed them the easter bunnies helper was keeping an eye out for them to go back to sleep...I have to say I've never seen two kids so freaking excited actually fall asleep so fast.
Sorry your having a bad day.
On Sunday I have to go to a girl's birthday party of my wife's best friend. This kid is the female version of the "Omen". Her little sister's birthday was a month ago, and she STILL remembers EXACTLY how many gifts her sister got. I don't know what this couple did to deserve this kid, but she's scary - she's been scary like that since age three. I think she's eight now.
Jeez, my two brothers and I just played with everything - didn't matter who got it for Christmas. All the 'cool' gifts usually broke by December 27th, so fights for them didn't last, either. All of our LEGO sets just ended up in one huge bucket after a week or so - but we did fight over who got the "cool" LEGO bricks...
Sunday, March 16
A firken extravaganza, not to be missed!
Come early, the party starts at noon and goes until the firkins run dry
Happy Gnome Firkin Fest
Sunday, March 16
A firken extravaganza, not to be missed!
Come early, the party starts at noon and goes until the firkins run dry
498 Selby Ave, St. Paul, St. Paul
I'm not sure what this is yet..
http://www.thehappygnome.com/
thought I'd relay the info..
I stumbled into it looking at the banquet room for bear...
which btw...bear...check out the website..the firehouse room...
We had Lincoln logs (real wood) or Erector sets (steel)
But after meeting Santa Dave I now know there is always a Santa out there Some where!! he lives in you friends and in your hearts just like mine!!!
I carry on with some of it for the younger ones and every year for X-Mas For my mom we go get or family pic. with Santa!! Hay I could help you out CM!! I could bring the Pic. board out on Sunday and show you guys how much I have changed over the years!! and then if she brings it up I could start to CRY!!! and play the YOU dont think HE IS REAL???? Card!! lol then I could start to call my brothers and have them get in on it!! I could ask her why every year I go to get my pic. taking with him every year since I was born if he isn't real??? lol
Just give me a call if you want me to do it!!
 :wink:
I don't have kids any maybe never will. My nephews and niece have never seemed concerned with my opinion on the Santa subject. But I do have one. I think if I did have a kid, I wouldn't try to convince them that Santa Claus was a real person. It seems to me that all it does is set the kid up to think that their parents lie to them about stuff.
My guess is kids don't really care about Santa Claus per se. They're more excited about the idea that someone will give them whatever presents they ask for. And yes it would be cool to see flying reindeer and all that, but you never really do (more disappointment). If anything, I would think the whole Santa thing, if played up as real, is more likely to leave kids jaded than full of Christmas magic.
Now that's not to say I don't believe in a Christmas magic. Christmas is my favorite time of year. People tend to be friendlier and more generous. With all the decorations, everything tends to be more beautiful. And then the day itself brings a certain magic because of the way it brings everyone together. Even if you're not Christian, you can't escape the fact that it is Christmas, and even though it means something different to everyone, we're all united in the knowledge that it's the biggest holiday of the year. It's easy to overlook a lot of that stuff if you're focusing on Santa, and then it's also easy to continue overlooking it if learning that Santa isn't real leads you to feel like none of it is. If Santa is going to be a part of the equation, I would tell it as a story, something to evoke the Christmas story without ever having to revoke it because it doesn't mesh with reality.
Now, can we talk about Cinderella? cuz' I've got a bone to pick with that author...
I appreciate it Icedooode but I think I have things covered for now. Thanks for the offer though. Nice dedication.
My guess is kids don't really care about Santa Claus per se'. They're more excited about the idea that someone will give them whatever presents they ask for
Which leads me to what happened tonight. They do care. Ali asked 'the question' earlier tonight while we were at Walmart picking out an outfit for her spring pictures tomorrow. She said "I think I know something dad and I don't believe in Santa anymore" waiting for my reaction. I jumped the gun and said "Why, because of that old Christmas wrapping paper that's in the garage?" and then continued "I knew I should have tossed that out when we moved in. Especially when I seen what Santa wrapped his presents in." And as a diversion I added "I couldn't believe how close it was to the same paper that your presents are wrapped in from him. I compared the two and they were close but not exact."
She said that she was going to see what I said and didn't buy it. I said "fine, you can stop believing if you want, as I did the same thing right around your age too. But I'm going to continue to believe now even if you don't. It's only been since you were alive that I started getting gifts from him again because I started believing in him again." "I'm not about to stop now as I believe in him more than ever. But I won't stop you because I know nothing I say will change your mind".
And I walked away pushing the cart over to the pop aisle. She was tagging behind me saying "OK, I do believe but I thought you were Santa". I said that I wished I could play Santa and would love to wrap up her presents from me with the old paper in the garage. It would be fun to play the Big Guy for a night. She said that she didn't like that at all and to leave it alone.
That lead me to believe that she's not quite ready for 'the talk' even if it ever needs to be said. It also lead me to believe that it wasn't all about the presents. The Santa lore seemed to be more important at that point so I felt it OK to drop it and ask her about the never-sharpen pencils she was asking about. (which I bought because I wanted to see if hardened graphite actually printed the same as a No.2 pencil - it does BTW :cool: )
I guess what I did realize is that my parents never told me about Santa or even tried to embellish on the story to make it work for a certain situation. And I can't remember holding any grudge towards them for 'lying' to me all those years. It actually allowed me to see it for what it really is in my own personal way without a grown-up trying to explain it to me in words I couldn't comprehend anyway. Very similar to religion for me. That's why Ali hasn't been baptized yet as I want her to make her own educated decisions when it comes to that.
Thanks again for all the valuable and diverse opinions on this subject. It really means alot. And it's just one of many more reasons why this little tight-knit group of ours is the best in the world! :sheepish: :cool:
I think we're OK for now as Ali mentioned later tonight that she was jealous that two of the kids in her class last year found some chocolate gold coins when looking for a leprechaun on St. Patricks Day. So her and her best friend were planning on searching out the little rascals this year.
Shit!~ Here we go again :eyeroll: :smile:
P.S. - Love your avatar! :smile:
cool...I didn't know that..I thought it was the girls hiding candy on me...
If all that doesn't work then just admit her into the secret society of people that know Santa doesn't exist and must therefore carry on his work for him and use it as an excuse to do some charitable stuff around Christmas time.
As far as explaining the 'secret society', my sister told me a story of when her daughter asked her why she didn't tell her earlier and sis just ask her if she would tell her younger brother now that she knew. And her daughter said "Why would I do that? That would ruin the fun for him". Sis said "Well there ya go".
It's the few kids who don't understand that same feeling and go to school blabbing to the other kids thinking they're better than the rest because they know something the others don't. They only find out that many kids already knew before they said a thing but had the sensitivity to keep it to themselves.
Clue Master - what you said to Ali about you still believing is the absolute truth, and giving her permission to believe or not believe was perfect, IMHO.
BTW - does anybody know the Area Code for the North Pole?
north pole, ak
We had an oops with the tooth fairy recently about a month ago she lost one and was trying to get out of the whole going ot bed thing and told me she needed to wash off her tooth for the tooth fairy after having every other excuse used up, I told her stop making excuses the tooth fairy can clean it herself if she wants...The tooth fairy was studying very hard that night for a test and well, the next morning Lisa says to me MOM SEE I TOLD YOU IT HAD TO BE WASHED OFF SHE DIDN'T WANT IT SHE LEFT MY TOOTH!!! I was like ooops glad I got outta that one easy...