BOOK UPDATE: it appears this book I mentioned has stop printing for now? 😭 the kindle version is available, but here are some alternatives I found for you guys: Santa:the whole story- amzn.to/3tjZota Love, Santa- amzn.to/3UOx3XD The truth about Santa- amzn.to/3A6nnjt If you have any others you found that are good feel free to comment them under this with a link ♥️
have never heard of anyone doing it this way but it’s a pretty cool perspective. I think it’s awesome that you have the best of both worlds. Honestly no one should care about what someone else’s family is doing about Santa but there are so many that do. You’ve got the ones that think it’s lying to your kids (and it’ll destroy their trust in you🙄 I’m sorry but if that happens there are/were other issues in your family than Santa), ones that don’t do Santa at all bc they think it takes away from Jesus’ birthday, ones that don’t do Santa bc if he’s not real then kids will think Jesus isn’t either, etc. There’s all different types. This is my perspective. I grew up believing Santa was real and it’s some of the richest, fondest childhood memories I have. I have never felt my parents lied to me about it. The window is so small for believing in that type of magic. My husband was told at 5 he wasn’t real bc his 3yr old brother freaked out about Santa and as an adult now he hates that bc he sees how excited our kids are. He feels like he missed out on that small window of time. Some advice for those that do say/pretend he’s real: 1. We tell our kids we send Santa the money for their gifts. Everything costs something. It keeps them from asking for ridiculous things and explains why kids get different stuff. When my niece was little trying to explain how some kids don’t get as much was hard bc she just felt santa would come for them. I didn’t want that. Us doing it this way also eliminates that issue. I want my kids to be aware and thankful for what they get and it’s so important to me that we give to those who may not have the Christmases we do. So we donate to the red Salvation Army buckets all season and we donate their excess toys as well, etc. Its part of the season/magic for us. 2. We do not have a chimney so we have a santa key we hang on the outside of the door for him. 3. In regards to the Santa’s all over, just like how Kevin believes in the first Home Alone, they work for him bc Santa can’t be everywhere at once. 4. In my extended family I have found there’s not been any big sit down truth explanations about santa. Kids just grow out of it. My siblings and I did. Obviously this isn’t all kids but it’s what I’ve found so far in my life. My oldest will likely be different I think and we will have a chat about St Nicholas being real and parents just adding the pretend magic of reindeer etc. 5. We do not use Santa as a behavior tool. They know about the nice/naughty list but we do not reinforce it. That’s the only part of Santa I don’t care for. No kids should have anxiety about being good or bad. This includes elf on the shelf. Yuck. 6. I do not have all the answers about Santa and I’ve told my kids that. So if they have questions about reindeer or elves or Santa thats not part of the general information I know I tell them I don’t know. It’s ok not to have all the answers. I do not keep making stuff up🤷♀️ 7. We always opened our parents gifts at night on Christmas Eve and then Santa came overnight and we would wake up to those gifts. We do the same for our kids. My husband loves it bc it’s 2 days of Christmas. He grew up doing nothing on the 24th. Just thought I would give some info on this side of the fence. I hope you have a great Christmas Rainbow! I love your Christmas content!💗🎄
What lovely advice for those who want to do it this way, thank you! I think you have a great balance! A very merry christmas to you and your family as well!! ❤❤
Love this! When the kids were babies/young toddlers we did Santa and then when they got old enough to get pretend play we tell them Santa is pretend just like their play food is pretend. We still play pretend with Santa like do photos and stocking g come for Santa along with their big gift, but this is how we did it:) edit: just finished the video and it’s crazy we approached this topic in the exact same way and it has worked how great.
I love that, very similar approach to us! I think this method is really solid and the kids have a great mindset about it, so happy to find another family who naturally came to the same approach! xx
I really enjoyed this vlog! Oh how I wish I knew you back when Luke was a little because I actually struggled with this whole Santa lie. I now wish I could have done things how you have. My son is 10 almost 11 and boy it is hard to keep up on the facade of him being real. Even though we have several conversations about the history of how Santa evolved. Perhaps he knows but he is keeping it up for us🤦♀️ I also dislike how the idea of Santa influences all different aspects of Christmas,where people feel that they need to tell other people that we need to be mindful what we decide Santa brought for your child because we make other people’s children that Santa loves them less…..that part irks me! I abs love the way you explained this, because you are right, not many people open up about this and want to go this route. I am going to purchase that book and gently have a heart to heart with my son. Thank you for the amazing advice! I was stressing this year because I knew this conversation was bound to come up with him. Xxxx It truly is all about the magic about Christmas ♥️ edited to add- sadly I can only get that book on kindle here through your link….so I will look around as we prefer physical books,however I did find any other one that seemed to touch on all the same ideas as the one you recommended 👍♥️
ah he very well could be in the middle! Not wanting to lose the magic himself, but knowing the truth deep down. I think you are going to do so well, however you choose to handle this with him. ❤ Yes I agree with that! Parents can get really mad at one another for "doing" santa differently lol. some houses he brings everything, some nothing, some a stocking, some a mix. It's all different! I also saw the book on a few other book sites if the physical copy isn't available. I saw it on barns and noble and thrifty books or something like that! I hate when amazon does that (only has kindle available for a time....) if you end up with an alternative, please feel free to share here! Xx
We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas. However, Santa has been a part of our family Christmas going back generations!!! It’s just way too much fun. He brings the kids one gift and a stocking full of goodies. So magical for little ones. We also teach them to buy gifts for children that don’t get many gifts from their family because of hard times. So we donate loads of new toys every year to Toys for Tots. That is where they see the true Christmas spirit. ❤
Yes, Santa is so fun! Such a big part of our Christmas, too! I love that you do generous things like that with your kids, we do too. I think it's so important if you can! We have a ton of charity drives through my husbands work and our town is amazing at allowing us opportunities to help local families during the holidays. Christmas spirit indeed. Thanks for sharing! ❤❤
I really tried to tell our kids that Santa is a fun game we all play together when they were smaller, but they didn't listen and chose to believe. 😅 Now our 8 years old have started asking questions and I don't know what to say because I am afraid of ruining it all. 🙈 This was a very interesting video, thanks! Adding: I tried to look for that book, but could only find English kindle version. We are not a English speaking family so I was hoping to find it translated or at least a paper copy.
I put a couple other options in the pinned comment as amazon seems to have stopped selling physical copies. I'm sure with a bit of digging you could find another language! I hope you find a solution that feels right for your family! Xx
I want to transition into believing in the idea, story and magic of Christmas- my daughter is so black and white and wants to know every last detail of how Santa and how does he do XYZ....I think letting her in on that Santa is a "game of pretend" would be easier to grasp but not sure yet haha Also I am never worried about kids telling the truth about Santa...my kids already know that people beleive in different things, religions, holidays and have different traditions....so I think that may help in the "game" of Santa
I really hope that whatever you decide, it brings you confidence and peace! Your daughter sounds very clever, I'm sure she'd do well with being in on the game! YES! exactly, I don't see the santa thing as anything different than teaching different religions, holidays and other beliefs. Excellent point Xx
I only have one thing to add is if you're kid has special needs or other problems I wouldn't do it but that's just me I'm 31 & still believe in Santa but I disagree with the TH-camr "saying to their kid that if you stop believing in Santa Claus you stop getting gifts ." That seems mean to me
BOOK UPDATE: it appears this book I mentioned has stop printing for now? 😭 the kindle version is available, but here are some alternatives I found for you guys:
Santa:the whole story- amzn.to/3tjZota
Love, Santa- amzn.to/3UOx3XD
The truth about Santa- amzn.to/3A6nnjt
If you have any others you found that are good feel free to comment them under this with a link ♥️
Thank you for sharing this. My daughter is not yet 2 and I like this approach a lot
You're very welcome. Glad it was helpful!
have never heard of anyone doing it this way but it’s a pretty cool perspective. I think it’s awesome that you have the best of both worlds.
Honestly no one should care about what someone else’s family is doing about Santa but there are so many that do. You’ve got the ones that think it’s lying to your kids (and it’ll destroy their trust in you🙄 I’m sorry but if that happens there are/were other issues in your family than Santa), ones that don’t do Santa at all bc they think it takes away from Jesus’ birthday, ones that don’t do Santa bc if he’s not real then kids will think Jesus isn’t either, etc. There’s all different types.
This is my perspective. I grew up believing Santa was real and it’s some of the richest, fondest childhood memories I have. I have never felt my parents lied to me about it. The window is so small for believing in that type of magic. My husband was told at 5 he wasn’t real bc his 3yr old brother freaked out about Santa and as an adult now he hates that bc he sees how excited our kids are. He feels like he missed out on that small window of time.
Some advice for those that do say/pretend he’s real:
1. We tell our kids we send Santa the money for their gifts. Everything costs something. It keeps them from asking for ridiculous things and explains why kids get different stuff. When my niece was little trying to explain how some kids don’t get as much was hard bc she just felt santa would come for them. I didn’t want that. Us doing it this way also eliminates that issue. I want my kids to be aware and thankful for what they get and it’s so important to me that we give to those who may not have the Christmases we do. So we donate to the red Salvation Army buckets all season and we donate their excess toys as well, etc. Its part of the season/magic for us.
2. We do not have a chimney so we have a santa key we hang on the outside of the door for him.
3. In regards to the Santa’s all over, just like how Kevin believes in the first Home Alone, they work for him bc Santa can’t be everywhere at once.
4. In my extended family I have found there’s not been any big sit down truth explanations about santa. Kids just grow out of it. My siblings and I did. Obviously this isn’t all kids but it’s what I’ve found so far in my life. My oldest will likely be different I think and we will have a chat about St Nicholas being real and parents just adding the pretend magic of reindeer etc.
5. We do not use Santa as a behavior tool. They know about the nice/naughty list but we do not reinforce it. That’s the only part of Santa I don’t care for. No kids should have anxiety about being good or bad. This includes elf on the shelf. Yuck.
6. I do not have all the answers about Santa and I’ve told my kids that. So if they have questions about reindeer or elves or Santa thats not part of the general information I know I tell them I don’t know. It’s ok not to have all the answers. I do not keep making stuff up🤷♀️
7. We always opened our parents gifts at night on Christmas Eve and then Santa came overnight and we would wake up to those gifts. We do the same for our kids. My husband loves it bc it’s 2 days of Christmas. He grew up doing nothing on the 24th.
Just thought I would give some info on this side of the fence. I hope you have a great Christmas Rainbow! I love your Christmas content!💗🎄
What lovely advice for those who want to do it this way, thank you! I think you have a great balance!
A very merry christmas to you and your family as well!! ❤❤
Thanks so much! I try to always be respectful to what other people do about Santa. 💗🎄
It is SO NICE to see a video from a someone who takes a similar approach to Santa, to how my husband and I do with our kids! ❤🎅
Ah yay, I love finding other parents who've done it this way! It's not the most common approach, so a nice thing to find a like-mind Xx
Love this! When the kids were babies/young toddlers we did Santa and then when they got old enough to get pretend play we tell them Santa is pretend just like their play food is pretend. We still play pretend with Santa like do photos and stocking g come for Santa along with their big gift, but this is how we did it:) edit: just finished the video and it’s crazy we approached this topic in the exact same way and it has worked how great.
I love that, very similar approach to us! I think this method is really solid and the kids have a great mindset about it, so happy to find another family who naturally came to the same approach! xx
I really enjoyed this vlog! Oh how I wish I knew you back when Luke was a little because I actually struggled with this whole Santa lie. I now wish I could have done things how you have. My son is 10 almost 11 and boy it is hard to keep up on the facade of him being real. Even though we have several conversations about the history of how Santa evolved. Perhaps he knows but he is keeping it up for us🤦♀️ I also dislike how the idea of Santa influences all different aspects of Christmas,where people feel that they need to tell other people that we need to be mindful what we decide Santa brought for your child because we make other people’s children that Santa loves them less…..that part irks me! I abs love the way you explained this, because you are right, not many people open up about this and want to go this route. I am going to purchase that book and gently have a heart to heart with my son. Thank you for the amazing advice! I was stressing this year because I knew this conversation was bound to come up with him. Xxxx It truly is all about the magic about Christmas ♥️ edited to add- sadly I can only get that book on kindle here through your link….so I will look around as we prefer physical books,however I did find any other one that seemed to touch on all the same ideas as the one you recommended 👍♥️
ah he very well could be in the middle! Not wanting to lose the magic himself, but knowing the truth deep down. I think you are going to do so well, however you choose to handle this with him. ❤ Yes I agree with that! Parents can get really mad at one another for "doing" santa differently lol. some houses he brings everything, some nothing, some a stocking, some a mix. It's all different! I also saw the book on a few other book sites if the physical copy isn't available. I saw it on barns and noble and thrifty books or something like that! I hate when amazon does that (only has kindle available for a time....) if you end up with an alternative, please feel free to share here! Xx
We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ on Christmas.
However, Santa has been a part of our family Christmas going back generations!!!
It’s just way too much fun.
He brings the kids one gift and a stocking full of goodies.
So magical for little ones.
We also teach them to buy gifts for children that don’t get many gifts from their family because of hard times.
So we donate loads of new toys every year to Toys for Tots.
That is where they see the true Christmas spirit. ❤
Yes, Santa is so fun! Such a big part of our Christmas, too!
I love that you do generous things like that with your kids, we do too. I think it's so important if you can! We have a ton of charity drives through my husbands work and our town is amazing at allowing us opportunities to help local families during the holidays. Christmas spirit indeed. Thanks for sharing! ❤❤
I really tried to tell our kids that Santa is a fun game we all play together when they were smaller, but they didn't listen and chose to believe. 😅 Now our 8 years old have started asking questions and I don't know what to say because I am afraid of ruining it all. 🙈 This was a very interesting video, thanks! Adding: I tried to look for that book, but could only find English kindle version. We are not a English speaking family so I was hoping to find it translated or at least a paper copy.
I put a couple other options in the pinned comment as amazon seems to have stopped selling physical copies. I'm sure with a bit of digging you could find another language! I hope you find a solution that feels right for your family! Xx
I want to transition into believing in the idea, story and magic of Christmas- my daughter is so black and white and wants to know every last detail of how Santa and how does he do XYZ....I think letting her in on that Santa is a "game of pretend" would be easier to grasp but not sure yet haha
Also I am never worried about kids telling the truth about Santa...my kids already know that people beleive in different things, religions, holidays and have different traditions....so I think that may help in the "game" of Santa
I really hope that whatever you decide, it brings you confidence and peace! Your daughter sounds very clever, I'm sure she'd do well with being in on the game!
YES! exactly, I don't see the santa thing as anything different than teaching different religions, holidays and other beliefs. Excellent point Xx
I only have one thing to add is if you're kid has special needs or other problems I wouldn't do it but that's just me I'm 31 & still believe in Santa but I disagree with the TH-camr "saying to their kid that if you stop believing in Santa Claus you stop getting gifts ." That seems mean to me