Explaining Santa...and money...

[golfgal]

When my kids were that age they would do the same, "I want that" for everything they saw but I did figure out that they really mean the liked what ever it was. I would just say something like "yes, that looks like it would be a lot of fun" when they say they want something. Come Christmas morning they will forget about all the ads they saw in the months leading up to Christmas.

 

[crz4mm2]

We only got one santa present when I was a kid. So it wasn't so much. But I used to tell my kids we had to pay for that stuff. SO yes, I did tell them that.
I don't think it is wrong at all.
I also had the "big" things be from MOM and DAD as I wanted the credit for them!! LOL.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

no, I think that if I told my kids we had to pay Santa for his visit, that would make him about the equivalent of the UPS delivery guy who also brings packages to my house.

Personally, I never encouraged the belief in Santa much past the age where they were able to rationalize him so I didn't spend much time inventing lies to tell.

As toddlers, I told them Santa would bring one or two toys that his elves made --- Santa isn't very good at high priced electronics -- he likes to make trains, blocks, puzzles, and old fashioned stuff.

 

[mrsltg]

Santa is still magical to me and the magic is now that he works through me. I get giddy when I purchase, wrap, and place presents under the tree. I live for the look on my dd's face when she sees the family room on Christmas morning. I haven't given much thought to how I'll handle the "how come I didn't get" because the simple answer is, "wow, I hope Santa didn't hear you being greedy! Wonder what he'll bring next year?"

How many days till Christmas? I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Erin

 

[Spinning]

mrsltg
You sound like me!
I love the magic of Santa too! I love picking out presents, surprising hte kids and totally love filling the stockings!

For us we have always kept Santa gifts to simple things, they could ask for 3 things. No animals, no electronics (big expensive stuff, you know freezes on the sled and risk of damage! HAHHHAA)

Santa gifts aren't wrapped. When the kids ask for something expensive I tell them they need to be reasonable, that I didn't think Santa could do that for so many children....works for me works for them!

 

[Bob Slydell]

When dd was small, I didn't have a lot of extra money at Christmas. I told her that Santa brings one "big" gift (at the time that was in the $20-30 range) and fills the stockings. Everything else comes from Mom & Dad.

We do something fairly similar -- Santa gets one or two requests for something fairly large, and the rest Mom and Dad get.

 

[disneygals]

Santa brings almost everything and mom and dad usually give just one or two things. I am very obsessive about the different wrapping paper. Once, when my oldest dd was two, she saw wrapping paper in the storage room MONTHS after Christmas and said "oh, that's the same as my Santa presents!"

Another year, I had to explain that even SANTA couldn't get a furby the week before Christmas.

I only have one kid left who still believes and this is probably the last year.

golfgal...I "trained" my kids when they were little to say "I like that" instead of "I want that". Like you, I knew that's what they meant.

 

[leighe]

So--my oldest is 5...and wow--sees all the print ads...oooh...I want that, Santa gave me that.

I told her--well we can't afford everything and if you want X--you can't get Y, too!

She said--"well Santa will bring it."

I said---"well we have to pay Santa."

She said--"Ohhhhh"


I don't know why I think this is sooo funny. But hopefully over the years it will be handy. B/c it was a long time before I realized that there was money involved with the holidays.

So does anyone tell their kids they have to pay Santa--or am I the only one?

That is so cute! My mom told us that she and Daddy had to write Santa a check for the stuff he brought!

 

[poohtown]

Help a new parent!

I am lost on all this. When you talk about presents from Santa, are these ones that just appear on Christmas Day? Santa has always done a stocking in my family. Kids might get a present or two around the stocking as well. (mind you we had BIG stockings as kids.) Presents under the tree had been there since the tree went up and were from family, including Mom and Dad.

This is our first real Santa Christmas (Mark was only 2 months last Christmas, and it ended up just being a whole lot of presents everywhere ) I am just trying to get all sorts of views before we lay out our new family traditions.

you'll decide what works best for your family, but a lot of ideas here are good. I like the 3 gift idea, and of course I still like my 'homemade' idea. Santa also gives each girl a collection. My oldest has received a nutcracker or nutcracker related item every year (blanket, book, snowglobe,etc). It's beautiful now and was showcased at our local library. My youngest gets a bell. At first that one seemed harder but she has a beautiful collection and it's getting more unique. This year Santa has already put aside a stuffed toy of himself holding the jingle bell (from the movie last year).

the kids and dh/i also get an ornament that relates to something important of the year. When we went to NY we found a yellow cab ornament under the tree, disney of course, etc.

LOL - when my kids move out I'll have no good decorations...they all belong to the kids!!!!

back to your original ?......we only put friends and relatives presents under the tree in December. That way no one is tempted to shake or open their present. On Christmas Eve day, we put the presents to each other under the tree and head off to the in-laws for present exchanges. Christmas morning is stockings first, then Santa, and lastly ours. Then off we go for our annual 'visit everyone' fest. LOL

 

[powellrj]

we started having problems explaining this when our children were old enough to realize that not everyone has christmas. We have always been bell ringers and secret santas to families that need help at christmas. Once my kids were pre-schoolers, they would get the idea that we don't need to buy angle tree gifts and ring bells because santa will buy the gifts. I finally explained that santa just delievers the gifts, but the parents still have to pay for them, and we were helping out the parents that didn't have enought to help pay santa for the gifts.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

you'll decide what works best for your family, but a lot of ideas here are good. I like the 3 gift idea, and of course I still like my 'homemade' idea. Santa also gives each girl a collection. My oldest has received a nutcracker or nutcracker related item every year (blanket, book, snowglobe,etc). It's beautiful now and was showcased at our local library. My youngest gets a bell. At first that one seemed harder but she has a beautiful collection and it's getting more unique. This year Santa has already put aside a stuffed toy of himself holding the jingle bell (from the movie last year).

Your ideas are fantastic!

 

[mickeyboat]

At our house Santa fills the stockings and brings the bulk of the presents. Santa brings all the toys and fun stuff, mom and dad bring clothes. I have no problem letting Santa get the credit for Christmas. It won't be that long until they know it all came from Mom and Dad, anyway, so I want to make the magic as special as I can for them.

Everything under the tree is wrapped. Santa's paper is different than Mom and Dad's. Last year I asked DH to hide the extra Santa paper. He put it up in the floor joists of the cellar. Wouldn't you know it, the kids found it after Christmas! They were so excited that Santa had left some wrapping paper at our house, never questioning that it might not be Santa who left it there.

This year I ordered paper from a friend's fund-raiser and the kids saw the paper I was going to use for Santa paper. So my friend told them that I was probably going to send Santa some paper to use so he doesn't have to make or buy it all himself. I also have a friend write the gift tags from Santa so the kids don't recognize my handwriting.

Denae

 

[SC Minnie]

So--my oldest is 5...and wow--sees all the print ads...oooh...I want that, Santa gave me that.

I told her--well we can't afford everything and if you want X--you can't get Y, too!

She said--"well Santa will bring it."

I said---"well we have to pay Santa."

She said--"Ohhhhh"


I don't know why I think this is sooo funny. But hopefully over the years it will be handy. B/c it was a long time before I realized that there was money involved with the holidays.

So does anyone tell their kids they have to pay Santa--or am I the only one?

Since DD was old enough to understand I have told her that we have to pay Santa for the things he brings her-- they are not free. This explains why her friend got the super mega whatever and she didn't.

She is only allowed to ask for 3 things from Santa-- there are also a fre surprises that she doesn't ask Santa for. I always buy more but are from Mom and Dad not Santa.

 

[jajuan]

Santa usually brings the one big item on their list and fills the stockings quite generously. This year, the big gift is coming from mom and dad (a surprise trip to Disney). I told them they needed to tone down what they ask for from Santa. DD10 and DS12 still believe and asked why Santa couldn't bring big stuff like always...I told them that although Santa and the elves make the toys, there are thousands of children that lost everything in the hurricanes and we needed to let those kids get the big stuff. I think it has worked well. Now...if only I can stick to that. I love seeing their face on Christmas morning.

 

[FourFlans]

When Santa visits our house he lays out his gifts for our DDs--nothing is wrapped. And he brings most of the fun stuff. Mom and Dad gifts are limited and are usually the stuff they need but don't necessarily want (socks, underwear, clothes, etc.) This is probably the last year for DD8 to believe the magic, and then she'll become part of the magic for her younger sister. Like many of the other posters, I've started limiting what Santa can bring by sitting down with the girls and all the Christmas catalogs that come in, circling items and then narrowing it down. I have an appointment to call Santa each year and give him their lists. We are making our first trip to WDW this December, so Santa is actually coming to our house twice this year. The night before we set out on our adventure, he's bringing part of their Christmas presents that they can use on their trip (princess dresses, cameras, princess pens to use for the autograph books, water sandals for the wet rides, etc.). And I've explained that Santa is giving them some $ for their trip (so they are each getting some Disney dollars with a Pal Mickey--also from Santa). Then when he comes back on Christmas Eve the gifts will be limited but still special.

 

[EthansMom]

In our house, Santa brings one medium toy (something in the $20-$40 range) and then stuffs lots of small toys and some candy into each stocking.

DS4 and I have had the discussion:

Me: "Now, remember Santa is only bringing one toy and filling your stocking because he has to take toys to all of the little boys and girls in the whole world. How many toys is Santa going to bring you."

DS: "One toy."

Me: "And what is Santa going to put in your stocking."

DS: "Toys and candy!"

DS and DD have four full sets of grandparents! When DS comes up with a good idea of a gift for himself, I have him tell one of his grandparents.

With a present from Santa, a few presents from Mom and Dad and several presents from their grandparents, our kids are inundated at Christmas!

I have a small issue with SIL telling her kids that ALL (even presents from Grandmas & Grampas) of their gifts are from Santa. I think I'll use the above poster's idea of telling my son that some parents buy extra presents and say they are from Santa.

 

[Rex Rules]

When DD was a bit younger, we explained to her that Santa has things he has to pay for - Elves salaries, reindeer chow, etc and so parents have to pay Santa for the things that children get. It was quite amusing for us. But she understood that she couldn't get a long laundry list of things. She usually gets one big ticket item and some smaller things - we are figuring this is our list year of her still believing in Santa - sad.

 

[gr8tpanther]

My kids have never asked for anything, I never TOLD them there was a Santa, and they never really went to SEE Santa! My kids know that I buy their stuff, they always have, in fact this year, they know what they are getting because I am not celebrating this year, I am giving them $$$, they can go get what they want, not in the mood for "ho ho ho" this year!

 

[Bob Slydell]

My kids have never asked for anything, I never TOLD them there was a Santa, and they never really went to SEE Santa! My kids know that I buy their stuff, they always have, in fact this year, they know what they are getting because I am not celebrating this year, I am giving them $$$, they can go get what they want, not in the mood for "ho ho ho" this year!

Wow. I'm speechless

 

[MerryPoppins]

I told my kids something similar to the OP. We lived in a neighborhood where many of our neighbors didn't have much money. Their Christmas was smaller than ours. So I told my kids that people give Santa money to help him make the toys. People who can't afford to pay get help from those of us with more. But the number of things Santa delivers isn't always the same from one house to the next. And if a family doesn't have much money to pay, they don't get as many things. Then, I explained that people also give to toy drives to help Santa give to the disadvantaged. My kids wanted to help Santa by giving toys. It was cute.