Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy

[Deb in IA]

I wasn't raised with the Santa lie.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis Church
September 21, 1897

No wonder I have so few "mom" friends!

I think there may be other reasons.

 

[TanyaLovesPooh]

ITA - you know you are only a kiddie for a little time in your life, that magical time where you dont have to worry about work, exams, bills, stress etc ....

All this rubbish about parents not wanting to lie to their kids .... sorry but thats a cop out for their own agenda really, and please dont tell me they never EVER tell a lie to their kids. Give the kids a a break, let them have a little magic in their lives, theres nothing more wonderful than seeing your 5 year old come screaming into the living room on Christmas morning to find Santa's been there!

Theres plenty of time for kids to learn about truth, fiction, lies etc, let them have some FUN!

sheesh, some people take the fun out of everything for kids!

I'd rather my kids remember having a magic childhood than think they were brought up always being told the absoloute truth by their parents. We do Santa, tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny until they find out its really us from someone else no doubt. Doesnt harm them one bit.

Our pastor dresses up for his grandkids as Santa every year!

 

[SaraJayne]

ITA - you know you are only a kiddie for a little time in your life, that magical time where you dont have to worry about work, exams, bills, stress etc ....

All this rubbish about parents not wanting to lie to their kids .... sorry but thats a cop out for their own agenda really, and please dont tell me they never EVER tell a lie to their kids. Give the kids a a break, let them have a little magic in their lives, theres nothing more wonderful than seeing your 5 year old come screaming into the living room on Christmas morning to find Santa's been there!

Theres plenty of time for kids to learn about truth, fiction, lies etc, let them have some FUN!

sheesh, some people take the fun out of everything for kids!

I'd rather my kids remember having a magic childhood than think they were brought up always being told the absoloute truth by their parents. We do Santa, tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny until they find out its really us from someone else no doubt. Doesnt harm them one bit.

 

[Darsa]

Originally Posted by bumbershoot
I wasn't raised with the Santa lie.

Very harsh, imo.

Harsh, AND sad. Too bad you didn't have that magic in your life. Nice of you to not let your gullible classmates in on the secret, and allow them to keep their magic while it lasted.

Kids grow up fast enough these days; I'm not interested in speeding it up any more than it already is.

 

[bethbuchall]

Kristilew, thank you for the good laugh!

And yes, you will think it strange I am sure, but my DD actually does believe that there is an Easter bunny who hops around and delivers eggs to boys and girls. We read her a story (can't remember the title) about a little rabbit who becomes a mummy-bunny, trains her kittens to be self-sufficient and then goes off to become an "Easter bunny" helper. It's cute. So now DD thinks that the "big Easter Bunny" has dozens and dozens of little bunny helpers to hide eggs the night before. To make it even worse, we have a cat door in our house, and she's convinced that the Easter bunny sneaks into the house at night via that cat door.

Now interestingly enough, DD doesn't believe for one second that the Santas in the malls are the real deal. She asked for an explanation of why they were all different looking when she was 4, so we told her that the real Santa is too busy and needs to have lots of helpers to make children happy. Which is fine by her - but now NO WAY will she sit on some strange guy's lap for a picture, especially when that guy is not the real Santa!

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes My youngest brought this book home from the school library every other week through kindergarten and first grade. For a while I had it memorized.

 

[TxRabbit]

We do it all. The religious aspects of Easter and Christmas and the fun aspects of both. I don't thing that either takes away from the other unless you let it.

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry reading this. I'm a Christian, but not a "religious" one. I'm one of those relationship not religion kind of Christians...

DS was 3 when he asked us if Santa was a real person. And though we may not be perfect, we have never lied to our son. Though a PP may not believe me. This was a straight up question. DH and I explained that Santa was based on a real person. We talked about St. Nicolas. We talked about the Spirit of Giving. That Father God had given the world the greatest gift with the birth of his son Jesus. We talked about how the character Santa represented all these ideas in one, but that no, in fact, there was not a man that flew around the world going up and down chimneys with presents.

I'll never forget the very satisfied look he gave us as he said, He KNEW that was impossible.

And that Christmas, like every other Christmas, DS had a stocking and presents from Santa. It wasn't until he was a little older that he finally decided to ask if WE were Santa. And we still do Santa. He loves it. It has no less magic and meaning and excitement for him knowing that his mom and dad love him so much and want to do fun things at Christmas.

We never did the Easter Bunny. I don't know. It never appealed to me, and was never a big holiday thing for my family. We might visit around and participate in the big candy grab (as we think of the egg hunts around here), but generally, it doesn't appeal to DS either. We celebrate the ressurection and have a special family time, but rabbits have nothing to do with it, unless you count the chocolate kind.

As far as the tooth fairy, DS could rationalize the idea of Santa, but BOY did he believe in the tooth fairy. He DECLARED it. We always planned on doing it anyway, like Santa, but he never asked if the tooth fairy was real, so we didn't bother to disillusion him. You should have seen his face when Tinkerbell gave him a gift under his pillow when he lost a tooth at WDW (Thank you conceirge at Beach Club), because you know, Tink is really territorial and doesn't let any other fairies into her kingdom. I'll never forget how impressed he was with Tink's gift and how he talked about how lame his tooth fairy was!

Sometime around the 8th tooth, something clicked and he asked us if we were the tooth fairy. We admitted we were. Isn't that fun? And he agreed it was.

I'm not sure what the situation is with those ladies that they appear to be so inconsistent. I think whatever you decide for your own family, there should be some underlying prinicple beneath it all. I guess ours was that we were going to do what we were going to do, and just because DS knew or didn't know, made no difference to us, and if asked anything point blank, we'd give an honest response.

btw...we did warn him that each family had their own way of doing things. It wasn't his job to be the one to tell other kids about Santa. That was a parent responsibility. He just didn't even need to talk about it.

 

[Savanah'sMom]

=
As for EB, I asked DD, do you really think a giant rabbit brings you a basket? DD: It's you??? Me: yes, I'm sorry. DD: Has it always been you? Me: No, dear, some years it was a giant bunny.

=

OMG, I have to remember to use this!!!!

 

[Cindy's Mom]

Santa is not a lie; Santa exists in many forms. Saying it is a lie seems a bit harsh.

Just because you can't see him, doesn't mean he's not there. Kinda like Jesus too. We don't see him, but we believe (those that do, I mean)

My name is Cindy's Mom, and I believe in Santa, (45 yo)

 

[I Am What I Am]

I too find it a bit strange that the OP's friends don't "do" Santa, yet the Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy is okay. I would get it if it was no Santa and no Easter Bunny because of religion. I don't understand how one is okay and the other isn't though.

In my family, we do it all. Santa, EB, Tooth Fairy.

Santa still comes on Christmas Eve. The Easter Bunny still comes on Easter. The Tooth Fairy however, will only come if your tooth has fallen out before 10:00 PM. If it comes out after ten, you have to wait until the next night. (We're a family of night owls.)

On Christmas eve we read the story of Jesus' birth and Twas the Night Before Christmas. We celebrate the religious and secular aspects of Christmas and Easter.

Even though I'm 15-going-on-16, I still find myself believing in Santa and the Easter Bunny. (In fact, when I was 5 I swear I saw the Easter Bunny.) It just makes the holidays that much more enjoyable to me.

Hi. My name is Jade and I believe in Santa Claus.

 

[wdwfan16]

I am just happy that the TF has stopped coming for my teeth.

 

[LunchladyDoris]

Your friends may decide to have children one day. If you want a quick way to get rid of them, share a few of your child birth stories.

In full detail complete with action figures.

 

[busyshrew]

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes My youngest brought this book home from the school library every other week through kindergarten and first grade. For a while I had it memorized.

Oh thank you!!! I do love the book and I actually remember my mother reading it to me. So it was nice to read it to DD.

And thank you, Deb in IA. I had forgotten how beautiful that "Letter to Virginia" is.

Well, I admit to still being very puzzled by the Santa bad / Easter Bunny good concept. All I can tell you is that I was in the definite, distinct minority (i.e. I was the only mom out of 12 who DID do Santa).

 

[Deb in IA]

And thank you, Deb in IA. I had forgotten how beautiful that "Letter to Virginia" is.

You are welcome. It is one of my all-time favorites.