The above cartoon made me wonder if our multitude of modern gadgets have ruined the magic of Santa Claus. This video reassured me:
What about you? Did you believe in Santa when you were little? Did you put treats out for him and check the next morning to see if he had eaten any? I still remember doing that.
I remember trying to stay up and see Santa. If I had kids I’m not sure I’d be helping them believe in Santa.
Evan,
My folks couldn’t wait until Christmas morning. We would go to bed and go to sleep, they would put out all of the presents and then wake us up. It took me a long time to adjust to uneventful Christmas Eves.
I debated about Santa Claus with Kaitlin. I settled on Santa bringing the Christmas stockings and having the other gifts be from us and relatives. The advantage to that was she could help with buying for her cousins and could learn to write thank you notes. She (and I) also decorated the Christmas wrapping. Her grandparents liked the personalized wrapping paper better than the presents. So when she found out that Santa wasn’t real it was an easy transition. She was actively involved in Christmas from a young age.
I can’t remember how I felt about Santa Claus but I guess I did believe because it was something every child did…I can’t remember when i didn’t know he was a just a story. We lived in a small country town and I don’t think there was any store where you get a picture with him either – I have nothing like that in my photographs…
Now my Mall has Santa in situ from about mid December and you can pay lots of money to get your picture, a other more fanciful technological memories of you and him together – I think it’s only available for kids but possibly this one ain’t a real ‘knee’ sitter because I notice his seat has plenty of room for others…
One of my friends showed me the Xmas Card she is sending this year – there is a machine stitched santa with a present on the cover and inside it says (basically) “once you stop believing in Santa, you only get sox and underwear”
I loved all that. It was great….
Cathy,
That’s a great reason to continue believing. 🙂
gaelikaa,
How do you celebrate Christmas in India? I assume you go to mass and open presents. Anything else?
I’ve read that big cities in China are starting to have Christmas decorations, even though Christmas isn’t an official holiday and most Chinese aren’t Christians. And they’re starting to celebrate it in Thailand as a festival of lights.
If you want a tear jerker of a story stay tuned.
Naturally FOS (father of son) always deemed that I spent far too much on offspring’s presents. It’s not my bloody fault, is it, if a large set of Lego/Playmobil/K’nex retails at exorbitant prices. The days of a tangerine, an apple and a few nuts in a sock with an undarned hole are truly over. Oddly, Apple of my Eye now also stops me from spending money on him. Wonder where he gets his prudence from.
So my Christmas Santa fell flat on its face – many years ago – when, with FOS departed, presents from all the family arrived including FOS’s wife who, very much to FOS’s chagrin (and a continuing source of hilarity to both her and me), is also most generous.
So there we were, mother and son (we do Christmas on the eve, Jean) with a big tree and real candles lit and, take note, Evan, as presents were unwrapped and name of giver attributed to them when Apple of my Eye finally having gotten to all of Santa’s gifts (ie mine) to say, with a quivering lip: “Mama, why do I never get any presents from YOU?”
Excellent. Those are the moments when you wonder about the miracle of parenthood and who invented Claus in the first place and why mothers end up in cul-de-sacs, carefully having to back out in reverse gear. After having pieced together aforementioned piece of Playmobil (intricate) for two hours, barely fortified by champagne, that question tested my fast thinking mettle, my mothering skills and resolve to keep Santa intact to the limit. Gritting my teeth, I confirmed that, indeed, mothers do not give presents – neither do they wash your socks only at Christmas.
He is 19 now. We still keep up the pretence. And then there is the drama of the tree …
And, yes, he did burst into tears when some bloody teacher found it necessary to inform a class of very young youngsters that there is no such thing as the TOOTH FAIRY. “Mama, who puts all those one pound coins under my pillow?” Yes, who indeed, one wonders.
I live off the magic of my childhood, as created mainly by my mother, my maternal grandmother, my grandfather, the country I grew up in, to this day. It’s why I love Christmas. And count down my life by how many more Norwegian pines I have left to get back home.
Happy Advent,
U
Ursula,
What a great story. Thanks!
My little stinker told me when she stopped believing. I was tucking her in just before Christmas one night when she asked me if Santa was real. Well, ur, uh…. I don’t remember my exact words but it was something about the idea of Christmas, etc. She seemed to take it well but then her eyes got big and she asked, “But what about the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy?” Well, ur, uh. Then she rescued me. She laughed and said, “Come on, Mommy, you don’t really believe that , do you?” I still remember the delight in her face that she had once again tricked her poor old Mom.
This was the same kid who was excited when she was 11 and had a paper route. Now she could buy gifts for us and for her grandparents. She also went to school the day before Christmas break with a shopping bag full of gifts for her friends, and also for one girl she didn’t like that much but didn’t want to feel left out. Yes, well, I’m willing to be the straight person for someone like that. 🙂
I did not have the same experience, but a similar one during our Diwali festivals. There is still some magic left. My son’s partner has bought a bicycle for her daughter and left it in our home till she can take it home after midnight mass tomorrow so that Santa would work his magic for her daughter!
rummuser,
Does Santa look the same in India as in the U.S.?
Yes! I have played the role in the past! Those days, I needed a pillow around my midriff. Now that I don’t, no one asks me to! In Kerala, on one Christmas, I as Santa Claus rode an elephant to visit children with presents! Sending by separate mail an image!
In Sweden, Santa is skinny. It’s Daddy without any padding which looks too much like Daddy to be believable.