We choose to tell our kids the truth about St. Nick from the beginning. I just couldn’t understand lying to our kids. I mean, we don’t want them to lie to us, we need to set the example right? Besides, we wanted to make sure they understand that Christmas is about Jesus, not the big fat guy in red.
Our oldest just turned 6 and has declared that he *wants* to believe in Santa. If you ask him, he will tell you that St. Nick died a long time ago, and that mom & dad are his “Santa” now. And he will tell you that Baby Jesus is why we celebrate Christmas. But he wants to believe in the big guy. So I let him. We’re even going to label one gift from Santa, which is something we’ve never done before. I figure, as long as he knows and understands the truth, let him pretend.
Now the difficulty comes in making sure DS6 doesn’t carry the littler two (DD3 & DS1) away with his pretending. I mean, if they choose to pretend also, hoo-rah. But I intend to make sure they know the truth as well.
and FYI: our fav Christmas tradition, is to take the three of them out shopping, let them pick out one toy (usually something in the 5-10$ range cuz that’s all we can afford) and then (after paying) we walk out to the front of the store with the toys and drop them in the Toys for Tots bin. And we talk about how we are giving toys to the Marines so that they can give toys to other kids who don’t have money to have presents at Christmas. This year we discussed with DS6 how that makes us all “Santa’s Helpers”. He ate it up.
I’m glad that DS6 understands about Santa, DD3 & DS1 will also figure it out. I’m esp proud of them being able to pick out, pay, and give the gifts to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. I think that it’s a very important drive during Christmas.