Santa… are you telling your kids Santa got them their gifts?

I didn’t grow up believing in Santa either. Growing up in a Christian family, we always prioritized that this holiday is mainly about Jesus’ birth, that Santa is a fictional character but it’s something fun for people to enjoy during the holidays. She didn’t feel right lying to me, because when she was a child, she personally felt crushed finding out that Santa, Easter bunny and tooth fairy were all fake from finding out and confronting her parents. I personally found it admirable that she sat down with me and told me this was why. I still enjoyed Christmas movies about Santa, but just never took it further than him being a fictional Christmas character. I also enjoy the value that my mother instilled around Christmas, instead of making it all about gifts, I was always told that Christmas isn’t about gifts, and even if we didn’t receive anything we would still be happy and filled with joy celebrating such a wonderful celebration with family and friends. & be grateful for what you get.

I don’t like the idea of Santa that i given to children. it’s creepy. Also allowing children to sit on his lap at a mall and ask for things and have him craw into our home in the middle of the night to drop off gifts. …eww. But, husband grew up celebrating and his mom always went all out for this holiday. So, im doing this too. We label all the gifts “from Santa”. I get your point of other kids being sad or feeling less than because Santa did not get them more or a big ticket item they wanted/ need. Especially if they behaved and were in the “nice list”. That’s sad. But, every family is entitled to spend and buy items that they can afford. If a family can afford getting unlimited gifts for their child, they shouldn’t feel shameful to do this if they truly feel like it’s necessary.

additionally, perhaps people need to teach young children the spirit of Christmas beyond gifting. Maybe the religious understanding of the holiday (if they’re religious). Perhaps teaching child to give back to neighbors and the community with the expectation of nothing being returned to them (and it doesn’t have to require money). I don’t know, I’m still figuring it out myself. I grew up celebrating Hanukkah. And at least in my home we knew who was gifting us and had generalized idea of what we would get ( we gave mom a list of wants. We got some of them and we didn’t get some of them). And because we didn’t have a Santa, we didn’t compare gifts with other children. We didn’t feel less than or better than because it was all about “my parent got me this” and not every parent can gift xyz . It felt less emotionally complicated….in my experience and opinion.

Santa gets them a stocking, with an animal adoption (with the cuddly toy), some chocolate and a book. That's all from Santa and they get it first thing in the morning. WE buy all their bigger presents and I make it very clear that we worked hard to buy them things. So in our house, its both. Santa exists but he doesnt get credit for the big gifts

Having worked in education for a long time I really hate when kids get expensive toys “from Santa”. kids who’s parents aren’t as well off don’t understand why they don’t get expensive gifts too as they’ve been “good” too. We do a stocking from Santa which is small stuff or useful and then other presents are labelled with who they are from.

My son believes in Santa but he also knows that not all of the things he gets for Christmas are from Santa we have a little something that is from Santa and the bigger things he knows are from us

Santa exists and delivers gifts and leaves the children a stocking. But the presents he delivers are from mum dad/ family, Santa just delivers them

Santa only brings stockings in our family. We try not to put a big emphasis on Santa and let our children determine how they feel about Santa each year. They already know not everyone believes in Santa so it’s okay if some kids say he isn’t real, there are other religions and thoughts so Santa doesn’t visit everyone. When my oldest says she doesn’t believe I’ll let her know that Santa is “Christmas Magic” and we’re all Santa.

So I don't like that later on due to financial reasons all kids might not get the same from Santa. Therefore Santa in out house is going to be one present. And he gets a less expensive one. Anything expensive comes from us or family if we are lucky enough to be able to afford it.

We're a Santa family, but not all presents are from Santa. The majority of presents are from us/family and Santa brings one present and stockings. My kids are 4 and 1 so we haven't gotten to the stage of much in the way of big expensive gifts, but when I was a kid the big gifts were always from our parents and our Santa gift was something more moderate (not a small present but nothing extravagant) so we'll probably treat it similarly. I loved growing up with the magic of Santa and honestly I didn't care in the slightest when I realized it wasn't real and none of my siblings/family/friends cared all that much either so I've never seen much reason not to do it, but I do see how it can cause problems if you focus on Santa bringing all presents or especially big ones

We give gifts from Santa and from mom and dad. I don’t need validation or credit from them for gifts. All I care about is them being happy about them.

I don't want my son to believe in Santa. It just gives creepy adult to use it to get what they want from my kid. He will enjoy all Xmas magic tho. Also, I want to teach him value of gifts and that it's not coming from nowhere nor for free.

He exists, but gets him one present and a stocking.

I will be teaching my daughter Santa is more of a symbol of the meaning of Christmas than a real person. She will still get one gift and her stocking "from Santa" but she'll know Santa isn't real. The rest of her gifts are from me. I will tell her Santa is a representation of giving and kindness toward others.

We believe in Santa, there isn't much magic in the world, and to see her little face believe in the magic is awesome. The big present is from us, and little stocking fillers and sweets etc are from Santa. I just explain that Santa doesn't get everyone the same gifts and that mummy and daddy have helped Santa. I know one family who tell their children that they send Santa the money for the toys

Santa brings one gift per child, usually something small and the parents gift the expensive things. I love Christmas and the magic of it, spending all that family time making crafts, baking etc and not putting too much emphasis on Santa and the gifts. We also do toy donations every year with the oldest and will continue with the youngest 2.