OOOOOHHHH! I don't know!!! This is part of the reason we didn't do the whole Santa Thing. We do the "St. Nick" thing, and they know the story and the spirit of "Santa" but....they also know he's not ....well....you know.... Gosh, I remember finding out and just being mad at all the grown ups who lied to me. Especially my dad who was SO BIG on lying being just the worst thing you could do (and stealing, they were his "biggies") It took me a whole year to get over it! Of course, then I knew that the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and all the rest were in the same family. That made me very sad.
Beautiful stone.. but I feel horrible for that poor kid..I want to give him a big hug and tell him if he wants to believe he can!
It's ok Kris.. I feel if you want to believe in something then you are totally free to do it. There are many things that people believe in that aren't able to be seen... There is one place in particular that hubby and I talk about all the time... I tell him that that is what I hope is there and so I will believe in it.
Last year my ds proved the existence of santa! He asked if Santa was real (he was just about to turn 10 and it was just before christmas). I asked what he thought. He was quiet for a bit, then said: "I think Santa has to be real. He gets you all the things you want that your family cant' afford. We cant' afford to buy all the stuff that Santa brings for Christmas!" Future economist!
KRIS! Sorry, I just got to this thread since I'm so young and shy! I see your problem! Do we HAVE to believe what they say though? You KNOW that picture wasn't true, right? You just keep believing Honey, it's okay!
That's exactly how I felt as a child - for good reason. (I'm really, actually, STILL not sure how my parents pulled some of those Christmases off. All I can figure is that it was a combination of good quality used items and not paying bills... and maybe some of Grandma's extra money. :lol: ) And that's exactly how I hope to portray it to my own children. Gift giving is so much sweeter when the recipient doesn't realize it's from YOU, even if it's a child. I posted *my* story of how I "found out" in another thread, and that's also how I plan to "reveal" to my kids when they start asking questions. (St. Nick, Jesus is the greatest gift, instill a knowledge/love/excitement for giving....) Anyway. My oldest is 8 and still believes as far as I know.
Wow....what a picture. That is sad. Poor kid. I keep hoping the kid was just added into the picture. I mean what a terrible way to learn there is no Santa. Well...that isn't even saying there is no Santa that is saying Santa is dead...that is different. It would be easier to know he just never existed.
We don't make a huge deal out of Santa. We never told our daughter that Santa is coming or he is watching. She figured out how the Santa thing works this year- he comes and leaves presents- thank you friends! She did ask a sweet question the other day- Does Santa live in my heart like Jesus? I had a hard time answering that one on a 3 yr old level!
I don't remember being directly told the secret, no one sat me down for "A talk" I know that much. But I do remember realizing the answer and thinking, "How cool is THAT?" Then, it became fun to help the littler kids with Santa, and I felt like "I" carried on the Santa Spirit from then on. It was never a bad thing, for sure! I do know that I actually still love the feeling of believing in the holiday "Spirit" of giving and such. even now!
We have always done Santa as just a pretend game. We told dd again this year that santa is not real, but guess what, she believes in him anyway! :lol: So just because your kids might hear somewhere that Santa is pretend doesn't mean they will believe it.
my 2 boys,ages 10 & 11, don't believe in him anymore. My girls who are 7 and 4 do so I tell the boys not to say anything to the girls. They keep it quiet. Hubby tells them that they don't get anything from Santa if they don't believe. This is the first year we have acknowledged their beliefs on if "he" is or isn't. I would like to tell my kids because I feel like I'm lying to them but hubby wants them to believe still so I have to go along with him. I remember my mom and dad telling me about Santa when I was only 5 and I cried my eyes out. I don't want to cause that with my kids either so I guess I'll just let it go on as long as they want to believe. Hubby says that it's part of being a kid. Believing in the "magic" of Santa. But I am more about the birth of Christ. We have done some ornaments and did a little unit study on the symbolism of some of the items we have around Christmas time. Like the Candycane and the Christmas Tree. It all revolves around Christ and the the true meaning of the season.
I can see both points! But we always did the no Santa thing, and, like you, did the birth of Christ thing. What kind of bothers me is when people ask me how I could take the awe and wonder out of Christmas by not doing Santa with my kids. Are you serious? How great is it to know that the God and Creator of the Universe gave it all up to become a babe in a dirty smelly manger for us?!!! To me that IS full of awe and wonder!!! My kids have had wonderful awe-filled and very special christmases, even though they did not believe in Santa! They had sparkles in their eyes as dh read the story about Jesus birth, and while we sang Silent Night and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem! Since we feel Jesus is real, we just chose to have them believe in a real and wonderful person! That way we don't ever have to tell them He's NOT real!
KrisRV, I'm ssooooooo sorry! What was I thinking posting this thread....THERE IS A SANTA, really there is! (he's dead now though...saw the tombstone from the other poster).
well, I am glad some people are on my side.. I still believe and will always believe.. I hope and pray he isn't dead...
When asked - we answer "Do you believe?" And usually the answer is YES - then we answer with "Well there's your answer"
