I desperately did not want Santa. I hate Santa. I hate the whole "god of winter" thing and the materialism and judgement.

I hate even more that a woman at Liebling's childcare - one of the workers - has told him that unless he gets perfectly toilet trained then "Father Christmas won't give you any presents because you are naughty." They had a Santa at Childcare and Liebs was so surprised when his name was called... I am VERY not happy with this woman!

DH likes Santa. My sister makes a big thing of Santa, despite me telling her we don't do that.

I have compromised and said that gifts are fine; DS likes giving. I am willing to tell DS the story of St Nicholas and The Night Before Christmas as well. I am happy to explain the traditions of the stocking by the fire. I will also explain that Nicholas is long-dead and it's just a rememberance.

We make Christmas about the birth of Jesus. Which fair enough, it isn't. I mean, shepherds watching their flocks by night all seated on the ground in the bleak midwinter would be very foolish. If not all dead the next day. But when the world is dark, we remember that Jesus is the light of the world. (This also means I can sing carols from September, as Jesus was probably born around then.) And his being born was a miracle. We also remember that Christmas without Easter is meaningless. For advent, DS hangs a star on the tree every day, thanking God for something as he does so. Which is the reason why we put our tree up on the last Saturday of November.

One final point - Leibs will be told that "Santa Claus" is from the Spanish and another name for Nicholas. I don't even use Saint Nicholas: I don't call my husband Saint Ambassador. "Saint" is just one of the early words for "Christian". I disagree with "Father Christmas" more - the Father of Christmas would be the father of Christ... I'm fairly sure that the Almighty doesn't deliver Lego. (Although thank You God that we have Lego, which is a great fun toy and encourages hand-eye co-ordination and creativity, and thank You for giving us the means to buy Lego.)