DD recently asked me if I believed in the easter bunny and santa. I asked her why? then asked her if she believed in them, and why was she asking me that?
Turns out a friend at school told her mum that she didn't believe in the easter bunny, and she got no easter eggs, so if you don't believe you don't get presents!
I think she may be working it out, or have worked it out, but clever girl wouldn't say anything if she did LOL! She'd be working it for all the extra presents she could get. (My little budding entrepreneur, recently made biscuits with her grandma THEN sold them back to grandma!)
We leave milk out for santa and some biscuits or something else, last year it was fruit mince pies. We also leave some water for the reindeers and a carrot.
She also writes a letter to santa.
When she wakes the next morning, santa's food is usually gone, the reindeer have usually drunk all the water, but not all of the carrot/s, BUT you can see their teeth marks on the end of the carrot though! She absolutely loves that. Her letter is gone, and santa leaves one for her too. Last year he told DD that he had dropped by our house, and found that we weren't there, so he worked out we were at nanny's. Our dog barked at the reindeer, so he threw the ball for her a few times and gave her a bone.
My SIL is very Catholic, so Santa doesn't exist in their house - she explain St Nicholas to her kids, but all gifts are from the buyer. DH and I LOVE the magic of Christmas, and want for Santa to be a part of the magic for the Gremlin when it arrives - so it's going to be interesting having such different views on Santa. i guess by the time Gremlin is old enough to kinda get Santa, it will be 2010, and her youngest will be six by then, and can probably help to play the Santa game for the benefit of the bubba...
I am another that peaks too early when it comes to christmas. Our tree goes up when Santa comes to town for the Adelaide Christmas Pagent !! That happens around the first/2nd weekend in November. It is a tradition for a lot of Adelaide families for the tree to go up that day. But by the time Christmas rolls around the tree has been up for around 7 weeks and I am sick of looking at it, so it is usually pulled down on Dec 27th.
It also doesn't help that is is 8ft tall and really wide, so it has to sit in the kids play area. Last year I was in Melbourne for the Adelaide Christmas Pagent. When I spoke to mum (who was baby sitting my kids back in Adelaide) later that day, I asked her if she can put my tree up LOL. She didn't oblige.
We put our tree up religiously on 1st December EVERY year without fail!! I absolutely adore this time of year. We always put the tree up as a family (DH and I go to Mum and Dad's for theirs and vice versa) and we toast with champagne when the star goes on top. Last year we even had my brother on Skype (he lives interstate) so he could join in on the festivities.
In 2006 my Pop passed away on 28th November and we still put the tree up on the 1st December!
Last edited by Aimz; October 23rd, 2008 at 12:28 PM.
our tree will go up early December - depending on when DH can be home to help me put it up (it's a bit like Kat's - two person job to get it up!)
other stuff will go up earlier though - i'm ready NOW to start putting up all my new pretties!
my niece came out last year to help decorate the tree (i'd just been through EPU - not that she knew that!) - this year she has already said she's coming out to decorate the tree so that "Aunty BG and Gremlin can rest properly!" - she's very cute!
Our tree goes up around the 24th of Nov so that we get to enjoy it for the full mth.... So excited this year as it will be our only christmas wher I am living in the same state as my family and this is the 1st that we get use a REAL tree yipppppppy ( I guess there are good things about living down sth after all )
Santa is real in our house, the boys write a letter to Santa (with help from Mummy), we then leave it by Santa`s plate of biscuits and a cup of milk by the Christmas Tree, then we leave food and water out for the reindeers.
Our tree goes up after DH`s Birthday, so anytime after 7th December.
We were always told as kids that if we didn't believe we wouldn't get pressies! Going to follow the same with my monkeys. DD knows that Santa has helpers that's why he's in a range of different shops ect but she's never asked me if he's real waiting for the day to come!!!
Here we are huge on christmas and already a few things are popping up around the house, the tree would be up already but DH is insistant on waiting till the 1st of november, I'm too big to fit in the roof and can't get it down so guess I'll be waiting!
As kids we use to put the tree up on pagent weekend, but I enjoy craft activites with the kiddies and we start them early hence the tree coming out early!
Santa is still real in my family. Even when we ahve christmas day lunch at my grandpa and nanas house (and there are no children/grandchildren under the age of 15), he will still have a carrot for every reindeer with their name attached to it and the most amazing teeth bite marks out of them. It is so lovely to play along no matter how old you are.
I will never tell my children that he isnt real and if they come home to say it to me I will tell them if you dont believe you wont receive!
Our dogs even get presents from Santa and our dogs even go shopping and get presents for us!! Amazing isnt it!
Oh yes, I even have the "I Believe in Santa" hat that I wear every year .
DD (10) seems to be on the cusp of working it out, she asks me and I've answered (very vaguely) about the magic of Christmas and how I believe in the "magic of Father Christmas"...*sigh* She's taken to keeping the letters they leave and comparing handwriting samples so it's getting harder and harder every year! LOL This year Santa's gonna be towing his trailer half way across Australia in the week before Christmas so there might be some secrecy issues there! LOL
Even as an adult I just love xmas and all the 'magic' around it. Definately a santa here. I get sad that as an adult we don't get to experience it like children do so I will have to live it thru my own!
I love putting up the tree and the lights and wish I had more money to spend cause I would so go out and get the works and have my lounge set up like myer xmas displays!
Hmm. I don't think we'll push the Santa thing here. I won't be a killjoy though, and if our kids ask, I think we'll say 'well, what do you think'? But if they REALLY want to know the truth, I'll tell.
My reasoning is, we believe in Jesus, and will share that with our kids - so you see the issue there, telling my kids that God is real and Santa is real...when it comes to the crunch, I want my kids to know I'm a reliable source of information, even if they're 5.
I also think, we'll have enough Christmas traditions, what with Church and our big families - that time of year is packed, so I don't think they'll miss out on too much if Santa only plays a small 'fun' role. Having said that, there will be TROUBLE if they set out to ruin it for anyone else. I've got my mummy scowl on just at the thought of that.
Oh, and our tree often goes up early November too - Rans LOVES our tree.
We don't really plan to do santa here. DS will be 20 months so will be starting to get the xmas thing a little more. We did feel it was a big dilemma as to whether to or not. We had decided not to until my mum was soooo shocked we had to rethink. We aren't going to leave santa out totally but won't make a big deal out of it and if he asks if santa is real we aren't going to pretend that he is but just explain it like a game (ie its a make believe, magic game just for xmas). After all as many of you have already said - kids work it out but still play along. They aren't silly!
No. TBH, I don't like the greed that seems to surround Santa these days - the signs that demand presents on the lawns, the whole consumerism culture.
And I buy DS presents all the time anyway, why store them up for months to give him them all at once so a few get ignored for at least six months? Yes, he will get something (I'm knitting him some sheep) but not the masses and masses of toys it seems almost expected to get.
Plus, isn't Christmas supposed to be about the birth of Jesus, not some fat old guy? Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I'd rather worship God and celebrate the birth of His son - at the wrong time of year, but still a good excuse to remember Christ our Saviour is boooo-ooorn, Christ our Saviour is born than worship some false idol raised up to greed.
ETA - the Tree. Goes up first of December OR the first Sunday in Advent, whichever is earliest. Because we do our Christmas Bible Study and hang a star every day in December and we have a big star for after the Church service in December. The angel goes on around midnight at the start of Christmas Day. I love the tree and can decorate it all month this way, whilst still remembering what we're celebrating whenever I see one of the stars.
Last edited by Ca Plane Pour Moi; October 24th, 2008 at 06:07 AM.
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excited
this year as it will be our only christmas wher I am living in the same state as my family and this is the 1st that we get use a REAL tree yipppppppy ( I guess there are good things about living down sth after all 
)
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