after disagreeing about the right approach to a variety of holiday scenarios, stover mom (who prefers a christ-centered more practical christmas) and stover dad (who sees no harm in a magical day filled with santa, elves, and reindeer) have compromised by offering information about santa claus only as asked. last christmas, stover girl knew little about jolly old saint nick. in fact, while traveling in the airport on christmas morning, a lady asked her if santa brought lots of toys and presents. stover girl giggled at her and said 'no, santa just brings candy canes.' (what she'd surmised after having sat on his lap and being given a candycane.) since then, stover girl has become quite street savvy about santa. she knows all the basics about santa and has now moved on to trying to figure out those peculiar reindeer and any family relationships he has. this year, she was more than ready to give him an earful of christmas wishes and even colored a picture for him- hoping that 'doing something nice for santa will mean he'll be nice' in return.
stover boy on the other hand has heard the whisperings of a big sis and was more than prepared to tell santa his deepest desires for a red racecar. he stood in line literally jumping for joy ready to meet him. but, as is true of most toddlers (no discrimination between those with varying levels of santa awareness), the pressure was too much and he began screaming.
... looks like mom may have one more year of his undivided attention to learning terms like manger rather than sleigh!
4 comments:
i'm there with you on the santa thing. for now we've decided there will only be one very small gift from santa once the kids care about santa. good luck!
I'm with David on this one.
A little 'magic' at Christmas time only passes too quickly for children. Love you!
As you know, we have taken the minimalist approach to Santa. Never offering any information, never confirming (or denying) any Santa related myths. It's worked out well for us. But it is surprising that despite our conservative approach, the kids still somehow know all about him, and believe in him.
Let every family do what works for them. Good luck!
Have fun with the magic! Our biggest mistake, when we only had two boys, was that EVERYTHING came from Santa---more fun, right?! Our four-year-old thoughtfully asked after Christmas, "Santa brought us so many presents, but you and Dad didn't give us anything....why?" Next year, Santa was smarter and only gave one present and the rest came from loving parents!
I'm pretty sure I still believe in Santa!--it's so fun!!
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