They just don't celebrate the religious side of Christmas.

As suggested here, Santa is basically nothing more than a corporate stooge who jams wrong headed commercialism down everyone's throats.

Tree
Lights ALL over
Presents for my staff and family

Nothing to do with Christ, Santa or commercialism. I enjoy the opportunity to make my yard sparkle, to make my house pretty and to show people I care about that I care.

Sometimes people have to realize that the point of the holidays isn't to score political points but rather to be a fun, enjoyable break from the daily grind. A chance to step back and appreciate those around them.

Thanks for sharing that!!

She was thrilled to celebrate Xmas when they first started going together. She told me she always secretly wanted to have a xmas tree.

They celebrated Hanukkah and Xmas. I still have their tree decorations as my son died the year they were to be married at 26.

I am still in touch with his fiancee' who didn't marry until 12 years after he died.

It's a beautiful story. My best friend's mother lost her fiance as a young woman when he died in WWII. She kept a relationship with his parents even after marrying and having children.

When times are rocky politically many tactics are used to distract the public away from the truth.


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Our society has made him into something of an all-absorbing blob but we don't have to accept that. A jolly old guy who gives gifts to good little boys and girls?

What's not to like about that?

I'd love it if we took ownership of Santa here on this board and had a sort of Miracle on 34th Street response to this thread with others standing with Santa. Since after all, he would symbolize a lot of what we try to impart value-wise onto others.

But there's something wrong with Christmas these days. A lot of the people I know hate the holiday. They have no reverence for the decorations, music, specials or basic concept of the season. They don't mind getting presents but they hate shopping for others (seems rather greedy to me). A lot of people have allowed negativity to override their sense of joy and it's sort of a microcosm of society as a whole these days.

...they could give in to the good vibes without letting it overwhelm them. There are few things that cross boundaries more effectively than the Christmas holidays and that includes Santa Claus.

People who 'disown' Santa Claus probably would not disown their comic book collections or their video games. They are all methods of escapism.

People can create gifts on their own potentially... or hand me down items they might want. Presents are about what you choose them to be.

And the way you spin it with kids is you explain that Santa is representative of the spirit of the holiday so if you believe in him, you believe in the human spirit to do good things and be kind to others.

It's a simple transition and we made that move with my kids and even now when they both know about Santa, they realize and appreciate what he stands for and haven't lost an ounce of their Christmas spirit.

Up until about seven, unicorns, Santa, dwarfs, twinkle bell, and all sorts of fantastic characters are as real as the morning, and as tangible to a child as a pencil. Some kids remain more wedded to fantasy for one or two years, a few realize Santa, and a slew of other characters are not real by five.

It is not unhealthy for kids. Nor is it a lie...or unicorns and twinkle bell and the man on the moon are as well.

Kids need that.

Now Jewish kids don't have Santa, and thankfully Hanukah Harry has not taken hold. But they still believe in the fantasy world, and the imagination is a good thing.

So, no, it is not a lie, not even a fib. It is a problem when a twelve year old kid still believes in Santa, but a seven year old, perfectly normal.

And the Ice Cream Bunny, too!

What kind of gifts does he/she/it give? Or does the ICB taketh away?

they were born in 1969 and 1973...I was not sure how to handle the Santa situation

My husband and I decided to go the Santa route. Santa bought only one toy...and stocking stuffers. Santa always bought the one toy they wanted the most.

Relatives and friends bought them their other wished gifts.

We did a tradition of visiting our two big stores in Toronto, Simpson's and Eaton's (both now gone). We would look at the beautiful windows decorated with XMas themes with automated animals and people.. We would visit both stores and see Santa for a picture and the beautiful Toy departments...They were much bigger in those days.

THen we would have hot chocolate in Simpson's 7th floor cafeteria watching the ice skaters in City Hall by the Big xmas tree.


We made tons of homemade xmas cookies. They were my little helpers.

I remember the two of them sitting on the couch both looking everyday at the toy catalogs and circling their wished for toys.

When they got older those traditions turned to other traditions....and Santa of course was known to be a wonderful fantasy

We made it a point to watch IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE on TV and all the Christmas shows..
I will hold these memories forever.

I cannot even remember when they found there was no Santa...Of course the younger one found out sooner That is to be expected.

Each year I would buy a special xmas tree decoration and put their names and year on it. It gives me such pleasure to put them on the little tree my younger son had when he moved into his own place. I now have it.
The red yarn garland he chain crocheted when he was five while watching Sesame Street is on his tree.

And now my younger son and his dad are in heaven. My older son is England...We did get to visit Harrod's toy department and see Harrod's xmas windows when I visited him last month...It was just like old times.

Things come and go but Memories are forever.

I have similar, wonderful Christmas memories and it's a major part of the experience I try to share with my children.

What a shame. Wonderful memories you have there.

Eaton's was over 100 years old. Loved their stores.

A shame.

Amen!

All of us can make our own decisions about how much of the Christmas commercialism we choose to buy into.

My first advice to everyone is always to get rid of your TV. That way you don't see all the commercials that imply if you don't get a whole lot of stuff there's something wrong and you're terribly deprived. If you keep the TV, you can always be blunt to your kids about how in your family there just won't be a lot of that stuff under the tree on Christmas morning. Even when the kids are little enough to still believe in Santa.

I am not at all religious, but I just love a lot of the secular, and even some of the religious, aspects of Christmas. I especially love it that so many people decorate their homes with lights. I work until 8pm, so it's dark when I'm going home, and this time of year I start driving through the neighborhoods on the way just to see the lights.

Let's put the "más" back in Christmas!

and I'm a "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" person.

You have to be good to get a present. If you don't you'll get a piece of coal. Come on. Doesn't that sound like something a conservative would come up with to scare their kids into behaving to make parenting easier on them? Like you said you give presents to be generous and you tell your kids about Santa when they're little because it creates a sense of wonder and magic for them. For us finding the money for Christmas was always difficult, so we made it all about the kids. The kids were the ones who received presents. No presents for the adults. The adults don't really need that magic feeling to make them warm and fuzzy inside anyway. We just enjoyed watching our kids open their presents and eating some pie after dinner anyway. I think the best way to fight off the commercialism and corporatism is to just not go overboard. This year I got my son two video games and I'm giving my daughter some cash because she is saving for a car. That's it. That is all we are spending for Christmas. We usually try to do a local food and toy drive as well so they know the joy of giving. One of our society's biggest problems right now is corporate greed. They keep telling us we need more and more and more. So people buy more and more and more. It becomes complicated, a hassle, and no one can really afford it. My husband was a telecom engineer and engineers have a saying. Keep it simple stupid. They don't always go by that rule but it usually ends producing the best results in engineering and in life.

Because let's face it most conservatives are sociopaths who teach their children that it's okay to lie-cheat-steal and do whatever it takes to get to the top yourself because if you won't, someone else will at your expense (see: welfare recipients).

Teaching kids to have good behavior is just good parenting. It will help them outside of Christmas/Santa. The technique of self control will help kids eventually be better students in class or better employees at work. It will teach them things like patience and that generosity towards others brings it's own rewards.

When you get older the concept of being a good person is rewarding changes from Santa presents to other sorts of rewards of course... whether that be physical reward (promotions at work) or moral rewards (the joy of helping others).

So I don't see it as a negative lesson at all.

Every action has a consequence. Plain and simple. I like to leave the Santa make believe theme for fun and not necessarily a lesson in discipline.