We aren’t doing Santa with Little Bug.

Bah Humbug, I know.

Let me begin by saying I pass absolutely no judgment on anyone of you who said you do (or will do) Santa with your kids!

My parents never did Santa with us. I mean, we went to the mall and sat on Santa’s lap and told him what we wanted for Christmas. But we were never made to believe that Santa really does fly around the whole world on Christmas Eve, going down chimneys and leaving presents for good little girls and boys.

To Little Bug, Santa will be just like Cinderella or Snow White. A made up fairytale that kids love to read.

And of course we will teach her about the real St. Nick who really did give presents.

But I just don’t see the point in telling my child that Santa is going to come down our chimney (oh wait, we don’t have a chimney) and bring her presents. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that my parents never did it with us, so it just never was a big deal to me.

It’s not because I don’t want her scarred for life when she one day discovered Santa isn’t real. As far as I know, there are no mental institutes for people scarred from the Christmas they discovered Santa isn’t real and now they are in the ward because they just can’t cope with life after finding out the truth about Santa.

My husband was taught to believe in Santa but was far too smart to buy into it! He’s told me that, even as a young child, his analytical mind knew there was something fishy with the whole Santa deal. He was apparently also sneaky enough to actually hide somewhere where he could see the Christmas Tree and watch the action unfold as his parents put all the presents under the tree on Christmas Eve when they thought their darling son was tucked away in bed sound asleep.

Do I think that if we were to teach Little Bug Santa is real that she would then maybe wonder that God may not be real either (because you can’t see God, either)?

Honestly, no. That is not really a concern to me although I do think it could possibly open that door depending on what kind of thinker she is. But I feel ultimately she would feel the presence of God in her life and know He is real, regardless of what she believed about Santa.

I guess what gets me the most is telling my daughter something that isn’t true. I want to always speak truth to her, no matter the subject matter.

Choosing to make Santa be a part of Christmas morning really is a decision that needs to be made for each individual family!

I really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on this!

- Elaine