I don't feel guilty at all. These days children's childhood is cut so short and they grow up so quickly, why not let them believe there is a little magic in the world. My daughter asks if Fairies exist and I tell her that if she believes they do then they do. Even when I no longer believes in Santa, my parents still gave us gifts from him. Christmas is all about fun and dreams why spoil it.

My first two sentences in my last post..."and "he" only did so because of his faith in...", I was vague, as I left out who the "he" is to which I'm referring. It was the true St. Nicholas who had faith in Christ, that led him to do what he did. Sorry for the ambiguity.

And, mondoblondo, Christ is who "embodies the spirit and unselfish giving we allow ourselves to do at Christmas time", and he only did so because of his faith in Christ. If you aren't "terribly religious", why would you even celebrate this holiday? The entire point is Christ, not some dead Saint who gave to impoverished children out of the love and obedience he felt towards the way Jesus calls us to live. If that doesn't mean anything to someone, getting on board with Christmas means nothing but commercialism. Sorry to sound blunt, but it is the truth. There is only one reason to celebrate Christmas, and that is the gift of the birth of Christ as our saviour. And he probably shakes his head at what we've made out of it. Especially our general culture worship of this Coca Cola Santa (which was the first cohesive understanding and acceptance of what Santa could look like...rendered by an artist for a Coke campaign in the early half of the 1900s). Nothing particularly giving, or generous about an ad campaign, even if that drawing is loosely based on some understanding of the original saint.

St. Nick was real. He is not now. He is dead. Sorry, but it's the truth. Telling our children some big fat suited man comes down our chimneys with a bag full of toys has nothing to do with explaining the real story of the Christian man who helped others, specifically less fortunate children, with his deceased parents' fortune. I don't see any reason to ever lie, or perpetuate a myth, to our children. It can be just as fun, and magical, if they know the presents come from family and friends. And how do you explain why "Santa" doesn't give some children toys? The ones whose parents cannot afford to buy anything? Why do we need charity at Christmas if Santa comes to all children? Santa, other than as the real, original live St. Nicholas, has nothing to do with Christmas and the birth of Christ. Why don't we celebrate that with our presents, explaining to our children we give, because we were given to? That we maybe give as a reminder of the 3 gifts given to Jesus by the Wise Men? That whole Santa thing only feeds us as parents, and does nothing to represent the truth of Christmas to our children. It also becomes difficult if as parents, we can't afford something, or all the things our children want. What do we say then? We have 4 children. They cannot all get everything on those wish lists. So we don't say, "well, Santa must've forgotten that", we tell them the truth about budgets and sharing with others in our family. Never had anything but wonderful, warm memories. And they never have to wonder why we lied to them.

My husband could have written this article! He says he felt betrayed when his mother and father (a pastor) "fooled" him. I, however, enjoyed the magic as a child. Yes, I was disappointed when my mom broke the news to me (at 10 years old), but it was time, I suppose. Now, honoring my husband's wishes to instill honestly and a true sense of Christ in Christmas, we read stories of the real St. Nick and his generous heart, study the history, and still take time to sit on Santa's lap and do the annual pictures with him at the mall. (Same Santa for the last 6 years!) My 5 1/2 yr old knows what is up, but loves pretend and we talk of him as if he is real. I appreciate the ability to pretend with the kids, knowing that when I ask "what is Christmas about?" My daughter tells me the story of Baby Jesus.

Santa is as real as we allow "him" to be. Santa, to me, embodies the spirit and unselfish giving we allow ourselves to do at Christmas time. I'm not terribly religious, but I still celebrate Christmas with my family. When my son gets to the point when he no longer believes, I will explain to him my sentiments and why we did the Santa thing for so many years. When he asks now, I tell him that I believe in the spirit of Santa, and that as long as he believes as well, he will receive presents from Santa. That gives him the ability to still participate without needing the red and white clad icon to believe in the spirit of giving. I'm confident that he will understand that it wasn't a lie - it's tradition and a great way to teach kids about giving without thinking of self.

Wow...I knew I could count on your fabulous women and Amazing Moms to provide thought provoking and honest replies. I feel more informed! I really like the idea of Santa Claus as a verb so to speak..."if someone is kind and giving they are being like the man who was once known as Saint Nicholas." thank you for your thoughts...keep 'em coming!

I have no guilt about Santa Clause or even what we refered to as an Advent Angel when I was a child. In my belief YES santa clause is real. WHAT ??? A person who showed compassion and giving unto others. He is the worlds representation of what Christ has done for us. I tell my children to be a Santa Clause at Christmas. To give unto others. What can they do for someone else??? That is what the meaning of the holiday is all about. To have child like faith and be givers. If a friend ask my child is Santa Clause real. My child will respond YES because if someone is kind and giving they are being like the man who was once known as Saint Nicholas. He was a true person that lived and showed a good example for others. I found this link recently ~www.stnicholascenter.org~ It has a good article on Santa Clause or Saint Nicholas. Something interesting to read and maybe share with your children.

You know, there actually was a "real" Santa Claus (or Saint Nicholas). He was a very generous man who gave away his entire fortune to the unfortunate in his town. He lived in the third century AD, and was an orphan after his parents both died in a plague. He never sought acknowledgment, but was sincere and humble. He was never officially canonized by the Roman Catholic church, but is still considered the patron saint of many, including children and sailors. He was made Bishop over Myra (the province in which he lived) even though young. Because of this, we celebrate this good man's example of single-heartedly following Christ by giving gifts. We had no need of lying to our children, because this tradition is a noble one. They understood early that the parts of the tradition which are magical or fantastic are simply things people made up as knowledge of his generosity grew. It would have been just as wrong (to our way of thinking) to teach our children to "not tell" other children, because it fostered a belief that "some lies are white lies, and therefore not sin," whether we were lying to them or they were lying to others. Another consideration is the feeling of superiority they gain from knowing something other kids don't know, or somehow being wiser or more spiritual. They were fully able to participate in the magic of Christmas without the need to lie. To this day we fill each other's stocking throughout the month before Christmas, using the honor system to resist the temptation to look in one's own stocking before Christmas day.

Wow how times have changed. I have a 6 year old boy and he has 4 big brothers ages 30 to 36 and I never thought of these things with them. But we have a great time to educated our children. this is one of the many things I think should be left up to the parents, so at our house we have Santa with the story of Kris Kringle and the history behind it, We have the Baby Jesus Christmas story and his grandparents are Jewish so we allso have Hannanka. Am I confusing my son? We do not thinks so like other parents we feel we are giving him all the information to make his own choice when he is an adult. And he also thinks above his years. Our children will only go as far as we let them and in this day any thing is truly possible, so the more information we can give them the better.

I wouldn't have changed a thing about telling my kids about Santa Claus. It's something that almost everyone grew up with and it's something special for the younger kids to look forward to, Santa Claus is part of the magic of Christmas.

Hello everyone. I am a new parent to the group. I just wanna say that although I have nothing against parents who choose to have their children believe in santa, I don't choose to. I have a six year old daughter whom I never allowed to believe in santa. I told her from the beggining that santa does not exist however some people would like to believe that he does. I informed her that in order to receive an abundance of gifts at the end of the year, she must do her part throughout the year by keeping her grades up, chores, and overall the treatment of others. I also tokd her that she should ruin it for other children by telling them what she knows. In turn, she says that when she is @ school she just pretens that she believes also. I don't see a problem in her knowing the truth. She hasn't lost this "innocence" that everyone speaks of. She is however mature for her age.

We use the message about Santa giving a free gift to each child, and we link that to the message of God giving the greatest free gift of all...His Son, Jesus Christ. We talk about why He did this (so that we can have a relationship with Him), in terms that our children can comprehend. We watch The Toy that saved Christmas (VT/Big Idea Studios), The Polar Express, Blue's First Christmas, Max & Ruby's Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Our children also go to Brunch with Santa at the Space Needle, Winter Zoo with Santa parties, The Santa Train at our local train museum, and the Winterfest at the Seattle Center, along with Christian concerts/musicals/events. We believe that when they are no longer children, they will no longer think like children...these memories will stay with them :) This is a wonderfully joyful time of year for our family :) Have a beautiful day :)

I don't feel guilty about fibing my kids. For the simple fact that for me once I knew that there was no Santa Claus Christmas wasn't the same. It lost it's magic some how. Of course now it's fun again becasue I have kids and I get to see it through thier eyes. Which I think is wonderful.