Okay, a few weeks ago Darly announces at the dinner table that she doesn't think that there is really a Santa. Dh asks her "If there isn't a Santa, then who brings you all those gifts?" Darly says she thinks DH & I bring them.
Dh asks her why she thinks this...she replies that Santa's handwriting looks just like DH's and that no matter how late she stays up, she's never heard reindeer up on the roof and there are no footprints in the house.
So I ask DH if we should tell her or not. Dh doesn't care...personally I would like to not have to set the alarm clock for 5 am so I can get up and put out her presents (note the staying up so late bit above...she's been trying to catch Santa & the Easter bunny for the past few years!)
So the following day we have the talk. I tell her that she knows the story of St. Nicholas (they play it every year on the radio station that we listen to) and that part of the story is that St Nicholas passed away because he was just a normal person with a very big heart who did a lot of very good things. And I explained how the spirit of Santa lives in all of us...which is why we give gifts to the Angel Tree and Operation Christmas Child. I also tell her how she isn't allowed to tell her friends what she knows about Santa because it wouldn't be nice to spoil it for them. I also relate to her how when I was a kid and found out my mom told me that if I spilled the beans that I wouldn't get any gifts from Santa anymore.
Then I ask her if she still wants gifts from Santa and she says that she does.
Now she seems to flip-flop from still believing in Santa to not believing. We were at the library the other day and she saw a sign advertising that Santa was going to be at the library. (BTW: the Santa they have at our library is AWESOME! he's one of the librarians hubbies, he does a great story and has a stuffed rabbit who helps him keep track of all the kids' wishes named Allowishes.) Darly saw the sign and told me about it, I asked if she wanted to go see him. She says "Why? So I can tell him he's an imposter?" One of our friends has a child who says this about Santas because they don't "do Santa." I gave her the book (that I bought 2 years ago) "The Polar Express." She wasn't impressed with it and when the movie came on TV she didn't want to see it.
Poor kiddo... I'm thinking that perhaps she wasn't quite ready...but I sure was. Now I feel guilty about telling her. sigh!
So it looks as if I've still got to set my alarm clock for Christmas.
I think what you did/said is perfect. Please don't feel guilty...we moms tend to do that too much. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're doing great!
They want to know, but they don't want to know... my 9th grader is still workin' the Santa gig...
ReplyDeletexo
LBC
When it comes to the "Tooth Fairy" and Santa, I tell my kids "You must believe in order to receive"...I'm thinking they will still choose to "believe" (wink, wink) until they're 40. lol
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job too! That's rough.
ReplyDeleteI stopped believing LONNGGGGGGGG before I told my Mom. Why? Because I have a devious big brother who was convinced that the longer Mom thought I believed in Santa, the longer he'd get gifts from Santa. Where his logic about the fact that those gifts would just come from Mom & Dad was I don't know...
I had a cousin whose parents were going to never tell about Santa. We ruined that though, by making sure he always had presents from Santa when he was little. When his sister came along, his family had already resigned themselves to the Santa bit, and she got presents from Santa without any issues.
One Christmas Eve when I was about 7 years old, I started to think there was no Santa. That night, my parents all of a sudden decided that we should go to midnight mass with a bunch of the neighbors. Staying up late was never a problem for me, so we went to mass and when we came home after, my parents and I stood out in the driveway and looked up at the sky to see if we could see Santa. Then all of a sudden, I heard sleigh bells. I looked at my mom and dad and they heard them too and told me that I needed to get in and go to bed FAST or Santa would not stop at our house. Fast forward about 30 years and we were talking about midnight mass and my dad asked if I remembered hearing the sleigh bells. He finally confessed that he and a bunch of the dads on our street paid one of the neighbors to run through the backyards with sleigh bells after we all got back from midnight mass. Hearing the bells kind of freaked me out, but I have never forgotten it and still do belive, just a little bit. - Meezer Mom Mary
ReplyDeleteI think you did the right thing...
ReplyDeleteIona knows too now.. but I still have to do the early morning thing because of the boys... so she will get all exctied too. She is asking if she can stay up and help wrap... LOL I dunno about THAT one ;)
I think you explained it very well. It's just probably hard for her to grasp the concept of "no Santa" after believing in him for so long. You did great!
ReplyDeleteKailani
An Island Life
R is at the same stage as Darly... She knows, and I think she feels grown up to be in on "the secret"...but on the other hand I think she kind of wishes she still believed.
ReplyDeleteDon't feel guilty, I think you did a great job too!
Get any sleep yet??
Maura
Miss Renee, Lilly is very welcome at my ham party! the more the merrier and we all love woofies. - Miles
ReplyDeleteMaybe rent a Christmas movie for her? They make EVEN ME (Jewish) want to believe in Santa! ;)
ReplyDeleteAt least you have the milk and cookies to yourself
ReplyDeleteWe don't "do" Santa, but my kids have to keep it to themselves under pain of death. We don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
ReplyDeleteGah, I've still got so much shopping to do!