Sadly, Santa means nothing to me... no good memories, no cookies and milk... I didn't even know we had to leave a carrot for Rudolph (what about the other deers?) We had a "santa" at our family party... You can picture the most drunken uncle of the family, forgetting to put back his fake beard all the time, smoking?
I'm not liking the commercialness of the holidays either, and Santa was representing that to me.
But somehow I changed my mind. I want to create that magic for my kids, as long as it shall last. But how?
What are your Santa Claus, it'll be Père Noël here, traditions?
I believed in Santa right up til I was about 9.
ReplyDeleteMy parents and grand parents would go so far as to have my grampy go outside in the freezing night to shake bells outside the window and even trample on the roof top to make us think Santa was there.
Which sent us into a frenzy and we'd fall asleep asap. Cause if we didn't we knew he couldn't come in and we wouldn't get presents from him.
We did the traditional leaving out of cookies and carrots. My dad decided it was better to leave rye and coke out for santa cause it would warm him LOL... Now I know he just wanted a relaxing drink after setting out presents. Clever man.
I love my family. They kept it up and never let us down. <3
For our kids we're fighting the disbelief hard here. Every yule time we get a tiny tree and decorate, only put a few toys around underneath, and then on christmas eve we switch it with a big tree after they are asleep and use toys and their stockings to decorate the tree. We've had friends dressed up like santa fall asleep in a chair to be caught christmas morning. To me it is too magical a time of simple belief to give up on.
ReplyDeleteIt can get a bit commercial with the Santa thing which is why I haven't and probably never will take my daughter to sit on Santa's lap for pictures. It never made sense to me as a child. If he was so busy making toys, how could he have time to gallivant the world shmoozing the local kids at the mall. I prefer to keep it distant and secret -- all the more magical. Stockings and tree are put out ahead of time (already up!). Special mail box is put out for "Santa letters" ahead of time. Cookies and carrots and milk the night before. Christmas morning we wake up to stockings stuffed, gifts under the tree wrapped from "Mom and Dad" and the best gifts (typically the most wanted - bikes, etc.), unwrapped out in front from Santa.
ReplyDeleteMy father was military and used to work on those huge trucks that ran radios to communicate to planes and stuff out in the field. For christmas time, they would volunteer to take the truck to local elementaries, turn on all the lights and buttons, and just turn on the radio portion to a guy down the street pretending to be santa. It was choppy and static for fun, but the kids thought they were radio'ing in to the North Pole to talk to Santa. Coolest idea ever. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to recreate that for my family :P
We always said the santa at the mall was a "helper" because the real santa was busy. lol. I'm going to tell you again to find the book by L.Frank Baum, the author of the Oz series. It has fantastic beginning stories, Santa being a child of the faeries. Really!! Very Pagan friendly.
ReplyDeleteIn our house the santa gifts were always wrapped in different paper than mom gifts, and we would leave out cookies and milk on a special just for Santa plate. :) Really you can make Santa what you want. I had friends that the santa gifts were not wrapped at all, etc. Make it fun for both you and your kids.
When we were little we would bake cookies together for Santa and watch "Rudolf" on Christmas Eve. We left the cookies and a glass of milk for when Santa arrived. My dad would be sure to always leave a cookie with teeth marks on the plate and just a wee bit of milk in the cup for us to find the next morning! We had to go to bed and not get up until morning because Santa knew if you were asleep and wouldn't come inside if you weren't. When we woke up in the morning the stockings were filled to the brim. Presents, which had been wrapped and addressed in different paper by a lady my mom worked with (so even the writing was in "Santa's" hand writing!), were under the tree. They also left some presents unwrapped beside the tree and hanging on bar stools nearby for an immediate squeal!
ReplyDeleteI think the main part of this is just for you and your kids to have a ton of fun! Make up some of your own family Santa traditions!
Oh, also a couple of weeks before Christmas we would write Santa letters to mail.
Once they're old enough, you can write a letter to them 'from Santa' and get a postmark from the North Pole! You mail the letter and it comes back address to your kids as if Santa really sent it!! Here's a good site telling you how that works
http://blog.christmaslettertips.com/2009/05/02/north-pole-postmark-and-other-christmas-postmarks/
Have FUN!!!
my parents did a lovely job at making santa magical for me as a child it was only as an adult with little ones of my own did i really focus in on the commercialization of him and so as a waldorf inspired family we began celebrating st. nicholas day and enjoyed the stories of putting light into the world pairing that with symbolic gifts of chocolate coins, oranges and little handmades. i like that you are deciding to make this your own it will be magical and beautiful!
ReplyDeletePart of the magic of Santa is that he can be whatever you want him to be! Even as an adult with no children, the sight and thought of Santa Claus makes me giddy and wide eyed.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up my parents always told me Santa had elves EVERYWHERE to keep an eye on boys and girls to see if they were naughty. As a firm believer in fairies, this wasn't hard for me to accept! When I would ask if the Santa at the mall/shops/wherever was the real Santa, they never said yes, but instead told me they were some of Santa's helpers. They would report back to Santa, the same as the elves, about your behavior and what you hoped to receive! Every year I remember asking these helpers for a puppy, but apparently the old man is stodgy about giving you pets as gifts. ;)
Traditionally, we'd watch a movie or two, usually Rudolf or A Christmas Story before bed and drink warm milk to tire us out faster. If we weren't sleeping, Santa would know and might skip us over! Stockings were hung empty, the tree was decorated to the nines, my siblings and I would write him a note and leave it with milk and cookies for him and carrots for the reindeer. In the morning when we woke up, the stockings were over flowing and Santa had left wonderful gifts in different paper than mom and dad's gifts, which were usually clothing or something boring. ;) It was always a magical experience to wake up and peek at the pile of gifts before waking our parents up so we could open them... not a single gift was allowed to be opened before everyone was awake and around the tree together. :)
We celebrate both Yule and Christmas (the joys of being the only pagan in the house!) and I've been trying re-create the whole atmosphere of the season for my children as I can remember it from my childhood. To me it's one of the last big times of magic in a childs life and I want it to last as long as I can for mine.
ReplyDeleteThe tree goes up on the 1st Sunday of December (mainly cos that's when daddy is of work and we're all at home together!) We have a rule that the newest baby puts the star on the tree so this year we're back at the beginning with my eldest doing the honours. The children each get to buy a new decoration each year as well. TV goes off and the festive music goes on for the decorating and stays on throughout the season. And we try to keep all the decorations as natural - even if they are artificial! The kids each put a cookie and glass of milk (or beer) out for Santa and hang their stockings on the fireguard over the holiday but Santa moves them to the end of their beds after he's filled them. Each of them gets a letter from Santa, saying how proud he is of their achievements through out the year etc (mummy and daddy get one as well!). We usually get woken up first thing on Christmas morning with screams that he's been and then the eldest 3 trying to read their letters all at once!
The only thing we changed from when I was a child is that they're all allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve - usually the smallest one - or we'd never get them to bed!!!