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Santa Claus (Santy)
Chrysanthemum
Posts: 1,205 ✭✭
This is the first year Santy will be visiting and I'm wanting to hear how other families celebrate.
My family Santy brought 1 gift and everything else was from parents/ siblings. Santys gift was not wrapped and placed under the tree, under our stocking (probably so we'd know who's was who's) I guess Santy did bring a few stocking stuffers as well. The biggest gift I remember getting was a boom box.... Often there would be 1 big "family" gift, new TV, VCR, in 82 it was a microwave
we did get to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, it was always new pyjamas. Also we attended the Christmas service, whether it was on Christmas day or Christmas Eve. Some years we went around singing carols.
DHs family Santa wrapped everything, different paper for each person, and there was usually only 1-2 gifts from parents.... Also they were (compared to my family) filthy rich. Christmas was a HUGE deal... New cars, motorcycles... Thousands and thousands were spent. I think they opened the gifts Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was Santa. I'm pretty sure he has never attended a Christmas service.
This year it won't really matter since he won't remember but I would like to start our own traditions.
So, how did you celebrate Christmas growing up, and what do you do with your kids now?
My family Santy brought 1 gift and everything else was from parents/ siblings. Santys gift was not wrapped and placed under the tree, under our stocking (probably so we'd know who's was who's) I guess Santy did bring a few stocking stuffers as well. The biggest gift I remember getting was a boom box.... Often there would be 1 big "family" gift, new TV, VCR, in 82 it was a microwave
we did get to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve, it was always new pyjamas. Also we attended the Christmas service, whether it was on Christmas day or Christmas Eve. Some years we went around singing carols.DHs family Santa wrapped everything, different paper for each person, and there was usually only 1-2 gifts from parents.... Also they were (compared to my family) filthy rich. Christmas was a HUGE deal... New cars, motorcycles... Thousands and thousands were spent. I think they opened the gifts Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was Santa. I'm pretty sure he has never attended a Christmas service.
This year it won't really matter since he won't remember but I would like to start our own traditions.
So, how did you celebrate Christmas growing up, and what do you do with your kids now?
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With my own children, Santa brings a medium size gift (last year it was $15-20 for each child) plus a few books and stocking stuffers. I want to focus more on the spirit of Santa than Santa bringing the best gifts. Also, I want the credit.
We will not do Santa with our kids, but if I was planning on it I would wrap the presents (I always thought unwrapping gifts was more fun than any other part of getting them!) but would buy far, FAR fewer for my own kids than I got as a child. DH and I are actually undecided at this point if we're going to do gifts for Christmas at all with our kids - we don't buy gifts for each other now, only extended family (and we only do THAT because we feel obligated).
It worked! Two clomid cycles and two IUI's with injectables all BFN, on to IVF! 3dt of 2 perfect embryos on 12/15/14, BFP 7dp3dt! Frederick Lars born at 37 weeks on 8/15/15!! FET for #2 on 9/29/16 - BFP 5dp5dt!! Bertram Wilder and Mabel Moon born at 28.4 weeks on 3/29/17!
H's family did the one big open present from Santa under the tree.
For E, so far we have done Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house, then home at our house on Christmas morning. We haven't started having any presents from Santa yet, she doesn't know the difference. She does LOVE Santa, and snowmen, and elves, etc..
Christmas for us is much more about Advent and church rather than Christmas Eve or morning. By the time those roll around we've been blessed with so many wonderful holiday memories already!
I may have to rethink the unwrapped Santa gifts this year as Santa is starting a new tradition of bringing me some new clothes and other gifts, too. I don't want the kids thinking I was bad this year! My sister suggested wrapping paper that is uniquely Santa's for all gifts from him.
ETA: Santa does the stocking and 3-4 average-sized gifts and Mom gets credit for the rest.
Thats just what works for us
Curious to go back and read others responces when I've had enough coffee to be alert! I'm always intereasted in how others celebrate holidays
Need to update a ticker, Silas Anthony Jordon born Oct 11, 2013. 6th baby, so much love!
When I was little I always left butter cookies and coke (this makes me want to gag reading it as an adult!) but my mom hinted heavily that Santa might enjoy a beer
It worked! Two clomid cycles and two IUI's with injectables all BFN, on to IVF! 3dt of 2 perfect embryos on 12/15/14, BFP 7dp3dt! Frederick Lars born at 37 weeks on 8/15/15!! FET for #2 on 9/29/16 - BFP 5dp5dt!! Bertram Wilder and Mabel Moon born at 28.4 weeks on 3/29/17!
Our own Christmas traditions are still evolving, but over all we just make it about family and making lasting memories more so than about gifts. Given the holiday is traditionally a very religious one we of course feel a little disconnected from it, but also understand the importance of allowing our children the joy of experiencing all of the fun in it...its a balance. So we did like the idea of everyone getting new Christmas pajamas to wear on Christmas morning, we did it last year (our first with a child) and will this year also. The few gifts we exchange are done on Christmas Eve as this is when the family generally gathers...again, given my European upbringing, this is the tradition we continue. My wife and I usually buy each other one larger joint gift (this year we are eyeing a new camcorder) and then set a dollar limit (say $50) for each other to buy some other small things as surprises (usually books, clothing, or such). For Sebastian we currently keep things rather simple as he has no understanding for expense of volume of gifts...he gets a new book and a couple of toys, we probably don't spend much more than $50 on him either. He has plenty of family and friends (especially his grandparents) that shower him with gifts far beyond what he even needs or desires. Last year we even tucked several away after Christmas and gave them to him throughout the year...otherwise it is simply too much at once.
As a side not, my wife was raised a Jehovas Witness, so celebrating holidays was not something she experienced as a child and even though she has long since left that religion behind she still feels uncomfortable with the excess and materialism that these holidays bring out in people. She enjoys our minimalistic approach and does like the traditions we are continuing/instituting with our kids.
October 2014
mommylove -- we have St. Nick's day here. But, that is in addition to santa claus
For our own traditions, we have decided that Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are strictly for our little family. So far everything has been from Santa but I am sure we will change that as they get a little older and understand more. Plus we have stockings with goodies and little fun things. All presents are wrapped. Stocking stuffers are not.
DP has a huge family and we go over there early afternoon and spend the rest of the day opening presents. When her family gets together, there are 25 people just between her parents, her siblings and significant others, and grandkids. Each person has their own kind of wrapping paper and there is literally one room with gifts stacked up EVERYWHERE! The grown up kids do a secret santa gift exchange. By the end of the day it gets a bit much but I just love the warmth and bustle of her family and the giant Christmas explosion. No one gets an insane amount of gifts, but by the time there are about 5 small to medium gifts for everyone, it still adds up to a lot.
Here are some pics to show you our version of Christmas:
Our tree and gifts Christmas morning before the boys came downstairs
(and looking through our pics, I remembered that we had too many gifts for them... they got bored opening presents) But all the gifts are not for the kids. This is all gifts collectively and the toys to the left are toys we have out and I thought just looked cute in the pic.
And the insanity that is Christmas at the in-laws
I'm not sure exactly what my wife's traditions were, but she had a single mom who was one of 10 children herself and very poor, so no excess was involved.
With our own kids (only one of whom still believes in Santa anyway, and we suspect he's faking and doesn't really), Santa fills stockings and brings one large gift. This year, the 16 year old is getting an xBox game and a matching controller, the 10 year old is getting a giant Lego set he's been wanting, and the 7 year old is getting drums. We have gone back and forth with wrapping or not wrapping Santa gifts - we kind of do what we feel that day. The boys always leave reindeer food and cookies, often beer - last year the Tooth Fairy was also visiting our house that night, and we have a running family joke that the Tooth Fairy is a weirdo fairy who wants little kids' teeth for unknown purposes and is really a hairy drunk dude in a tutu who lives in his mother's basement (I have no idea where this started, but it was many years ago). Anyway, the boys left notes for Santa and the Tooth Fairy telling them not to drink too much. Pretty hilarious.
We've sort of always intuitively done the "something to wear, something to read, something useful, and something they REALLY want" type of shopping. With those gifts, one thing I have always done is wrap them in different papers with a theme, like all Santas or snowmen or superheroes or whatever with different colored backgrounds for each boy. That way, they don't know which gifts are for whom under the tree and we've never had any peeking. (DW and I were both peekers) We do Christmas crackers on Christmas morning and wear paper crowns while we look through stockings, and spend the day hanging out together, playing their games or watching their DVDs, being low key together. Sometimes DW's Mom descends upon us, and that pretty much honks, because she is not content for people to stay in their pajamas, EVER, for any reason, EVER.
As a kid my brother, sister, and I spent the holidays with our mom, dad, and grandparents from both sides. All of our extended family lived out of state and we never got together during these winter months due to weather and distance. Christmas was always held at our home and the grandparents would come over early in the morning and drink coffee with the parents while we got jacked up on breakfast-- pancakes,waffles, eggs, fruit, and whatever else. Gifts were always a big part of things, not to say that all of the items were pricey. My parents always just bought us whatever they could afford and we were all the grateful sort of kids. We typically got one big item we really wanted, clothes, books, tapes, CDs, this sort of stuff. Over the years our family dynamics shifted when my parents divorced and each remarried. We ended up with twin step brothers and a step sister from my dad' s wife and a stepdad. Overall it was a more the merrier sort of arrangement and this just meant that we did a holiday gathering at my moms house in the morning with the grandparents still coming, then we would walk or as we.got older.drive over to my dads house-- all of three blocks from our mothers and would do another gathering here later in the day. We got along well with our stepmom and her family, so really it was just more people and more fun and craziness. After graduating from college back home I moved to Washington state by myself and went home for the holidays for the first two years, after this it just became about spending the time with the new friends I had made in Wa. After living here for 6 years I met Anna, met her family and became part of their family celebration, which they really go overboard with as far as food, gathering, etc. Fast forward 3 years and now we have our own family, my parents have retired and moved to Washington, and now we are at that place where we are just trying to go with the flow and see what works each year. We live right in the middle of each set of parents with each of them being approximately 3 hours each direction. Due to weather it is difficult to say for certain that they will be able to make it here, but we have decided for our sake and sanity that we will do the xmas holiday at our home. Like others we get new pjs on x mas eve, spend a low key evening all cozy together, and xmas day is coffee, yummy but easy breakfast-- rolls, scones, fruit, yogurt, and then presents, pictures, playing, walking the dog, playing some more, making and eating a delicious dinner- we do ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, and whatever else. Oh and last year we all went to the local bowling alley/ arcade after gifts and before dinner. The year before we went to a movie after dinner. So, I think we are going to head back to our mid day bowling and arcade games and see how O does bowling.
Wow, I really started rambling. Overall I guess I'm just trying to say that I see X- mas and the holiday season as a time to spend and enjoy time with our friends and family. I really get into the food and admittedly the gifts too. I love shopping for others, especially O, but all within reason. I don't believe in going into debt or stressing about gift giving. We try to keep it all fun. I'm excited to see how things will go this year now that O is older and understands more. It will also be great to see how things evolve and grow over the years once we throw the kids' imaginations and enthusiasm into the mix!
ETA - we're Jewish and celebrate Chanukah as a family-centered holiday. Christmas is the present holiday!
After Christmas is over we will then go to Nebraska to visit a few friends (just for a few days) and then stop by and have Christmas with Grandma, and then Papa & Grammy before heading home (just staying a day or two....probably one day with Grandma and one day with Papa & Grammy). This year we are combining it with Addison's baptism.
I'm really excited for the changes and for the kids to be able to have Christmas at our own house.
Carolyn
It's nice when we are able to re write our stories by being in charge of events!
As some of you may know, I grew up in a very religious home, so Christmas for us was a fair amount different from many of yours. Non the less, it always was and still is my very favorite holiday, and I have many cherished holiday memories, that I hope will continue for my children, although there will be differences in how we celebrate now. First of all, we did not do anything "Santa" at all. Santa wasn't taboo or anything, but it just wasn't a part of Christmas, because in our religion, Christ is the center of Christmas. We did not have a tree, lights, or stockings either - I didn't miss any of it, as I didn't know any different! As a child, when all of my siblings and I were still at home, we always had our family Christmas on Christmas Eve - Dad and Mom would buy gifts for each of us children, usually one bigger gift that we had really wanted and a couple smaller things (bigger as in a doll, pogo stick, ice skates, etc). When I was old enough to want to buy presents for my Mom, my Dad would take me to town and let me pick out something for her that he would buy and let me wrap and give to her. My Mom makes delicious homemade stir fry and that was always our Christmas Eve traditional meal. We farmed, so Dad would do chores early that evening, we would eat stir fry, then we would gather in the living room by the wood stove and my dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible. After that, we would open our presents and spend the next hour or so playing with all our new stuff. The next morning was always bustling around early getting food and goodie trays ready, then off to Christmas service at church. After church, we always got together with my Moms extended family (11 brothers and sisters, parents, and cousins) for a big potluck lunch with goodie plates of homemade Christmas candy for dessert. The days leading up to Christmas included our private school's Christmas program at church, caroling at local old folk's homes and friends and neighbors homes, driving around looking at pretty lights, and making Christmas candy and cookies. I can honestly say that even without Santa and all the materialistic parts of Christmas, the holiday never lacked magic, warmth and delight for me, and I never felt that it was missing anything.
As we've grown up and married, things have changed some of course. My two oldest married brothers have their own Christmas at their houses on Christmas Eve and up until now, me and my DH still go to my parents on Christmas Eve and have stir fry with my parents and siblings who still live at home. We still attend the children's program at church, as my nieces and nephews are all in it now and I never miss it. Depending on the year, Christmas Day we all go to my parents for the day (DH and I go after they get home from church) and we have a yummy homemade dinner (ham, Mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls, layered lettuce salad, graham cracker fluff) then my Dad reads the Christmas story and we all exchange gifts (the adults exchange names and my parents buy for the grandchildren). We play board games and try out new toys in the afternoon, eat homemade Christmas candy all afternoon, sing some Christmas carols together, frost and decorate Christmas cutout cookies with the children, then heat up leftovers for supper, and finish it off with hot tea and more Christmas candy. As far as Christmas Day, I'm certain we will continue that the same as always for now, but we will be starting our own traditions for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
Some of the things we already do and will hopefully be able to continue and expand on, is put up and decorate a tree in late November. We will definitely do stockings (from Santa) and bake cookies for Santa for Christmas Eve night. Someone mentioned messes from the elves for the children to find in the morning, which is something I had wanted to do, plus I plan to wrap chocolate chips in tinfoil to leave on their night stands from the elves
I can't wait to start these little traditions with my little family - I know our son will be too little this year to appreciate any of them, but I am still so excited to start them and share them with him
So sorry for rambling on and on... I do really love this holiday!!
It worked! Two clomid cycles and two IUI's with injectables all BFN, on to IVF! 3dt of 2 perfect embryos on 12/15/14, BFP 7dp3dt! Frederick Lars born at 37 weeks on 8/15/15!! FET for #2 on 9/29/16 - BFP 5dp5dt!! Bertram Wilder and Mabel Moon born at 28.4 weeks on 3/29/17!
I don't have kids yet, but I spend Xmas with my brother, sister-in-law, and niece, and I ill continue after I have kids. That results in my sister-in-law and I staying up half the night on Xmas eve wrapping presents and drinking a lot of wine. Most of the presents come from family with a few from Santa. Xmas day is spent parked on the couch eating way too much. We do tend I spoil my niece, but the day isn't about the presents it's about the chance to hang out together.
My co-worker taught me to wrap Santas gift in Santa gift wrap and nothing else can be in Santa wrap.
I think because we are older we have slipped a few times about this santa gig...