Do you do 'Santa' in your home? I know a few homes that do not have the jolly guy 'visit' their homes.Instead they exchange gifts with one another, or even get gifts from Jesus.
The Free household does not have a conviction regarding Santa, so he visits our home.
We like the anonymity of Santa.
We were raised with Santa visiting our homes.
But, our traditions were very different.
My childhood:
Santa came on Christmas Eve and left the toys and filled stockings under the tree unwrapped.
We had two Christmas trees.
The 'pretty' one upstairs, where most of our gifts were and stockings, and the 'family' one downstairs that Santa left a family present under (a game, movie, etc.)
We would wake up bright and early Christmas morning and run down the steps and see the glory of all our gifts.
Mr. Free's childhood:
His Christmas day was so packed with family festivities, that Santa came a day early to his house!
Santa just knew!
So on Christmas Eve Eve, Santa would come overnight, and on Christmas Eve they would wake up to wrapped gifts from Santa and filled stockings.
So, though we both did Santa, it was very much different!
This year we talked about what traditions we'd want to do with our family.
Our Christmas Day is PACKED running all around KC to see all our extended family.
We feel it would be most practical for Santa to come on Christmas Eve vs. the real day.
This way we can spend the day enjoying our presents and not scurrying around.
We have also always wrapped our gifts....different from my growing up.
I do like the 2 tree idea and the 'family gift' under the 'family' tree that I had growing up.
Whenever we have a family room...I'd love to start that tradition.
So there ya have it....Santa in the Free household.What do you do to celebrate?
Did you make some compromises when you got married and started a family?
Growing up, my mom was a single parent from the time we were in kindergarten. she always made Christmas so special. Santa came early in the Fisher household ( the night of the church program) Why? Well, that is because we traveled to Northern Iowa where a White Christmas always occurred! I was lucky, I spent Christmas with my grandparents and Santa always came on Christmas morning by delivering some gifts. We hung out with the family ( I have many cousins!) Now, with two girls, my husband and I believe in Santa. We have special paper. We used to display 4 trees (one for each member of the family) However, being in doctorate level classes makes that hard to do! Santa loves working with the parents to make it so special for my daughters. I also want my daughters to know that tis better to give than receive. We always buy some gifts for the "Tinas" and "Mias" who do not get a Christmas. Working in a group home for absued children has really moved me to instill this in my daughters. So, Santa will always live on and we must never stop believing. But, the girls are also raised to know that Jesus' birth was a gift to all of us. So, we always sing happy birthday to our Savior. Christmas Eve is spent with my mom and sister with her two kids and hubby where Santa visits after the church service. Christmas Day is spent opening gifts in the morning (stocking stuff first, then breakfast, and then opening gifts). After we settle down a bit, we head off to my in-laws where we exchange gifts! It is such a joyous time!
ReplyDeleteAngela Danley
My fiance and I both grew up with Santa, though his brothers broke the bad news to him when he was only three and I made it to eleven without finding out. After some careful consideration, we decided not to do Santa in our house.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with Santa being used as blackmail (I mean, real blackmail! lol), and that's not something I want to use on my kids. My fiance is also an atheist, which influenced the decision. We're working on some ideas to keep the holidays magical for our kids (whenever we have them) and I hope we get it right. =)
I love the idea of a family tree and a pretty tree, so I might borrow that tradition one day. If you don't mind that is!