The Problem With Santa Is…

The problem with Santa is…

santa03Well, he’s a stranger. That sneaks into our home in the dead of night, while we’re all at our most vulnerable sleeping. Hmm.

It is what it is, and I’ve had to have a tricky conversation with my 2 year old about it this week, and I distinctly recall a Christmas Eve a couple of years back when my daughter wouldn’t go to sleep either, in floods of tears, afraid of Santa entering our home.

Stranger Danger does not apply with Santa, does it? We happily take our children along to chat to a man heavily in disguise, as it’s charming and magical. At no other time would we ever do this! So we have been, they have met him, and now it’s playing on my little boy’s mind.

Mention Santa to him now and he’ll shake his head quite vehemently, telling the enquirer that ‘no, Santa not coming our house’. Right, so you don’t want him to bring you any presents then? ‘yes, not our house’. OK. Erm, so he can’t actually come in, but you do want him to bring you that scooter you’ve been asking for? ‘yes, not our house’. Time to think on my feet then. How about he brings them, but Mummy pops out and takes them from him, so he needn’t come in, and leave them ready for you in the morning? This gets greeted with a happy and decisive nod. So that’s the new plan then in our home. I’ll be tiptoeing outside in the dead of night on Christmas Eve, for the gift handover and I might just get in a little cheeky stroke of a reindeer, too, while I’m there. Well, I deserve a perk for doing half the work, don’t I? I’m attempting to avoid this chat when the 5 year old’s about, as she may spot a few holes in the plan that I’d rather she didn’t, and in the meantime, her brother’s content and will sleep easy. There will be pressies but no stealthy old man!

Though while we’re on the subject, I’m not keen on the fact that Santa kind of hogs the limelight and gets all of the Christmas morning glory. I figure out what they’d like, which is not that easy, as sit them down with an Argos catalogue and they’ll want the lot. I spend more time and money than I’d actually like to think about getting the gifts, and then lovingly (read: hastily before the small one wakes from his nap and discovers me knee deep in roll-wrap and sellotape) wrap them all up. From this point until Christmas Eve I have to be clever and sneaky and hide them somewhere where they won’t find them, often including contorting myself to get them into high places or under the bed in never checked on spots. Christmas Eve involves a military operation of the Husband distracting them in the bathroom for the longest bath they’ll ever take, whilst I try to remember all of the hiding places and get the presents downstairs very quietly but swiftly before our children become wrinkled prunes. Then they wake, and it’s all ‘look what Santa got me…’ Yes, how lovely and thoughtful of him.

So yes, I’ve got a few gripes with St Nick.

But, and this is a pretty big but, he does make Christmas magical for little ones. There is no getting round that one, and truth be told, I don’t really want to. So we’ll weather this one, and hope that both kids go off to sleep happily this Christmas, without fears and nightmares, and then I’ll watch their little faces light up with pure joy and excitement when they see that he has been, as they are indeed on the good list.

Does any of this ring true for you?

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37 thoughts on “The Problem With Santa Is…”

  1. I heard Sarah Millican say that her parents took a different approach, they said they gave Santa the money to do the shopping making him effectively a magical delivery man – meant they got credit for the present tho!

    I think lots of kids don’t like the idea of a stranger sneaking in while they are asleep, and let’s be honest in any other circumstance we would be totally with them! I told my middle one that Santa used magic to get the presents into the house but didn’t actually come in himself- seemed to work!

  2. Ah yes, I do indeed recall going through the same thing when my children were small. Each of my four children around two or three years old were incredibly frightened of Santa and the thought of him coming into our house while they slept kept them awake a night or two as well until we reassured them everything would be alright.

    I also felt the same about good ‘ol St. Nick getting credit for all of my hard work ensuring Christmas morning would be just perfect for my children too. The nice part is that once they are too “old” to believe any longer they realize all the effort we put into making it a magical and special event for them.

    I must admit with my two youngest in their teens I often reminisce about the Christmas’ when they were still small and every once in awhile I miss those days so very much. Enjoy these precious times while they are little for before you even know it they will be all grown up…trust me as my oldest will be 26 in February!

    xx
    Lysa

    1. Yes, I know that these magical Christmas’ are times to treasure, I just need to allay the fears! Thanks, Lysa x

  3. Me too honey. I also caught myself using the threat of santa watching everything and only bringing pressies to good girls, and deciding I didn’t want to do that anymore! Great post xxx

  4. Oh, I’m so with you on the teensy gripes aspect, but hey! Bless him that he doesn’t want Santa in the house, my two have never been especially bothered by this aspect of it all thankfully. It’s tricky having conversations with the different ages too isn’t it-I am forever getting myself tied up in knots trying to explain to my 4 and 8 year old without being tripped up by the elder one 🙂

  5. At last! Someone to admit that Santa is (can be) scary. Mine have always been concerned about the man coming into our home, and their bedrooms while they are asleep. And I find it hard to lie as I don’t blame them! But we sort of brush over it and they get a stocking each. I find the elf on the shelf thing weird too. A freaky toy watching you! No thanks!

    1. When you think about it, he is scary! Ah, we have the elf here, and my daughter loves him! It’s just about finding him in different places each day, though, we don’t do the reporting back to Santa bit! That’d be way too scary for my son!

  6. Thankfully N isn’t too worried about Father Christmas coming to visit, although we did say he doesn’t come into his room…well, how the stocking gets there is mysterious! No idea how we’ll manage it this year because he wanders in the middle of the night, so could be a nightmare.

    FC doesn’t bring all of our presents, only the stocking ones. The rest are from family, friends etc. That’s the way my family did it and the OH, so avoids any other complicated questions.

    1. I think assuring them he’s not going in their rooms is good – we did that with Boo when she was a little smaller. We do now restrict Santa’s gift pile, as you’re right, it is too complicated!

  7. Pingback: #ElfTakeover Week 1

  8. I have had many conversations with Hubby about this and the fact it never occurred to me when I was a child that Santa is a stranger coming into my bedroom at night. Our Santa leaves presents under the tree so he only goes into the lounge thankfully and I’m hoping the kids never question it! x

    1. Yes, ours only goes in the lounge, too, but they’re still unsure about it all! Hoping this year they’ll both be OK on the night! x

  9. It all does!! Although I’d never really thought about the quite creepy side that kids may see about him sneaking in – arghhhhh I’m going to have Santa shaped nightmares now :p xxxxx

  10. My eldest had a bit of an aversion to Santa. She was adamant that he would NOT be coming into her room so we have always put the stockings downstairs in front of the fire. This year is a first for us (I wrote a post about it today) – no Santa-believers in the house 🙁 It does make me feel sad but one of the big pluses is that there will hopefully be a few ‘thank yous’ to the real Santa! x

  11. This seems familiar! Ours are generally OK with Santa coming into the house but the middle one won’t have a bar of any grotto. Any suggestion that she sit on Santa’s knee is met with a look that seems to say “Are joking? That’s an overweight, stranger in weird clothes – you sit on his knee”.

    I don’t blame her TBH.

  12. My parents used to tell me that Father Christmas was bringing the presents that they had sent to him! I tend to say the same with Grace. She has never had a problem with him coming in the house though – although I know my niece has! This is such a great post and so much rings true! Thank you for linking to #PoCoLo 🙂 x

  13. I don’t think it was until I had children that it occurred to me that the Santa creeping into your house scenario might actually be considered quite creepy! I think JJ is definitely a bit unsure about it!! #theprompt

  14. Good post!
    It’s difficult isn’t it because we try so hard to teach our children the dangers of strangers, then allow a bloke in with a big sack once a year!
    All my early photographs sat on Santa’s knee in his Grotto were of me crying come to think of it….#ThePrompt

  15. I have to say, I agree, it is odd that we’re quite open to some strange guy with a sack coming into our houses 🙂 We’ve been lucky so far in that Santa lists are generally fairly restrained in our house, so we can still get them all something that is from us as well. Our oldest now knows that Santa isn’t real, although he’s been wonderful at keeping the magic going with the younger two and playing along with Santa letters etc. It will be interesting to see how it changes the dynamic on Christmas Day… Great post, thank you so much for sharing with #ThePrompt. Have a wonderful Christmas Jocelyn xx

    1. It is strange! Oh, that’s lovely that your son is still keeping the magic alive for the younger ones. Hope you all have a fab time, and thanks for hosting x

  16. I’ve never considered the safety aspect of Santa coming into the house. I guess that’s because he’s never been a threat – he’s a welcomed entity here. Maybe my kids aren’t stranger aware (bit worrying…).
    Thought-provoking post. X

  17. Love this post! We had to tell our eldest son that we pay for the presents that Santa brings because he thought Santa went to ASDA and stole them! He also asked why mum & dad didnt give him presents but everyone else did lol!!

  18. My little brother always hated the thought of Father Christmas coming down the chimney. He was so scared of him he refused to visit the grotto of a London department store even though ‘Father Christmas’ was our great uncle!

    He’ll be a daddy himself next Christmas so I’m wondering how the whole Christmas Eve scenarios will pan out! 🙂

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