SPIN OFF POLL ...WILL YOU RAISE YOUR CHILDREN TO BELIEVE IN SANTA??

I agree with all of those who cited the magic of santa!

I think there is such a short time in your lives where you are so innocent that you can believe in something so magical! I pray that my kids are hopeful and optimistic enough to hold on to that part of their childhood as long as possible!

I love watching my neices and nephews get all excited talkinga bout santa and waiting for him on christmas eve! Its really an awesome thing!

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Posted by shelzyp

Yes I would, becasue I wnat my children to believe in the magic of christmas, like my parents did with me. I got gifts from Santa and my parents, not just from Santa.

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EXACTLY!

Yes I will, and I have already decided that we will (once the children are a little older like 3 ) have my dad dress up like santa and have him come to the house and eat cookies and put presents out, while the kids watch from the corner of the room..

When my cusins were little my aunt used to make foot prints in the snow, and there was this fake snow stuff that she made foot prints in the house with, they used to get SOOO excited !!

I think its such a great thing to believe in Santa Clause!

sure will! I am a Christmas fanatic! And was raised to believe in Santa Claus. HOWEVER - I should note, my parents did a really interesting thing. We had the living room filled with the tree, stockings, village, snow, gifts, Santa stuff, etc. The dining room (where we spent most of the time unless we were laying down under the tree) had the manger set up with candles EVERYWHERE = we used to go out and get evergreens from the yard, and berries and twigs and all natural things to decorate and would build the manger on the hutch. It was an extremely special tradition. So at exactly the same time I was introduced to the 'material magic' of Christmas - the wonder the bells, the reindeer the shiny wrapping - and then ...the Jesus of Christmas. I honestly dont' remember choosing one over the other as far as what was more 'special' , and the Santa part just made it something to count down to I think.

To this day, when Christmas comes along, I am just filled with such excitement mixed with such peace. It's a nice combination.

I am because that is what FH and I were taught when we were young. Maybe it's foolish because you find out later it's a lie but I was never harmed by it. Even after both my sister and I knew my mother would still pretend there was one just for the hell of it because she thought it was cute.

She stopped the cookies and milk thing after awhile but she still put baby powder on the floor near the door (snow), put on her boots and made prints in it. Too funny.

My mom would lightly ring jingle bells when we were trying to go to sleep and then come in our room and tell us that he was close, she could hear his sleigh and obviously we did too..

She ALWAYS sprinkled silver glitter all over the living room leading up to where all the presents were under the tree, to the cookies and milk and right to our bedroom door where our stockings were hung. One year she even sprinkled up to our beds making us think that he had come in our rooms to look at us...it was his magic dust.

She would always leave one cookie not eaten and a little milk or egg nog in the cup to make us think that he was so full from all the other boys and girls houses that he had been to before us.

And without fail, she would write us a letter back in 'santa claus handwriting!' She would write really loopy and bubbly and say how he watched us all year through and how we were so good and things like that...it was the best thing ever..we have every letter saved!

Awww to be a child again!

I was raised believing in Santa. I will NEVER forget the feeling I got going to bed Christmas Eve soooooooo excited that Santa was coming. I would try my hardest to stay awake to see him and every year I would fall asleep. In the morning I would wake up with such enthusiasm(sp?) and sit there with my brothers and sister for hours just STARING at the presents waiting for our parents to wake up (of course this was usually around 5am). we would tell stories of how we heard noises on the rooftop and one time the wind was so bad Christmas Eve our little tree in our porch fell over and mom told us it was Santas reindeer. Of course when I got older I became curious and ended up figuring it out...but was sad about losing that feeling. I made sure my sister and brothers held onto it for as long as possible.

I understand that some of the meaning of Christmas is lost in the commercialization of it all but I believe a big part of Christmas is family. I believe each Christmas with those feelings we all had (my parents with the joy of watching all of us so happy) made us closer as a family. If we knew our parents were giving us the gifts there is no way it would have been the same.

So my answer to the question is I will ABSOLUTELY raise my children believing in Santa because I can't wait to watch their eyes light up and watch them get nervous when they know Santa is coming that night. I wouldn't have it any other way

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

I will not raise may kids believing in Santa. I want to focus on making sure they know the reason for the season. To me that is what the magic of Christmas is about to celebrate the birth of Christ. This is just my personal feeling and I have nothing against people who want to raise their children differently. I will also say that growing up in a single parent household that my mom did not have much money and she really struggled at Christmas time (and my bday is the next day). This sort of gave me a warped view of Christmas when I would see how much Santa gave other kids and sometimes I would get barely anything. We still celebrated and had family over, but the focus was different.

I want my kids to understand the I will reward them with gifts when they deserve them and not some man from the North Pole.

My children will definitley be raised to believe in Santa. The way our world is today, with so much negativity, I can wait to give them something positive and magical to believe in. I remember the excitement when I was a child of hoping that Santa would come. And I want to see that same excitement on my childrens faces. My children will also know, that Santa is not all that Christmas is all about. They will know the true meaning. But the opportunity of giving them something magical to hope and believe in makes me even more excited. I look back at pictures of when me and my brothers were younger and my parents always had a camera there when we came down the stairs, When I see those pictures I get such a warm and magical feeling inside and I remember those days and can't wait to make memories like this for my new family when they come.

I did not believe in Santa when I was younger and I definitely felt like I have missed out on some of the happier memories a lot of my friends had as children. So I will definitely raise my children to believe there is a Santa until its reasonable to explain the truth to them.

For me, Santa is a beautiful embodiement of the 'spirit' of Christmas - giving and being kind to each other, etc..