Good Grief.... Charlie Brown.......

It's nice to keep little children believing as long as possible, and seeing the sparkle in their eyes, as they receive the presents, brought by Santa.

It's a harmless tradition that revovles around the spirit of Xmas, and the good feelings that are engered in people. How quickly, those good feelings vanquish after the holidays.

Peace and goodwill towards all men/woman. :smiley:

Of course I'm not saying there's no Mickey Mouse! But it could be said that there are curmudgeons :grumpy: with erasers out there and we need to be conscious of there existence! ;)

When my daughter was little, we integrated the spirit of Santa Claus with the baby Jesus.

I told her of the real St. Nicholas- who honored the Christ-spark within children and emulated the acts of the Magi as a remembrance.

I told her that it was such a beautiful thing, people who have come after St. Nicolas decided to keep that tradition- and that those who dressed as Santa Claus were 'helpers' to remind everyone at Christmastime.

She knew her presents came from us, but with the 'spirit' of Santa Claus in our hearts- to honor the Christ-spark that she had within HER.
I explained that 'littler' children were not old enough to understand the full story, so their parents just started with the "Santa" part- and would add the rest of the beautiful story as they got older.
She was happy with that- felt special that I considered her mature enough to know, and agreed to let the little ones discover when it was time for their parents to tell them.

Each year, she and I went shopping for a toy to be donated. We made a special day out of it. She would pick it out and we'd wrap it to her liking. We'd take it to the Post Office that day and she would carry it in and place it in the 'Toys for Tots' bin. On the way home, we'd talk about the story of the wise men giving their presents to the baby Jesus. Sometimes, she would tell ME the story. It was beautiful to hear her rendition!

We had one other tradition, gosh, until my daughter was grown- she and I would make a 'snowball' dessert for Christmas eve. Ice cream balls rolled in coconut. We would make a circle of them on our fanciest plate, and put a red birthday candle in each one. We'd light the candles, turn down the lights and we (and everyone at the table) would sing, "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus, Happy Birthday to You!" and she would get to blow out the candles.

I asked her (as an adult) how she felt about the way we did it when she was little. To her, it was perfect.

Thank you for sharing

If you want to malign someone as an example of lying look to Politics.




Santa Claus LIVES.


Stop this foolishness. The Elves will hear you and report. This is D Day. Good night SHIRT. I can't believe the people who like to live on the edge. Coal STILL EXISTS. Straighten up and fly right.




BOY HOWDY!!! BOY HOWDY!!!

VPL, earlier in the year we heard you talk about the negative things taught to kids by Halloween. I guess we didn't change your mind, because now we hear about Santa Claus teaching kids to lie. What's next, the Easter Bunny???:cryin2:

There is a Santa Claus, and I'm not lyin'. He came early this year and brought our kids through some horrendous weather up north, got them on a plane in snow and ice and dropped them at our doorstep. I believe. :wave:

If NORAD can track Santa, how can you possibly doubt?

VPL, you really do like crossing lines and stirring up pots, don't you? Hope you have the merriest of Christmases and that Santa doesn't leave you too many lumps of coal.

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[QUOTE=redwitch;800457]If NORAD can track Santa, how can you possibly doubt?

VPL, you really do like crossing lines and stirring up pots, don't you? Hope you have the merriest of Christmases and that Santa doesn't leave you too many lumps of coal.[/QUOTE

I saw Santa on tv filling a FedEx box with lumps of coal. Better watch out!

You still thinking of changing your name? VPL is definitely on the naughty list now.

Pooh, thanks for the interesting link. Merry Christmas!

That's funny! :D

Nighthawk, I think you might be on to something.

Good explanation, Carl. It does seem harmless and charming when one thinks about it in terms of how it came about.