[Jule'sMomInOR]

Do you plan to tell your LO about Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy?

I'm still undecided about going all out with the Santa lie or telling her straight up that Santa is a fun game to pretend.

[breathing for two]

I don't think so. It might be easier because everyone else is perpetrating the ideas but I really want to be honest with my kids.
I also think that holidays can still be fun and magical without the characters.

[angelsailor288]

I plan to do Santa and all that with him. I have very fond memories of Santa and would like to have the same with Nicholas. They can only be young and carefree and full of imagination for such a short time. It doesnt harm them to believe in Santa

[mgm78]

hard one. we do not do easter bunny, but Santa i did not want santa to bring all the gifts, so only some were from him. will probably do the tooth fairy.

[alwayssmile]

We do Santa, but Santa just stuffs the stocking and brings one unwrapped gift. If he left more than that, he wouldn't have time to see everyone in the world. It's such a small part of our holiday traditions that I don't feel bad about it. If he asks I'll tell the truth.
The Easter Bunny came today at lunch time, but I'm honestly not sure if we'll keep up the Easter Bunny thing. I like doing egg dying, Easter baskets, and hunting for eggs; but I'm not so sure about the whole large creepy bunny deal leaving stuff the morning that Christ rose (we've Catholic). I like the whole getting a fun basket of a few goodies after mass though just because it's a good way for me to treat DS at a time of the year that's far from his birthday without DH complaining.
Tooth Fairy won't visit. I'm not willing to sneak into my kids rooms and attempt to remove a tooth and replace it with money. Way too much work and I'd totally get caught. I'd rather the kid give me his tooth and I hand him a quarter or something ya know? lol

I really dont know. I believed in all of those when I was little and when I realized that Santa was not real Christmas was never the same. I dont want to lie to DS but I dont want to make it less fun. As far as the religious aspect of holidays, we are not religious so we have to make it more creative.

[HappyHippy]

Nope. ds1 knows there is no Santa or Easter Bunny. We celebrate the holidays, but Santa and other things are just part of the spirit, not actual people/things. We celebrate La Befana more than Santa (she's a Christmas witch, a good one) but again she is just part of the spirit.

We don't do Santa or the Easter Bunny. For us it's because we want to keep Christmas and Easter about Jesus and we think Santa and the Easter Bunny only distract from the real reason we celebrate on those holidays. We have other traditions that we do instead of those things. I'm thinking we won't do the tooth fairy either although at this point Eva loves the idea of the tooth fairy (she saw it on Super Why and has loved it ever since). She knows that it's just pretend and is a fun story.

[Purrrrrrr]

Santa--yes. I love Santa and I love the Santa Claus story. When he gets older and asks me if Santa is real, I have this awesome handout I got in a folklore class in college I plan to re-do and show him about how the story of Santa evolved and what he represents. And if he has any siblings, then he'll get to stay up late and play Santa for them too.

Easter Bunny: I hate that stupid rabbit. The story never, ever made sense to me. I love David Sedaris trying to explain the Easter Bunny to french students. Heeeelarious. I told DH that he gets to decide on whether the Bunny lives or doesn't at our house and he decided he does. Soooo, that one is all him. No matter what, we'll do baskets, egg hunts, and Easter eggs.

Tooth Fairy: Meh. I guess we will. But teeth creep me out so that one's on DH too.

[spicymustard]

I grew up doing those things although we aren't religious at all. I like the idea of the magic of Santa and the whole egg decorating and egg finding stuff however I don't like how commercial all of these holidays have become. To me they are about family togetherness. For Christmas "Santa" brought them one gift each. For Easter they got one thing each. And they know that we fill and hide eggs.

[ashj_1218]

Yep...we do them. I don't really "lie" about them. But I do talk about the characters and what they "do." Kids have such a blurry line between fantasy and reality, even if they know they are fun and make believe, it is still magical. I won't overtly deny it is pretend, if they ask. But at this age, they are little and believing in a kind character who leaves presents for good little boys is not gonna damage them. We talk about the different versions of Santa and will teach them about all the different ways other countries celebrate Christmas (as well as the real meaning behind it, even though we are not really religious). We talk about Easter and why people celebrate it. And we will do the tooth fairy too.

Santa still visits me at my parents house. And my brothers. And always has. We just gradually came to the knowledge that he was a fun pretend character and make it special in our own ways. Like others, Santa does stockings and one gift. We give each boy three more (one for each wiseman). We also do shoes outside the door (which get filled with "treats") and the pickle on the tree. We are full of traditions

[alwayssmile]

Originally Posted by Purrrrrrr

Easter Bunny: I hate that stupid rabbit. The story never, ever made sense to me. I love David Sedaris trying to explain the Easter Bunny to french students. Heeeelarious.

[TheOnlyPink]

We do santa, and thats it. I love the whole magic of christmas, the anticipation and the excitement. I dont think it would be that strong if it wasnt for the wonder of santa. I dont think i could personally create that kind of holiday, because we grew up with santa and I use all the same ideas my mom used with us. i had no ill effects from finding out about santa, only really happy memories. I want the same for my boys.

Easter bunny, no. easter isnt a big thing in our family, and I dont have the heart to make it fun.

tooth fairy, not sure about yet tbh.

[marieks85]

Yeah we are going to do them. When I was a child, my parents let us believe in Santa and the Easter Bunny and we loved it. Even when I found out that they were not real, it did not bother me because I was old enough to understand the true meaning of holidays by the point. It is just something fun that you can only enjoy as a child so I figure why not?

[joonzgurl]

I will be doing them as well. My parents did it for me, so I want to do it for her because I remember the excitement, oh the excitement!!!

[KiwiMommy]

I just asked SO and he said he doesn't really want to do them. Personally, I was on the fence. I didn't mention the Easter Bunny this year at all. We colored eggs, hid plastic ones with toys and she got a basket but never mentioned any bunny hiding them.
I think we'll just skip them and explain that Santa was real and what he did and that now he's a fun game to pretend.. I'm worried the kiddos will spoil it for someone else's child though, which would make me feel awful.

[lrowe70]

Not sure, I was raised with all that stuff and my husband wasn't.

[Purrrrrrr]

I just realized that when I found out about Santa, we started doing presents for the Angel Tree kids. We've been doing this for so long I'd totally forgotten exactly when we started. I guess that was my mom's way of allowing me to be Santa for another a child.