Mother Talkers

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  • My son (0 / 0)

    who is an online playgroup pal of Mkatherine's daugher, sees Santa and Christmas as sort of a curiosity associated with "other" kids and families.  I've just said to him that we don't celebrate Christmas or Santa, but that many of his friends do.  I've been afraid that he's going to tell someone that Santa isn't real - especially when we had a deep philosophical discussion about fantasy/reality and supersition.

    To be honest, Santa doesn't come up in conversation much.  He's caught up in his own life - school, family, Hannukah, friends, etc.

    This year we are going to my MIL's for the first time to do Christmas - but again, my son sees it as something related to her and not us.  He knows Dad used to believe in Christmas, but hasn't pushed it too much.

    The Tooth Fairy OTOH, still lives in our house.  First and Second Grade are very busy times for the TF.  Seth has told me that he wants to "test" if the tooth fairy is real, by putting a tooth under his pillow without telling me.  That way he'd know for sure if it's me or a fairy.  He's not quite ready to let go, but his logical side is tugging at him.

    Reminds me of when we went to Disney when my daughter was 5.  She "knew" Mickey was pretend, sort of, but insisted that it was "really" his house we visited.  We just left it all without comment, and she was happy.

    by Sue in Queens on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 12:18:26 PM PDT

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    • Clever experiment (0 / 0)

      I'm smiling over the test of the tooth fairy :).

      It sounds like we can compartmentalize Santa if we decide to "do" Santa .... Santa can be about my parents, who are the ones keen to keep doing Christmas anyway.

      Thanks, Sue.

      RachelD

      by RachelD on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 05:27:14 PM PDT

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    • santa belongs to christmas here to0 (0 / 0)

      my son is 5 and is going through this phase of wonderment of the xmas lights. It's also the first year he has gone to a non-jewish daycare in 2 years -- so first time he is conscious of xmas and has it in his face. In fact, he brought home a stocking made from construction paper which is part of their learning about all holidays. Still hard for me to deal with, but it's important to me that he learn how to deal with xmas from the start. We are talking a lot about how Santa is part of Xmas which is not something we celebrate. We are very careful to talk about Hannukah -- not as a Xmas-wannabe holiday but as part of the Jewish calendar year, in Jewish terms. By the time we light the 7 Hannukah menorahs, he pretty much forgets about Santa.

      ds 9/01, baby R 1/07

      by brave on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 06:24:26 PM PDT

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