We had talked (JDaniel and me) about how Santa was based on a wonderful man that live long ago named St. Nick. I had mentioned that presents come on Christmas Day in remembrance of this wonderful man. We had also read books that had Santa in them. I tried not to make a big deal about him.
All seemed to be going well until we need to stop at our local BI-Lo for milk one evening. Seriously all we went in the store for was milk. We got a whole lot more than milk on this visit.
Right inside the doorway of the BI-Lo is a photo studio. (Not all BI-Los have them. The one closest to us does.) Right outside of the photo studio in front of the frozen foods was set up an area where you could have a picture taken with Santa. Sitting right on an emerald green wingback chair was Santa as happy and jolly as could be.
JDaniel had never seen Santa outside of a book. This man in a white beards and read suit stopped him cold in his tracks. Peeking at him from behind my legs JDaniel waved and smiled broadly. When Santa invited him to come and sit with him, JDaniel suddenly remembered we needed to get milk and guided me quickly away from Santa and through the frozen foods to the milk cooler.
After retrieving and paying for the milk, we headed out the door and JDaniel looked back at Santa’s chair and Santa was gone. “Where did he go?” JDaniel asked. I told him I thought Santa needed to go and eat dinner just like we did. JDaniel seemed think that made sense.
While eating dinner that night, I asked JDaniel to tell his dad who we saw at the grocery store. “I saw the real Santa,” he said, “Right there at BI-Lo.”
I guess we have seen Santa and for the next few years he is real.
How did you handle Santa at your house?
Aww that’s so cute!! I love this age =)
With my own daughter, we always had fun with the idea of Santa but I was never very good at “keeping the secret”. I made lots of “Santa mistakes” that revealed small snippets of the truth.
I guess I just never believed in Santa as a child. I had 5 older siblings that settled that idea pretty early for me but we always had fun with the idea. My mom signed gifts from, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” We did have fun saying “Santa was coming and we better go to bed” or that “you better be good so Santa will bring you gifts!” But it was always a given in our house that we enjoyed the idea of Santa as a part of making Christmas fun. Santa might have been looked at by me as being just a bit more real than Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer but not much more than that.
When raising my own daughter – I never said one way or another whether Santa was real or not. I could tell that my daughter believed in the idea of being good so she would get a present or going to bed early so Santa would come but she didn’t really ever believe in the person – if that makes sense. LOL – it worked out well for us:)
I love how your son decided that this was the real Santa. Too cute and funny!
oo kinda a sweet story! We are going to let Sammy believe in him until he asks if he is real or not then we will tell the truth. I grew up believing in hims and don’t have any issues understanding the real reason for the season or not believing my parents later.
I think the random Santa sightings can be hard and confusing for kids because they don’t understand how he can be at all those places and also that he looks different.
We are still in full Santa mode at our house, despite my daughter being 12 and son being 10! I think she knows but so far doesn’t want to let on that she does. We tried broaching it but she didn’t want to hear about it so we dropped it. I know there will be a few tears when she does accept it.
We told them when they were younger that the Santa’s around town, at the mall, etc. were really Santa helpers who would take their lists and get them to the North Pole. They were for the tiny toddlers who needed to sit on “Santa”s lap and get their picture with him.
This is just to cute. I am a new follower feel free to follow me at http://mysliceofsanity.blogspot.com/
Santa comes to our house. we are very much a if you believe you “get” Santa gifts. If you don’t believe you still get family gifts. My oldest is 11 so he’s keeping the believing going for the younger two and not telling them what he knows one way or the other. I want them to come to the truth on their own. I’ll play the game though, it’s a fun game for everyone. Santa brought me a MOP!!! 🙂 It plugs in the wall. YAY! Santa.
This is such a cute story! It’s amazing to me that Georgia is still excited about the idea of Santa, even after her scary real-life experience with the big guy. We didn’t make a big deal out of him, but he did give her a few gifts, and she said, “Yay! Santa Claus!” every time she opened one from him.
What a sweet story. I’m still in shock … our oldest Grand discoverd there was no Santa this year. It was sad.
I love it in the frozen food section … hehe
We’ve always talked about Santa and will probably due it for a few more years. But the boys also know what the true meaning of the season is too!
My 11 year old still believes in Santa. I think when he does find out he might play along for his little sister.
Yes, my kids believe in Santa. But, it is hard to keep up the charade especially when you can find him everywhere this time of year!
We are debating what we will do right now. I think we will have Santa bring one gift and stuff stockings each year. It was really to fun to believe in him as a kid, so I think it will be fun for us to do.
How cute is that!!! Nice memory!
Stopping by from Stumble Tumble Tuesday!
Kristin 🙂
Keenly Kristin
I’m going to be the odd one out! We never believed in Santa, and although our kids get gifts from us and from relatives, they’ve always known the presents were from us. I don’t want to sound all sanctimonious, but I just couldn’t do the whole ‘Santa is real and it’s amazingly miraculous how he gets into every home all around the world’…thing! I think my kids would have had so many questions, and I’d be lying for about 3 months of the year!
However, when our children were younger (and still with our 7yr old), we warn them over and over NOT to say to anyone else that he’s not real. When our kids were very young, they’d say, ‘But Mum…Why?…. because he’s not’. So I’d have to say that some children believe in him and they MUST NOT spoil it on them. (I know from experience that I can end up with extremely irate parents…..eeek!)
Love, Anne (from a very mild Isle of Lewis, Scotland) x
We do the whole Santa thing…
I think it is fun to see the excitement in their faces!
I think the Santa thing is fun. But I remember finding out he wasn’t real at a very young age and being angry at my parents for lying to me and being embarrassed for believing them. So I’m to sure how I want to handle it. Am I denying him a fun Christmas tradition if I don’t tell him Santa is real? Or am I setting Hubs and myself up for a distrusting child if we do? Q will only be 9 months old this Christmas, so I get a pass this year. But next year, we’ll have to decide.