Saint Nicholas of Myra was a real person. His story is worth sharing as he was truly selfless and generous, giving his family fortune to those who were in need, and devoting his life to serve others. My kids believe in Santa because he was very real and his spirit of giving was so powerful that it has survived hundreds of years and inspired millions of people to be generous. Sure, it’s become quite the embellished legend, but the spirit is very real. We also encourage our kids to act in the spirit of Saint Nicholas and give generously year round, and especially around Christmas time. Not saying you have to push the mythos, but the history is inspiring. My DS2 is, in part, named for him.
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Yes! We’ll definitely talk about Saint Nicholas, and how the real person inspired the mythical Santa. I loved learning about that as a kid.
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When she gets old enough, she might also be interested to learn how many of the pagan traditions and celebrations were incorporated into the season and how so many other cultures contributed to everything we know, from the ornaments to the songs and foods…it really has become a melting pot for celebrating in so many different ways.
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Yeah. We aren’t Christians/religious in any other way, but we’d like her to get to learn about lots of other beliefs, traditions and faiths. Several of our friends here in town are Jewish, and we’re looking forward to her getting to learn about Hanukah, with actual friends, rather than in an abstract of ‘other people’.
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That’s a great idea! Direct experience will create a better understanding and teach acceptance. Plus, the history of these traditions makes for fascinating reading! I am sure you will instill the love of reading!
Do you have a particular first book about him that you recommend? My daughter is 5 years old and I am planning to bring him into the conversation this season.
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Saint Nick brings the gifts here instead of Santa, and he does it on December 5, on the eve of St. Nicholas’ Day, but my parents didn’t pretend to me that he was real. But I don’t feel like I missed out at all. I still got gifts, although my parents believed in modest gift-giving, so I got books, new PJs, socks, and also gifts to pass on to my grandparents. Usually one toy. Not believing in St. Nick was a good explanation to me why other kids got a Nintendo and I got a book. Otherwise I might have thought that St. Nick liked me less than other kids. I went to a Catholic school so I did learn about the actual saint as well. A lot of the traditions in my country can be directly linked to that story (such as the giving of chocolate coins and gifts that go into a shoe instead of a stocking). Other traditions are very much linked to older Germanic traditions.
I did at one point, for a very short time, believe he existed, because one time, I was walking the dog with my mum early in December, and we bumped into St. Nick, and he even waved at me! My parents didn’t make a big deal out of it, and let me figure it out by myself. I think a couple of days later we saw another St. Nick at the mall and he didn’t look like the one we met at all. That’s when the penny dropped that grown-ups dress up and pretend they’re him. I thought it was so extremely dumb that people believed that. It was clear even to me that it wasn’t the same guy!! Of course I couldn’t have known this was basically a worldwide conspiracy and everyone knew it was fake.
But @Abbeeroad is right, traditions are super influential. I was the only kid for a long time, and I spent most of my time with my grandma and babysitter who were from the pre-war generation who didn’t understand consumer culture, and didn’t fuss about it. But my siblings are quite a bit younger and went to a daycare where they were completely indoctrinated with St. Nick. They were strong believers. I did eventually take up the Hermione role and told my siblings because I figured they were way too old to believe and they were an embarrassment to me 
I shouldn’t have, but they did believe in St. Nick way longer than most kids did, through no actions of my parents ever.
I love Christmas precisely because St. Nick is the big “thing” here. Christmas is the more casual afterthought holiday. I hear stories from friends that have kids with serious anxiety related to St. Nick and then I’m glad I never went through that as a kid. There are so many events such young kids have to attend, with so many adults, so many gifts that need to be opened, the proper response performed, many people do several gift-giving events (divorced parents, divorced grandparents, school, parents’ workplace). Poor kids, it’s way too much for them. I have a friend who has a child with autism and they’ve decided to tell him, too, and he knows in advance what gifts he’s going to get. Now it’s a fun holiday for him, and not a stressful event anymore. He feels like a really big kid because he is in the know and the other kids aren’t.
We don’t have kids, but this would have been an issue for us. Mr. Imma has a lot of memories about the magic of St. Nick and I’m sure he’d want to go all out.
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I don’t, sorry. This book tells the story of the saint, without doing much to tie him to the modern mythos … leaving that to parents. Some of the stories have a bit of a dark side, but so does life, and you can always gloss over it.
@Immaculata - it has never sat well with me that Santa would bring the big gifts. We do the four gifts thing…want/need/wear/read…and we keep it modest, simple (cozy PJs, a nicely bound story book, a LEGO set, etc). The big gifts come from Mom and Dad.
I read a story, years ago, about folding the Santa myth into reality for kids as they grow up. When a kid starts to question the truth, explain the history of the Saint and the creation of the mythos as a tradition of generosity and helping. We do it to teach children about selfless giving without the expectation of reciprocity, and, now that the child is growing up, they get to be Santa - they get to help others anonymously and keep the magic alive.
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I do have a favorite Santa movie, though! Santa Claus the Movie. There’s some magic in it, but it has so much heart. And Dudley Moore and John Lithgow. 
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That’s a wonderful way to teach older kids to be mindful and “protective” of younger kids!
My parents did the same thing…and, I tend to do it as well…I never really thought of it that way, but we always got the 4 gifts…I still buy underwear and socks for my husband (need), a book and calendar, a gift card to a favorite drum shop, and some new sweat shirts and pants! A few years ago, I decided all the gifts would be given by our cats! ha
I love that movie!
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We do this as well and add something to eat!
Xmas eve is jammies and a book with cocoa. The kids love it and would be quite disappointed if we stopped that tradition.
The day of is things we’d spend $ on anyhow - socks, undies, slippers, mitts/gloves etc, maybe a set of clothes they need for school, chargers for electronics, toiletries, then sugar cereal, chocolate, cookies, babybell cheeses. These are just fun to unwrap.
One or two nice presents they want just because & some cash.
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I freakin’ LOVED that movie as a kid. I loved the elves, and the workshop. And the little boy’s name is Joe, which is my brother’s name, and the little girl had red hair like me. We even had the storybooks that went along with the movie from a McDonald’s or Burger King tie in.
We had this one…
If my brother didn’t loathe me, I’d totally get him that for Christmas. (We stopped doing gifts for each other years ago, though I’ve done gifts for his kids on Christmas and birthdays since they were born.) And a package of Andes Mints, which he loved at Christmas, in a holly shaped dish my mom had.
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Oh goodness, I shouldn’t be allowed on eBay… I found the holly shaped dish mom had… One is $59, while another is $9. Clearly one of the less expensive ones is coming home with me.
I bought a mid-priced $16 copy that looked good as new in the pictures. Now I’m thinking about getting the dining room painted for Thanksgiving and Christmas in our new house this year.
…Someone please remind me that I need to finish Ada’s Halloween costume before I get too lost down a holiday rabbit hole! (And bind the two quilts sitting on my dining room table.)
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YES! My candy came from Patch as a kid. 
I think I had that book too, Jennie.
I really like Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s take on transitioning away from belief. He asks his kids what they think and discusses their thoughts/ideas in a way that encourages critical thinking but doesn’t “tell.” His daughter even did her own experiment with the tooth fairy.
I try to take this approach with the girls now, as they are somewhere in between belief and non-belief. I think they know I am behind everything, but still enjoy the traditions we’ve created.
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I really hope that I didn’t make anyone feel like I was criticizing their families choices about holidays. I’ve enjoyed hearing about everyone’s traditions and ideas today.
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I don’t think anything that anyone said came off as critical of other traditions. I love how everyone has such positive ways of connecting with their loved ones and communities during the darkest and coldest days (in the Northern parts of the world, anyway) of the year. Humans have thousands of years of traditions designed to infuse the times of greatest hardships with togetherness and positivity - it’s wonderful.
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This is what we decided as well. My husband didn’t want to do Santa, but I enjoyed it as a kid so we compromised by Santa bringing an “A” ornament (our son’s first letter of his name), a book, and some treats. No big fuss.
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He’s adorable! And he matches the card perfectly.
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You find the cutest little patterns! Sorry you had a frustrating day, but what a positive way to vent!
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