I think my daughter was the last of her friends to believe in Santa Claus. So imagine my surprise when she handed me her Dear Santa Christmas List. What!!! This list is truly written by someone living in a parallel universe where I am rich and gullible. GTA5, is she nuts Grand Theft Auto? Even if she was a teenager I would never spend my hard earned money on one of the most violent games on the market. And asking for gaming headphones. She doesn’t even have access to other gamers.
But the kicker is asking for a video camera and a computer on the list. I don’t think so. We do need a new computer, ours is 8 years old which is a hundred in technology years but if I were to buy a computer, it would be for me.
Paring down the Christmas List, I talked about how I was paring down, unfortunately my daughter did not get the memo. Santa did bring her a video camcorder and mom brought all the boring gifts. After she opened all her gifts, you could tell she was visibly disappointed that she did not everything on her list. I know she will survive but it is a turning point in her life that she can not expect to get everything on her Dear Santa list.
At what age, did your child have that disappointed face at Christmas?
We told our kids they can only ask for one thing from santa…and if it’s not something we are willing to buy, we just discuss what better options there might be…one kid wanted to ask for an ipad…but then we couldnt get just the one…we have three kids (10, 9 and 7) and who can afford three ipads? Lol
Not us!!
So they just got excited about other things 🙂
3 ipads is a total LOL!
No clue, mine are still little. But I’ve heard of people saying that Santa doesn’t bring electronics, therefore no disappointment over expensive electronics that parents can’t purchase.
why didnt I think of the no electronics rule ah too late!
It is hard to see your child disappointed , but she will be a stronger adult in the end! It must be difficult raising a child in a city where there is so much money. Metro Atlanta (where we live) is bad enough but I can’t imagine how it is in NYC.
I will admit there is a lot of money in this town and I have friend who make way more than I do but they don’t really spoil their kids at christmas. They spend their money on other things like annual trips to Aspen or Italy and have second homes.
We have 6 kids and we’ve always told them they can only ask Santa for one thing. We told them Santa has millions of boys and girls to take care of so they’ve never asked for anything too big. To cover our bases, we also told them that Santa doesn’t bring anything that’s not okay with parents 🙂
I love your take on Santa only brings presents you approve. 6 kids thats tough to manage all those expectations
Santa is alwways a touchy subjeect as to when kids believe or dont believe. I have a suspicion your daughter doesnt really believ in him anymore but truly wants to and that might have spurred the unrealistic gift list. It’s kind of like ‘if you are out there, prove it’ thing. If Santa is ‘real’ he would bring everything on her list. No clue why she would want a Grand theft game or gamer headphones if she has access to neither… it wouldnt even be things she wants or needs.
I have to agree with the above posters- Santa only brings ONE gift. It has to be just one, as he does have a lot of kids to bring gifts to, and he couldn’t carry them all. Thats if she is truly believing- if not, then they presents come from Mom.
I will tell you what my Mom did and looking back it was kind of neat. I was the oldest and had three younger brothers.. being the oldest, I of course realized Santa wasnt real first. When I got to that point, my Mom turned me into an ‘ELF’ which was really fun. I got to help shop for my brothers and get their gift from Santa and also help do th stockings (she always made a big deal out of wrapping every single thing in the stockings from little toys to candy) I think this also taught me the joy of seeing others believe and the ideea that the spirit of Santa is more of a feeling rather than a person handing out gifts willy nilly. It also showed me just how much love and effort my Mom put into being Santa or gift giving in general.
I dont think she really believes anymore but likes the idea of the list but everyone is right. Santa brings one big gift and that’s it.
At a certain point, every child can begin to understand it’s not JUST about the presents….yes, everyone has things they want…but it’s a great opportunity to begin to introduce the idea that holidays that you share with your loving family is a present too.
That is so true especially since we have spent the last few years celebrating christmas with friends and no one compares gifts.