It’s SANTA!!!

Posted: December 18, 2010 at 5:37 pm

I know him! I know him!!!! SANTA!!!!!!!!

I love the movie Elf. By far my favorite holiday movie. And I think that scene is my absolute favorite part. That and when the taxi bumps him. Cracks me up every time.

Anyways, Makenzie got to visit Santa for the first time today. This morning we attended a holiday party with the Mom’s Club. I slept in again, then got little Miss M decked out in her holiday gear. How adorable is she?!!!

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I can’t get over it, either. I also can’t get over how fantastic Teri’s Pumpkin Gingerbread tastes!!! It was a huge hit with everyone and with good reason.

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I made sure to munch on some, along with fruit, a couple of donut holes, and an egg/ham/cheese casserole. I love breakfast food!

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Once we all finished breakfast the excitement began. SANTA!!!! It’s quite humorous to watch the reactions of the kids. It’s like 50/50 of screams of joy and screams of terror. I didn’t know what to expect with Makenzie – would she cry out in fear or not want to leave his side?

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Totally the latter. She LOVED Santa! She kept trying to sneak closer to him during story time or back in the line to see him again.

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Then, when he passed out a present to all of the kids, she became a huge fan. I told Peter we’re in trouble because now she will expect a gift from every Santa we visit.

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And little miss needs to grow a few inches before hugging Santa again. That first picture looks totally inappropriate!

I’m so thankful Peter agreed to the whole Santa thing. His family never did Santa, based on religious purposes, and I can completely understand the foundation of their decision. Christmas is not about a jolly guy in a red suit and getting lots of presents. However, the magic of Santa is so special for children. I remember the excitement of Santa and didn’t want Makenzie to miss out on it. Plus, I didn’t want her to be the kid who ruins it for the other ones.

We came to the conclusion that Santa will be a part of our Christmas traditions, but that he will also have a meaning. Santa likes to give out presents to all the children of the world because he likes to show love like Jesus and give to others. That is who Santa is in this house. He hopes for the children to show love to others too and be thankful for Jesus. We also include traditions to say “Happy Birthday Jesus” and more often talk about Jesus than Santa in this household. It’s important to me to have the meaning, but also to have the fun and magic. So, there you go. More than you likely cared to know about our stance on Santa.

  • If you celebrated Santa, what is one of your best Santa memories? Or how long did you believe?
  • What’s your favorite meal of the day? Breakfast, lunch, dinner?

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43 Comments to “It’s SANTA!!!”
  1. OMG she’s a doll!!!! So glad she didn’t freak out 😉

  2. Cynthia says:

    She is so cute!!

    I love breakfast foods too. It’s my favorite meal of the day. 🙂

  3. lindsay says:

    oh she is just precious! This makes me feel like a kid again. THe excitment, the joy, the laughter!! Take lots and lots of pics this christmas!
    🙂

  4. Heather says:

    um, you’re on the fitness website?! holy awesome! i’m so proud 🙂

  5. Oh my goodness I laughed so hard at the “inappropriate” Santa picture. She is so cute!

    My sister has a 13 month old little girl, and we were talking about the great Santa debate today as well. I think the path you have chosen is the perfect compromise!

    I loooove breakfast! 🙂

  6. I love how you are approaching the Santa issue! Your meaning of Santa is exactly how I would tell my children. You are setting a great example! 🙂

    And she is tooooooo cute! 🙂

    I believed in Santa until I was 10 or 11 I believe. Maybe a little less? I don’t remember how I found out. I think I figured it out when I realized that Santa’s writing looked a whole like my mom’s. 😉

    My favorite meal of the day is breakfast because it’s one of the only times of day I have to myself. 🙂

  7. Pumpkin and gingerbread sounds fantastic!! Brunch is my favorite meal, there are so many tasty options 🙂

  8. Lisa says:

    hahahhahaha thats so funny, “Little miss needs to grow a little bit before hugging Santa again.” omgg, thats so funny.

  9. I love breakfast food too- I can eat it for any meal!

  10. Oh thank you thank you for linking to the pumpkin gingerbread recipe!! I will be making that SOON. Little Miss is a little princess! Mine’s six and still a princess.

  11. Love your position on Santa. That’s kind of how we raised my daughter. She LOVED believing in Santa, and held onto the belief longer than most of her friends. One day not long after Christmas one year (I can’t even remember how old she was now) on the way home from day care she informed me that the kids said Santa wasn’t real and she demanded to know the truth. It was time. I told her I would tell her the truth only after she made an oath to never repeat what I was going to tell her to anyone younger than her. I even made her hold up her hand to promise. And I said, “Santa isn’t real.” Then I went into the whole Spirit of Santa thing, with kindness, and tradition and blah blah blah…she was bawling by now. Then, in-between sobs she said, “What about the Easter Bunny?” “Nope, not real.” Sob sob sob. “What about Leprechauns?” I hesitated and told her they might be real in some places in Ireland. At home she went in her room, lied on her bed, and cried for a long long time. Just about broke my heart.

    • Tina says:

      I’m not looking forward to that time. Although I have to say that I giggled about her asking about leprechauns. Seems so random. Haha!

  12. Meg says:

    Thanks for passing along the pumpkin gingerbread recipe– I’m making it for a Christmas party tonight! 🙂

  13. Astrid says:

    My favorite memories are the christmas parties that my mom’s work would have. Santa was the same guy every year. I understood that it was my parent’s friend, but I still believed in Santa. I think part of my still does, and that part of me never believed that he actually brought my presents. I know my parents did. You see, I lived on the 8th floor of an apartment building. No chimney for him to climb up or down!
    I remember getting a present from him every year. There were presents for every age group! So fun.

  14. Haha hugging Santa comment made me giggle!
    She looks adorable:)

  15. I think you’re really beautiful and I feel really warm when I’m around you and my tongue swells up….
    So… do you wanna eat food?

    hahaha BEST movie!!

  16. Katie says:

    I.Love.ELF!

    I like your Santa ‘compromise’ too. I think both parts of Christmas are important – the Santa and presents traditions and remembering the religious significance. I hope to fully embrace both with my kids.

  17. chelsey says:

    Okay, I totally did not notice the “inappropriateness” of the first picture until you pointed it out, and I think I peed a little from laughing so stinking hard. Hilarious!

    We always did Santa in our house – I think I’ll do the same thing you are doing by explaining WHY Santa is a part of Christmas. I will definitely connect it to Christianity and Jesus for sure.

  18. Camille says:

    Elf is Christmas magic at its best. Hands down in my top 3 favorite Christmas movies!

  19. Aww! We’re definitely going to do Santa in our house. I didn’t have it growing up because my mom had an experience as a child when her best friended outted him as a fake. It was apparently traumatic. haha

  20. Lee says:

    Being Jewish, we didn’t do Santa obviously. But I honestly don’t know what my parents told me about him. I’m sure I knew what Santa was, but I don’t think I went around telling my friends that he wasn’t real. I actually asked my dad about this over Thanksgiving and he couldn’t remember either. I think my family just told me that we didn’t believe in Santa rather than he was not real.

  21. Becca says:

    M is SOOOOOOO cute!! I watched so many little cuties today, a couple of whom were dressed in Christmas outfits. Too cute. 🙂

    You’re right, that scene is possibly the best. Ever. 🙂
    I watched parts of two Rudolph-related movies–well, and Kung Fu Panda. 😛 And we also had the Glee Christmas album going. It was a churchy Christmas party, and it was fun. I did nursery, hence little ones. 🙂

    I like the idea of Santa, the story behind him, that kind of thing. My view of him is pretty much the same as yours—he gives gifts because he wants to, and it’s a parallel to Jesus, because He was the best present ever. 🙂

    I really like breakfast food. Like, eggbake and pancakes and stuff like that? YUM. 😀 It sounds like I may be getting a cinnamon roll tomorrow morning, and I’m kind of excited. 🙂

  22. I’ve only seen Elf once and thought it was cute, I need to see if I can find on Netflix to watch it instantly soon. I have Christmas Vacation on repeat right now, I love this movie so much!

    Dinner is my favorite meal of the day b/c it’s the one I spend the most time on and put alot of thought into it (most days at least!)

    PS-Can I get my secret santa’s email address? I wanted to thank her. Also, my recap post of my gift is here:

    http://simplyshaka.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/oh-yeah-this-past-week/

    I was going to email you but I thought why not kill two birds with one stone?

    • Tina says:

      Got it all marked down in my trusty spreadsheet! 🙂

      And I will try to remember to email you her address. If you don’t get one in the next day or two feel free to remind me.

  23. Cuteness overload @ Mackenzie sitting on Santa’s lap. My heart just melted! Seriously!! 😀 <3

  24. Priyanka says:

    Mackenzie looks so cute, she is a doll!!

    I am not a breakfast lover, I have started compulsively eating it everyday. My favorite meal hence has to be dinner!

  25. Ela says:

    Did I miss your news about the fitness thing? Congrats in order? Congrats!

    Glad M didn’t freak out at Santa – fascinating how scary he can be. I lol’d at your comment that she needs to grow a few inches – hadn’t even noticed that particular picture’s innuendo…

    I love that you’re giving Santa some spiritual significance as opposed to just making him this random commercial guy.

    I’m a smoothie lover, so probably breakfast foods? Not really sure what my favorite is.
    love
    Ela

  26. Shannon says:

    I feel the same way about Santa. I can’t imagine Christmas without the magic of Santa. I’ve always felt that Santa exemplifies all the Jesus teaches.

  27. Allie says:

    I like the way you approach Santa… A lot of people in my church didn’t want their kids to believe but my parents let me and I turned out fine 🙂 breakfast looks great 🙂 I love quiche or pancakes!

  28. Awww that’s adorable that she likes him so much!! I stopped believing in the Easter bunny and Tooth Fairy when I was eight, but I think Santa wasn’t until I was ten. And my favorite meal on Christmas is definitely dinner!

  29. I remember clearly one Christmas realizing that “santa’s” handwriting looked exactly like my dad’s (Santa would always write a letter to my brother and I), and that’s when I knew the truth!

  30. Katie H says:

    M is so adorable. I love her festive outfit! I stopped believing in fourth grade- I remember the exact moment I found out because it was such a shock, haha. Ah, gotta love childlike innocence.

  31. Susan says:

    I love ELF!! Esp when he screams Santa!

    My favorite meal of the day is Breakfast – bar none! 🙂

  32. agreed: “However, the magic of Santa is so special for children. ”

    and scott’s jewish and we are in agreement that we are raising skylar half and half. and that for my half, santa is in full force:) and scott is fully on board. it’s more about the magic than anything for us. i could go on and on but echo everything u wrote in your post!

  33. Jess says:

    SO interesting to me, Tina – your approach about Santa. I struggle with it, personally as my mom never had us “believe” in Santa. We knew of the “story” but never did we believe in it. My husband, on the other hand, believes in the joy of Santa and wants our kids (if we have them someday) to experience it. I LOVE your approach to how you are telling M the Santa story. I may need to borrow it, IF the need arises one day 😉

  34. […] WP Greet Box WordPress PluginI’m in love with yesterday. It was seriously such a good day! After the holiday brunch party, we came home and I had a little bit of time to relax and enjoy my Saturday. Only a little bit of […]

  35. Growing up, my sister and I never believed in Santa, but I look forward to one day having my kids believe in the magic that is Santa (and of course not losing sight of the real reason for celebrating Christmas).

    Little M looks so cute!

  36. Errign says:

    I loved ELF too! A local theatre had a showing of it this year, so getting to enjoy it in the theatre again with popcorn & a glass of wine was fabulous!

    I’m glad M loved Santa!

  37. I LOVE Elf too!!! That part cracks me up!! SANTA!!!!

    I believed in Santa until I was about 8 years old…and when I found out he wasn’t real, it was horrible! I remember finding a letter to santa in my baby book and asking mom why it was in there…she told me the news and I was soo bummed!

    My fave meal of the day is breakfast…I seriously could eat breakfast food at every meal!

  38. What a GREAT idea on giving Santa a purpose! I’ll have to remember that when we have kids!

  39. Love the family pic w/ Santa! In the second grade I defended Santa w/ all of my heart only later to find out he wasn’t real. I told my second-grade friend that I KNEW he was real! He left me notes, he ate the cookies and the reindeer dropped one of their carrots that I left them in our yard. I later found out my dad threw the carrots into the woods and he missed one. My dad ate the cookies I made for Santa. My dad wrote the notes, disguising his handwriting. I felt like a dorky jerk and WRONG but hey, I stood up for what I thought was right at the time and defended my Santa! But Santa was not that big a part of my Christmases. My mother said she always made sure I knew that most of the gifts came from Mom and Dad and they worked hard for them. And that Jesus is the reason of the season!

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