Santa dilemma

InTenSity wrote:Since we have thousands of outstanding citizens and A++++ parents that post here, I thought I would pose this question. My 5 year old caught me off guard last week on the way to the store. Out of nowhere she asks me, 'Daddy, is Santa real?' I'm like WTF, why are you asking this when you are 5?!? What is the reason for asking this. I kind of dodged the question. I asked her why she was asking. Her answer is that she's never seen Santa, so she can't be sure he's real. I replied back with, do you want McDonalds or Publix chicken for dinner? I'm not hugely religious, but Xmas isnt' really that much of a religious holiday anyway, at the same time, I would like her to have a childhood. There is no reason to grow up fast. For now my wife and I have changed the subject but she's a smart girl and this isn't going to last too long. Should we tell her the truth, or lie to her and tell her he's real. I kinda told her if she believes he's real, then he's real.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

MiamiSpartan wrote:
Isn't your daughter a little young to be drinking? Or what does the Winter Solstice fairy bring her?

What kind of a tree do you get for a Winter Solstice Tree?

I'm gonna exercise my right not to answer the first question.

my wife and I differ on the Winter Solstice tree - I like a good blue spruce. I dig the blue-ish hue.. and the branches are nice and strong, so it'll hold the liquor bottles.

I like my trees to be able to hold their liquor.

my wife kinda digs the ones with the big long needles.. I forget what they're called - maybe a white pine??

Lemme google it.

okay, I'm back.

Yeah - she digs the white pines.. longer needles, with the more flowing branches.

InTenSity wrote:I'm getting a fucking palm tree!

Guys this is about me, not about you. FOSUC!!

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:We get a festivus pole and my mom dances around it for 12 nights like kwanza

MiamiSpartan wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I'm gonna exercise my right not to answer the first question.

my wife and I differ on the Winter Solstice tree - I like a good blue spruce. I dig the blue-ish hue.. and the branches are nice and strong, so it'll hold the liquor bottles.

I like my trees to be able to hold their liquor.

my wife kinda digs the ones with the big long needles.. I forget what they're called - maybe a white pine??

Lemme google it.

okay, I'm back.

Yeah - she digs the white pines.. longer needles, with the more flowing branches.

Bob, I hate to tell you this, but you're doing Christmas, my friend. You can call it something else, but you're sucked into the commercialism just as much as the rest of us.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

MiamiSpartan wrote:
Isn't your daughter a little young to be drinking? Or what does the Winter Solstice fairy bring her?

What kind of a tree do you get for a Winter Solstice Tree?

I'm gonna exercise my right not to answer the first question.

my wife and I differ on the Winter Solstice tree - I like a good blue spruce. I dig the blue-ish hue.. and the branches are nice and strong, so it'll hold the liquor bottles.

I like my trees to be able to hold their liquor.

my wife kinda digs the ones with the big long needles.. I forget what they're called - maybe a white pine??

Lemme google it.

okay, I'm back.

Yeah - she digs the white pines.. longer needles, with the more flowing branches.

LooseGoose wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I'm gonna exercise my right not to answer the first question.

my wife and I differ on the Winter Solstice tree - I like a good blue spruce. I dig the blue-ish hue.. and the branches are nice and strong, so it'll hold the liquor bottles.

I like my trees to be able to hold their liquor.

my wife kinda digs the ones with the big long needles.. I forget what they're called - maybe a white pine??

Lemme google it.

okay, I'm back.

Yeah - she digs the white pines.. longer needles, with the more flowing branches.

So she wants at least one thing in the house to have longer needles?

LooseGoose wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:I'm gonna exercise my right not to answer the first question.

my wife and I differ on the Winter Solstice tree - I like a good blue spruce. I dig the blue-ish hue.. and the branches are nice and strong, so it'll hold the liquor bottles.

I like my trees to be able to hold their liquor.

my wife kinda digs the ones with the big long needles.. I forget what they're called - maybe a white pine??

Lemme google it.

okay, I'm back.

Yeah - she digs the white pines.. longer needles, with the more flowing branches.

So she wants at least one thing in the house to have longer needles?

MSU addict wrote:My daughter is a precocious 3 1/2 year-old. My wife is Jewish and I pretty much take Bob's view of the holiday. We never mentioned Santa, we never had a Christmas tree.

Last year when she was 2 1/2 my daughter informed us about Santa Claus and exactly what he would be bringing her. We played a long and even got a tree.

If I were in your position (and I probably will be soon) I doubt I would flat out lie to her.

InTenSity wrote:Since we have thousands of outstanding citizens and A++++ parents that post here, I thought I would pose this question. My 5 year old caught me off guard last week on the way to the store. Out of nowhere she asks me, 'Daddy, is Santa real?' I'm like WTF, why are you asking this when you are 5?!? What is the reason for asking this. I kind of dodged the question. I asked her why she was asking. Her answer is that she's never seen Santa, so she can't be sure he's real. I replied back with, do you want McDonalds or Publix chicken for dinner? I'm not hugely religious, but Xmas isnt' really that much of a religious holiday anyway, at the same time, I would like her to have a childhood. There is no reason to grow up fast. For now my wife and I have changed the subject but she's a smart girl and this isn't going to last too long. Should we tell her the truth, or lie to her and tell her he's real. I kinda told her if she believes he's real, then he's real.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Hey InTenSity - what's the latest, dude??

msuspartan4eva wrote:

InTenSity wrote:Since we have thousands of outstanding citizens and A++++ parents that post here, I thought I would pose this question. My 5 year old caught me off guard last week on the way to the store. Out of nowhere she asks me, 'Daddy, is Santa real?' I'm like WTF, why are you asking this when you are 5?!? What is the reason for asking this. I kind of dodged the question. I asked her why she was asking. Her answer is that she's never seen Santa, so she can't be sure he's real. I replied back with, do you want McDonalds or Publix chicken for dinner? I'm not hugely religious, but Xmas isnt' really that much of a religious holiday anyway, at the same time, I would like her to have a childhood. There is no reason to grow up fast. For now my wife and I have changed the subject but she's a smart girl and this isn't going to last too long. Should we tell her the truth, or lie to her and tell her he's real. I kinda told her if she believes he's real, then he's real.

It's a 'white' lie. Dude's real. I'll never forgive or forget my wife's bitchy Grandma told my daughter he wasn't real when she was around 7. Not cool.

Turtleneck wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote:Hey InTenSity - what's the latest, dude??

Are you buying a blue spruce or white pine?

msuspartan4eva wrote:

InTenSity wrote:Since we have thousands of outstanding citizens and A++++ parents that post here, I thought I would pose this question. My 5 year old caught me off guard last week on the way to the store. Out of nowhere she asks me, 'Daddy, is Santa real?' I'm like WTF, why are you asking this when you are 5?!? What is the reason for asking this. I kind of dodged the question. I asked her why she was asking. Her answer is that she's never seen Santa, so she can't be sure he's real. I replied back with, do you want McDonalds or Publix chicken for dinner? I'm not hugely religious, but Xmas isnt' really that much of a religious holiday anyway, at the same time, I would like her to have a childhood. There is no reason to grow up fast. For now my wife and I have changed the subject but she's a smart girl and this isn't going to last too long. Should we tell her the truth, or lie to her and tell her he's real. I kinda told her if she believes he's real, then he's real.

It's a 'white' lie. Dude's real. I'll never forgive or forget my wife's bitchy Grandma told my daughter he wasn't real when she was around 7. Not cool.

steveschneider wrote:What is the average age to stop believing in Santa? by first grade I stopped believing.

InTenSity wrote:The question hasn't come up again. I'm not bringing it up. We decided if she asks again, we're going to ask her how she would feel if he isn't real. She remembers everything and notices everything. Neither of us really wants to tell her the truth, but we don't want to lie either. I'm trying to go the route of, if you believe he's real, then he's real.

InTenSity wrote:The question hasn't come up again. I'm not bringing it up. We decided if she asks again, we're going to ask her how she would feel if he isn't real. She remembers everything and notices everything. Neither of us really wants to tell her the truth, but we don't want to lie either. I'm trying to go the route of, if you believe he's real, then he's real.

DWags wrote:DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be adults' or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours humankind is a mere insect, an ant, in its intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your parents to hire people to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor adults can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest person, nor even the united strength of all the strongest people that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Rocinante wrote:

DWags wrote:DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be adults' or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours humankind is a mere insect, an ant, in its intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your parents to hire people to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor adults can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest person, nor even the united strength of all the strongest people that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Fixed for all the patriarchal shit. You guys are free to read this to your children now. You're welcome. Happy Holidays.

steveschneider wrote:I wonder if it does more harm than good to deceive kids into believing in some kind of magical sky judge that is always watching you and will bring you presents as long as you are good.

TheReal_LWS wrote:

msuspartan4eva wrote:


It's a 'white' lie. Dude's real. I'll never forgive or forget my wife's bitchy Grandma told my daughter he wasn't real when she was around 7. Not cool.

If my grandmother-in-law did that then she wouldn't see me or my kid ever again.

steveschneider wrote:I wonder if it does more harm than good to deceive kids into believing in some kind of magical sky judge that is always watching you and will bring you presents as long as you are good.

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:You’re a sharp one otpt

Other Teams Pursuing That wrote:

steveschneider wrote:I wonder if it does more harm than good to deceive kids into believing in some kind of magical sky judge that is always watching you and will bring you presents as long as you are good.

Isn’t that religion?

Travis of the Cosmos wrote:You’re a sharp one otpt

InTenSity wrote:The question hasn't come up again. I'm not bringing it up. We decided if she asks again, we're going to ask her how she would feel if he isn't real. She remembers everything and notices everything. Neither of us really wants to tell her the truth, but we don't want to lie either. I'm trying to go the route of, if you believe he's real, then he's real.

Robert J Sakimano wrote:

steveschneider wrote:I wonder if it does more harm than good to deceive kids into believing in some kind of magical sky judge that is always watching you and will bring you presents as long as you are good.

it's an interesting topic to consider.

I gotz to find our ghetto tree this year.. not sure where to go get one. I think last year I got one at Whole Foods -

steveschneider wrote:

Robert J Sakimano wrote: it's an interesting topic to consider.

I gotz to find our ghetto tree this year.. not sure where to go get one. I think last year I got one at Whole Foods -

I guess one benefit to it is that you are raising your kids to question things and confirm on their own that what authority figures have been telling them about the Magic sky judge is just a bunch of bullshit. That’s a pretty valuable life lesson.