A Christmas Dilemma

With just over 24 hours to go till Christmas, hubby and I are still debating over the issue of Father Christmas! Not whether we believe in him, of course we do! But what exactly do we want the kids to believe?

Who would have thought before becoming a parent, that Father Christmas could actually be an issue to argue over? Well it is, we come from 2 families that do things slightly differently, and now we have to find our own way forward.
Of course it's not the first Christmas we've had since having our children, just the first where Laila is old enough to start asking real questions about it all. She wouldn't for one minute believe you if you told her Father Christmas didn't exist, I don't think there's any worries there for a few more years, but our issue is actually about who all the presents come from.

I was brought up to believe Father Christmas came on Christmas Eve and filled our stockings, or sacks and then even pillowcases with small presents, these were on the end of our beds and we could open them as soon as we woke up. The presents were always predictable, but nice: some chocolates, a book, socks and maybe a CD. The big stuff was under the tree, but only put there on Christmas Eve, and it was all labelled with who it was from, e.g. Grandad & Grandma, Aunty Joan etc. We would wait to open these presents after breakfast. Then lunch was either at our house or at Aunty Pat's, and we would open more presents then. So I believe I was brought up to appreciate giving and receiving at Christmastime and would always write thank you letters for my presents.
Hmmm....I have just thought of a flaw in this though, when I was really young and wrote my letter to Santa asking him for my most desired toys, surely my parents must have said that these presents came from Santa or else I wouldn't have believed in him for very long would I? Then again maybe I let my mum and dad off the hook early; as the year I caught them drinking the wine and eating the mince pies we'd left out for Santa, I started to have my doubts! Plus the fact that he never brought me my A la carte kitchen probably sealed the deal!!! I'm not bitter...honest!

My hubby's typical Christmas was slightly different. At midnight on the 24th December they would put baby Jesus in the nativity under the Christmas tree, and each leave out a slipper or shoe "soulier" for the Père Noël. In the morning they would find all their presents by their soulier and open them after breakfast. The biggest difference is that ALL their presents would be from the Père Noël, and the family goes to great lengths to hide any evidence of buying and wrapping presents. Their family traditions continue with the 8 grandchildren, the eldest is 9 this year and I wonder just how much longer we can keep the pretense going, I mean the sleigh must be overflowing with this lot just for one house?!

So what do we do? My parents would like Laila to know they have bought her presents, I'm not so fussed about receiving Laila's thanks for presents as all the thanks I need will be written all over her face!   But it's a real pain trying to hide stuff from her, I kind of want her to know we're giving presents to other people as that's the part I think is most important. What we have done is make some of our own gifts together to give to the grandparents, she's really enjoyed doing these extra little gifts, and hasn't questioned it at all. (By the way the only reason I'm not mentioning Max is because he's too young just yet to be concerned).


Ideally I'd like to do it more like my family, where Father Christmas brings some presents, but families also exchange presents. Hubby feels this is too confusing. We still haven't really decided and are kind of just winging it, waiting for the first questions to arise and I guess whoever gets in there first gets to tell her what they want?!


Maybe we're worrying over nothing. Maybe she'll be like me and even if she suspects anything she'll keep quiet for fear of not getting any presents again!

Anyway, this year will still be magical, and Père Noël will magically and mysteriously leave us presents in 3 different houses in Brittany which we will visit in one day! Now if only we had some reindeer to fly us around too!