When you were a child, who brought the Christmas presents for you, according to your parents?

When you were a child, who brought the Christmas presents for you, according to your parents?

  • Father Christmas

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Santa Claus

    Votes: 8 88.9%
  • the Christ Child (Christkindl in German)

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Grandfather Frost

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • some elf or fairy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • some other mythological figure

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9

Larniavc

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When you were a child, who brought the Christmas presents for you, according to your parents?

You may perhaps say: Uncle X - or Aunt Y - but they are not among the options here.
My parents told me it was Father Christmas but I did not believe them. So they stopped saying it.
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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My parents told us from the very beginning that it was them who put the presents there. Maybe that's why I never understood the logic behind telling children strange stories related to Christmas.
 
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Red Gold

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My parents told us from the very beginning that it was them who put the presents there. Maybe that's why I never understood the logic behind telling children strange stories related to Christmas.
Let me put it this way: There is more to life than logic.
There are also feelings.
And feelings are not always logical. :)
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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Let me put it this way: There is more to life than logic.
There are also feelings.
And feelings are not always logical. :)
Feelings aren't always good. Why would you lie to your child about the origin of the presents? When you make your child believe that "Santa Claus" or "Father Christmas" are real, and one day your child finds out that it isn't true, why do you think your child will still believe that God is real?

I think as Christian parents we are responsible to raise our children in the truth.

By the way, children don't need these kinds of stories to enjoy Christmas. I was always looking forward to it. Not only was I grateful towards my parents for the presents (which is much better than thinking that you got them from some stranger), but I also understood that Christ is the center of the holidays, not the presents (nor some mythological creature).

That's what I meant by "I never understood the logic". There doesn't seem to be any good argument for a Christian parent to tell their children such stories. Quite the opposite.
 
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Red Gold

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Why would you lie to your child about the origin of the presents?

Talking of Santa and the Christ Child and Saint Nicholas is not "lying".
Just as telling fairy tales is not lying.

Let us agree to dis-agree. :)
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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Talking of Santa and the Christ Child and Saint Nicholas is not "lying".
Just as telling fairy tales is not lying.

Let us agree to dis-agree. :)
Sure :) But I would be very skeptical if a parent tells their children fairy tales as if they are true stories. As a German I grew up with the Gebrüder Grimm, and it was always clear to me that these are fictional. I see no issue telling your children about Santa Claus if it's treated as a fairy tale. But we both know that that's not what happens most of the time.

On a side note: Yes, I do not agree with everything Luther said.
 
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Tuur

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My parents told me it was Father Christmas but I did not believe them. So they stopped saying it.
I figured it out very early based on simple logistics, and accidentally devised a test that same Christmas that confirmed my hypothesis. Was told to keep it secret to keep from ruining Christmas for my friends and cousins, and I did.
 
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Tuur

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Feelings aren't always good. Why would you lie to your child about the origin of the presents? When you make your child believe that "Santa Claus" or "Father Christmas" are real, and one day your child finds out that it isn't true, why do you think your child will still believe that God is real?

This very thing has bothered me through the years. Once, I lied about it, and it bothered me. Later, ours admitted they had already figured it out, but still, I lied. Other than that, I didn't discuss it at all.

I noticed ours figured it out early, too, and concocted tests that were more of the find-the-presents variety. It said much that starting in September, they'd take me on tours of the toy aisles in a department store.
 
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