Every year our neighbors decorate their yard with over 95,000 Christmas lights and put together a train ride decorated in lights to give rides around the block. They have a huge sleigh in their driveway and they dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus and pass out candy canes. They play music and visit with the children - and they do it all for FREE. We don't tell our kids that Santa is real but he's still a fun pretend character that they enjoy. We finally took the kids to our neighbors house the week before Christmas to see the display - although we had driven by it numerous times since Thanksgiving.
On the walk there . . .
This is just a part of it!
Aubrey loved running around in all the lights.
Mrs. Claus
We never talk about "what we want for Christmas." So anytime Owen was asked what he wanted he was speechless. He doesn't believe Santa is coming to our home either so he never knew what to say when asked, "Are you ready for Santa?" To those of you who do not teach Santa . . . how do your children respond in these circumstances? It's sometimes awkward and I'm not sure how to handle it.
Excited for his train ride!
3 comments:
I'm astonished that your neighbors get so into the Christmas spirit! Wow. Wish I lived in your neighborhood -- that looks way better than many Christmas-type fests I've seen done that aren't free!
Regarding the santa thing, we don't teach santa either but this year Chloe picked up on it somehow. We didn't make a big deal about it and when I questioned her about santa one night she said, "I know he's just pretend but it's fun to be silly about him." So, I say as long as your kids know he's not real and that Jesus' birthday is the central focus of Christmas then santa is a harmless addition. I wanted to do a mini-lesson on the real story of St. Nicolaus but we didn't get around to it this year. Maybe next year!
we say, "Isn't Santa a fun pretend story?" and that has done well for our kids so far. We went to see a mall Santa because Aaron really wanted to and when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he told him walkie talkies. I had no idea he wanted that, so hey - Santa proved quite useful this year! As for the people who ask Aaron if Santa came to his house - he says, "no, Santa is just pretend" and then I get evil stares from the people. What? I'm supposed to lie to my kids?
We actually do teach that Santa is a real person, but that he lived a long time ago, and doesn't live anymore, but it is fun to see people dressed up like him. Lana got asked quite a few times this year what she wanted for Christmas, so she would nicely answer a few things she was hoping to get, but knew that Santa wouldn't be bringing them.
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