Santa?

We explain that it's a "game" where everyone pretends that Santa is real and that some grown-ups might even dress up like Santa to keep the game going. Then, on xmas, kids open presents that their parents, grandparents, etc buy and wrap up, but that some people say is from Santa. We do not label presents as being from Santa...everything is wrapped and labeled from mommy & daddy. They don't seem to care. We also emphasize that some parents don't tell their kids it's a game and those kids think Santa is real and really brought them presents and that it's important that we don't tell those kids that Santa isn't real or that it's just a game b/c that might make those kids really sad. We still watch all the christmas movies and read 'twas the night before christmas and Polar Express etc but again they know it's just a game and that the stories are getting people excited to play the game. Also, for us, we've redirected the focus a bit away from traditional symbols of the xmas season (santa, religious symbols, etc) and more toward a celebration of winter. We explain that we give presents b/c we're celebrating winter and we decorate w/ snowmen mostly b/c a snowman is a symbol of winter.

We do the same thing w/ the easter bunny...it's a game where some people say that the easter bunny comes and drops off presents. But, in reality it's just grown-ups pretending and giving presents to kids. Again, for us, it's a celebration of spring and the bunny and eggs are the symbols of spring.

We do the same thing w/ the tooth fairy...everytime Jessie loses a tooth, we say, "wow, tonight we get to play the tooth fairy game" (we do not say the tooth fairy will come, did come, etc). The game is that when she loses a tooth, she puts it in the box and in the morning her tooth is gone to the tooth saving place (we have a little compartment to save her tooth in b/c she flipped out one time when she thought it was really gone) and that a prize is in its place. She knows that we are the ones that move the tooth and give her the prize, but it doesn't seem to bother her any. She's still super excited to play the game.

Also, our kids know that Cinderella, etc that they see at Disney World, etc are just grown-ups dressed up in costumes who are pretending to be those characters b/c it's a fun game...kind of like Halloween when everyone dresses up and pretends to be someone else.

I know some people are really super upset w/ the idea of telling kids the truth up front, but for us, it seems to work. They still are excited the night before our xmas celebration (we do it a day off b/c we have Emily's bday part on xmas since that was the day she was born), just like they are excited the night before a bday, etc. Knowing that you're going to get presents your parents bought doesn't seem to reduce the magic for them, whether it be for a bday, xmas, easter, or for losing a tooth.