Do you believe in Santa Claus? If you did and don't now, when did you stop believing? I did but I honestly can't remember when I stopped believing. I can't remember when my children stopped believing. Maybe I stopped believing when I realized how much my mother had to do with getting ready for Christmas.
I was around 7 or 8 and recall asking my mother to confirm that there was no Santa Claus since I had heard so many rumors at school. She confirmed and I remember feeling really disappointed at first but soon got over it.
At a Cub Scout meeting some of us boys were talking about Santa Claus and I piped up that there was not one. I was "schussed" by a kid my age who told me not to talk so loud because Lawrence the Cub in the room with us did not yet know there was not one.
:-* Are you SERIOUS! There's no Santa? Oh my goodness!
I always told my kids when they ask that Santa was the "Spirit of Giving" so as long as we give to others Santa continues.
I remember one of my daughters asking about Santa and after my standard answer replied "Then I suppose there's no Easter Bunny either". She was more upset about the Easter Bunny than Santa. I'm not really sure why because I've never made a big deal about Easter baskets or bunnies.
OH MY! :o :o :o :o :o You poor people, you should come live in my world. As sure as there is eggnogg, there is a Santa! He has never missed coming to my house in all the 58 years I've been in this world. I have even become one of his elves. You know making 75 batches of peanut brittle and making popcorn balls today to go in his treat sacks for tomorrow night. I so wish you all could be in my world. IT IS WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :)
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Yes, Virginia...There most certainly is a Santa Claus...Any time a helping hand is extended to assist another...Any occasion that a tempered word is offered, rather than a cuff upside the head...Any smile that is extended to a less fortunate soul, giving that soul just a little help to believe in the kindness of mankind rather than its inhumanity...There is Santa, beaming his everlasting light into the darkness that tries to dominate the common life...Yes, Santa is real...And I am his biggest cheerleader! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
I say keep believing in Santa Claus, because the minute you stop ... you get underwear.
;)
Yep and this is a picture of Santa.
(http://www.toysfortots.org/images/hendricks.jpg)
Does anyone recognize him?
No Santa? No way! :P :P :P
These are all beautiful responses. Maybe I haven't stopped believing in Santa Claus after all. As long as there is the Spirit of Giving as illustrated in these reponses, there will be a Santa Claus. He just doesn't come down the chimney any more.
Rudy is right , too. Santa Claus does get practical as you get older.
No, Mr. srkruzich, I don't recognize the picture. Care to introduce him?
Quote from: Wilma on December 20, 2009, 10:16:10 AM
These are all beautiful responses. Maybe I haven't stopped believing in Santa Claus after all. As long as there is the Spirit of Giving as illustrated in these reponses, there will be a Santa Claus. He just doesn't come down the chimney any more.
Rudy is right , too. Santa Claus does get practical as you get older.
No, Mr. srkruzich, I don't recognize the picture. Care to introduce him?
Jarhead ought to know who he is ;)
This gentleman is Santa. He had thousands of elves spread across the US.
(http://www.toysfortots.org/images/hendricks.jpg)
Colonel William L. Hendricks
USMCR (Ret)
Toys for tots Began in 1947, when Major Bill Hendricks, USCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The idea came form Bill's wife, Diane. In the fall of 1947, Diane crafted a homemade doll and asked Bill to deliver the doll to an organization, which would give it to a needy child at Christmas. When Bill determined that no agency existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one. He did. The 1947 pilot project was so successful that the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots in 1948 and expanded it into a nationwide campaign. That year, Marine Corps Reserve units across the nation conducted Toys for Tots campaigns in each community in which a Marine Reserve Center was located. Marines have conducted successful nationwide campaigns at Christmas each year since 1948. The initial objective that remains the hallmark of the program today is to "bring the joy of Christmas to America's needy children".
I would love to ask that if anyone would like to make the difference in a childs christmas, donate a toy, or if you like to crochet, or knit or are able to make something to donate to Toys for tots.
I know that if it is a matter of going there to donate, we can set up a collection point and transport it to the marine center in wichita.
I know its kinda late now but think about it for next year. I know that toys and items can be home made but need to be new or gently used so that no repairs are necessary.
Tomorrow, our church is sending off a nice-sized box of mittens, scarves and gloves. Some of them bought, many of them handmade during Wednesday night "crafting" sessions.
My toy donation went into the Toys For Toys' box a couple of weeks ago, Steve. Makes a person feel good, also donatiing to the emergency food pantry or Ministerial Alliance emergency fund gives the same feeling. Also the Angel Tree project provides for local children. Any or all of these are wonderful projects.
Quote from: sixdogsmom on December 20, 2009, 01:07:41 PM
My toy donation went into the Toys For Toys' box a couple of weeks ago, Steve. Makes a person feel good, also donatiing to the emergency food pantry or Ministerial Alliance emergency fund gives the same feeling. Also the Angel Tree project provides for local children. Any or all of these are wonderful projects.
yeah i know that there are many projects out there. The one i have participated in when i could was the toys for tots. :)
My kids are 11, 9, 6. My oldest is starting to get suspisous, but hasn't yet committed to the "Its just mom and dad" way of thinking yet. I have talked to other parents that have already told their kids that there isn't a Santa Claus, and they can't believe we haven't told our kids yet. Frankly, I say let the kids believe. They grow up way to fast these days with far too little magic. Besides, if I told my kids there isn't a Santa Claus I'd be lying. :) And if it turns out that there really isn't one then my dad is going to be pissed!! I remember when I was a kid, on several occasions sneaking into the living room on Christmas Eve and seeing my mom kissing some guy in a Santa outfit. I never told my dad cause I figured he already knew and was making an exception because it was Santa Claus, I would hate to think of what he might do if he thought it wasn't. :o
Varmit, oh the magic of Christmas! That is all it took for you and I to finally agree on something comepletly. :) :) :) You and yours have a very Merry Christmas.
The comedian Dick Gregory once said:
I knew there was no Santa Claus because I knew no white man would come into my neighborhood after dark. :laugh: :laugh:
Larryj
My sister Sherri and I believed in Santa Claus a long long time. Mother ( and Daddy who WASN'T Scrooge McBahh Humbug then) :D kept the magic alive until I was in the 7th grade! It was awesome. I can't exactly remember how I was told.. but I remember keeping the fun and magic going for my sister after that.
You have to keep the magic alive for your kids as long as you can.. They grow up so fast and too soon have too much reality to deal with..
Sometimes I would get up real early in the morning and stomp real hard through the back rooms..jiggling some bells and slam the door.. then run back in ..get in bed.. ( I knew the kids had heard it)
They would immediately holler.. "Mom... Can we get up?? We just heard Santa...!!!" ;D ;D
( I did that because Waldo used to do that too for the grand kids.. Trudy, Larry and the kids used to sleep upstairs and Waldo would start hollering Ho Ho HO real loud and have bells in his hands... and then he would holler out in his own voice.. Hey Santa!! You hold on there.. ! Come back in here!!!".. Then act like he was running after him through the house.. and slam the door.. Those kids would come racing down the steps and Waldo would be all out of breath coming in and say "By golly I almost caught him.. but he was too fast for me.. " ;D :)
it was fun to see.....I think I was as wide eyed and excited and believed him more than the kids did.. LOL
My kids were pretty old too actually when they were told...Danny was in like 5th grade and Derek was probably that old too. Then after they found out..they STILL insisted that "Santa" leave their main gift out under the tree unwrapped..
Sister and I and all of our kids have NEVER EVER snooped around to find out what our presents were either. I wanted to be surprised.. Mother would tell us girls that our gifts were under the bed or in the closet and if we wanted to know what they were and not be surprised on Christmas morning.,. then we could look.. but if we did want it to be surprises .. then we needed to stay out of there.
No way did we want to ruin the surprise... so we never shook the pkg or anything even after they were wrapped.
Danny and Derek were exactly the same way.. They always knew where the gifts were stored..and never ever looked or peeked. They went to the extreme even that if on Christmas eve if they had to get up to go to the bathroom and it wasn't time to get up yet.. they would holler at me to come in the bedroom.. asked me if Santa had been there yet..
I would say yes he had!...
I would then put a towel around their head.. lead them through the living room to the bathroom.. then wait and lead them back to bed with their face covered so they wouldn't see yet what Santa had brought... :D
Rochelle was talking the other evening and she said Derek is just over the top about it still! He gets real mad if she shakes or handles any of her presents under the tree...
( She was the opposite and always found them ..or unwrapped a part of them and wrapped them back)
I love surprises!!! Kjell was going to give me a clue the other night on what he got me..I was mortified that he would even consider it.. I all but shrieked.." Noooo don't tell me anything"
..Since I have gotten older and honed my "skills".... I have an uncanny ability to "psychically know" what I get if I concentrate on it..and I don't want to know.....
but him just saying that and thinking it so close to my mind ...well~~~ lets just say several things immediately popped into my mind... * good gifts.. but I hope I didn't guess it* :'(
I want to add something that sister wrote. Yes I still believe and so does Tania. Tania being 29 years old and we still have stockings and we still have one special gift in the morning under the tree unwrapped from Santa and there is a gift from Zippy the Elf. hahaha....
When we were little and I am sure that sister did this on purpose after she found out there the truth but i didn't know....we had bunk beds and she was on the top and I was on the bottom, but on Christmas eve, she would always sleep with me on the bottom bunk and she would take her covers and pull them down over my the top and hang them over so that we could not see from the bed just in case Santa peeked his head in the bedroom. haha...that was always so fun. I remember trying to stay awake to hear santa but sleep always over took me. Mama and Daddy always made Christmas so much fun and exciting and it is still that way. We now go to Tania's house for Christmas and I have never spent Christmas morning without Tania....we have so much fun and I think on that day we are all kids again.
Christmas has always been a very special time for me. I had one brother and one sister. My paternal Grandma lived with my parents for 13 years after Grandpa passed away. We didn't have frills, as there was no money for that, but we had so much love and our parents never made a big fuss about not having much money, so honestly, I did not know we were poor. Poor only as far as money was concerned -- rich as all get out in every thing else. Our parents were so much fun and all holidays were celebrated, but Christmas was the best.
I believed in Santa until I was in the fourth grade. The afternoon of the school Christmas program, my Grandma told me that I had better polish my shoes so they would look nice for the program. My brother, Jack, was 2 years older than I, took me aside and said, "Jodi, you don't need to polish your shoes, because you are going to have new shiny black ones, that you are getting for Christmas, because there is NO Santa Clause." I bawled my head off and went running to Mama and she held me and said, "yes that was right, but I could still believe in Santa if I wanted to". Grandma fussed at Jack, so it ended up by both of us bawling...but BOY did I ever love those new shiny black shoes, they had leather heel caps and made a clicking noise when I walked. I thought they were "almost" like high heel sounds that all the ladies wore. Our gifts were never wrapped, because Santa did not have time to do all of that and deliver them to your house.
We never wrapped what Santa left for Teresa and Sherri. I love Christmas !!!!!
I think my kids began to get the idea that Santa might not be real when I told them somewhere along the way that I had talked with Santa one year and that he told me he preferred beer and chips as opposed to milk and cookies. I was working nights and getting home around 4 AM and it was my job to put out the presents when I got home. Milk and cookies were not as exciting as beer and chips after a hard shift at work. My son is 32 years old now, but it wasn't more than a few years ago when I related to him that we used to keep the presents behind a couch in the family room covered by a blanket. Neither one of them ever looked back there for anything so it was a good hiding spot. When I told him that, he couldn't believe that he didn't figure that out while growing up. Hee Hee. ;D
Larryj
I never peeked because that was against the law, but shaking was okay. Now Dad was all about shaking, weighing, and even taking a huge magnet to see if he could lift the present. If he could not have done all that it would not have been Christmas for him.
When I was a little tyke, I used to always shake the presents. My two much older brothers used to tell me not to do that because I might break something. I didn't listen to them. One Christmas there was a present with my name and I shook it. Nothing------------I shook it some more------------a slight sound--------------I shook some more-----sounded like tinkling noises---
I put it down thinking whatever was in there was now broken. When we opened presents, that one was handed to me with the question-------did you shake it?--------------"No," I said and opened it up to find small pieces of broken glass. I looked at my brothers wondering what it had been. What it had been was pieces of class carefully wrapped in tissue. The initial shake started loosening them up and further shaking made them looser and louder. The two tormented me beyond belief.
Larryj
Patti and I would pull our mattress into the alcove in our bedroom upstairs. This alcove had a window that looked over the roof of the back porch. If it had snowed on Christmas Eve, all the better, because we knew Santa would land on that roof. It was the only level place that he could. We would strive to stay awake to watch Santa, but we never could. I think I realized when Santa was only a legend the Christmas that we all got our gifts in a large paper sack with a bow. Mother was really sick with the flu and it was all she could do to make sure her little girls had a Christmas gift from Santa. Mother doesn't remember that Christmas, but I do. One of my best Chrstmas gifts was an acoustic guitar that I wanted. I got that gift and played it for many years.
Now, as for is there a Santa Claus, yes, I believe that there is a Santa Claus everytime you give a helping hand to someone in need.