My son is three. All his gifts come from us. I'm a very honest person and I just can't bring myself to tell him something exists when it doesn't. I know it's all in fun, but I just really hate lying - especially to my child. I couldn't do it with a straight face. I'll explain to him when he's older that there's the spirit of Christmas and the stories that go along with it but I'm not gonna lie to him. I'm sure I'm the only person in the world that does this.

We spend Christmas at my parents' house and they usually get one big gift that's "from Santa" that's left by the tree unwrapped. They make a big deal about leaving milk & cookies "for Santa," and when I was a kid I used to add carrots for the reindeer (hey, they're doing all the work, really), and my son liked that story, so he does that, too.

So it's this weird real/not real thing where for about 24 hours we all engage in a collective fantasy/fiction that Santa is real, and then the rest of the time I pretty much hedge ("some people believe in Santa and some people don't" or "what if Santa is real? what if he's not real?"). I haven't actually said "NO, there is NO Santa," but I also haven't said "YES, there is a Santa."

I guess we try to keep in "agnostic" about Santa until he figures it out for himself. I think that most kids are that way for much longer than it seems; even if someone tells them one or the other, they kind of hold out for things to go either way.

It's also weird because I kind of do it not just for him but for the kids in school/day care with him. I remember some kids being the big naysayers, and they went around telling everyone he wasn't real and acting all superior because they knew, and the rest of us being totally bummed out that they were messing up the fun. I don't want him to be the one messing up everyone else's fun.

So I try to surf the fine line of not lying to him and maximizing the fun of believing in Santa.

However, since I really hate malls and Mall Santas, I do tell him that THOSE Santas aren't real.

I don't like lying to my 3.5 year old either. But I think it's nice to believe in magic as a child. I don't resent my parents for "lying" to me. I loved the story of Santa and so does my daughter.

Similarly, the Binky Fairy recently visited her (late, yes, it's been a very rough 1.5 years). I made her a beautiful letter from the fairy and really talked it up. She loved it. I felt bad, yes. But I think the ol' Binky Fairy made it a little easier on me. She still talks about her...

Anyway, I'm digressing...

Most of my kids' presents come from Santa. We give them a few, but the majority are still from him. As they get a bit older, Santa will bring less and more will be from us.

When I was a kid, most of my gifts were from "Santa" with the understanding (at least to me) that "Santa" was code for "Mom."

It was about half and half for me, maybe 2 from parents and 2 from santa. If there was an uneven number Santa always pulled through giving me the most haha.

Most come from "us". A few come from Santa, just for Christmas spirit.