I know Santa does things a little differently at everyone’s house, but I thought I would tell you about our Santa.
First of all, he always comes to visit us on Christmas Eve before the kids go to sleep. Then the kids set their stockings on the couches where they want Santa to drop off their stash.
He looks different each year.
Then Santa tries to leave 3 main gifts in their designated spots. Our Santa went with the number 3 because of the 3 Wisemen’s gifts and because he didn’t want our kids to get too much stuff. One gift is practical, one is fun, and one is an outfit. (It is getting harder and harder to stick to just 3.)
These parameters help focus and limit Santa and it helps to keep things even between the kids. Sometimes the gifts are all equal and other times he brings one bigger gift with 2 smaller gifts. Either way he works with about $150. Then he stuffs the stockings jammed full of all kinds of practical stuff like socks, hair elastics, lip gloss, food, books and candy.
I saw this Santa letter on Pinterest that is along the same lines. It would help focus Santa and the kids as well.
Santa usually just sets the bigger gifts out. There is something to coming down the stairs and seeing the Barbie House or the bike all set up. If it were wrapped it would have to still be in the box which is just not as fun.
He does wrap some of the other gifts or stocking stuffers. He always uses his special Santa paper. The paper changes every year but there is always Santas on it. And we don’t see it on any cousin or sibling or family gifts. It is just Santa’s paper- probably straight from his workshop.
Santa also gives one family gift. This is always the last present to be opened. He usually leaves an envelope under the tree with a poem (that he writes at about 2am) with clues that leads to the family present.
One year he brought a piano keyboard with this note: (I know there is a misspelling; Santa gets tired okay)
I have been thinking about making Santa bags out of fabric for each child. They would kind of be like Santa’s own toy bag. Santa could stash those hard to wrap gifts in the bags. Or the bags could set over the big gift and the kids could just pull it off. Or he could shove all the gifts in there and the kids could reach in one by one. We will see. I am still looking for the perfect fabric anyway.
What does Santa do at your house?
![I spoke in church today and said the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest act of Charity. I read Moroni 7:45-47 to make my point. But wherever there was the word ‘Charity’ I substituted it out for ‘the Atonement of Jesus Christ.’ See if these scripture verses now have new meaning for you:
“And the Atonement of Jesus Christ suffererth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth in the truth,
[The Atonement of Jesus Christ] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not the Atonement of Jesus Christ, ye are nothing, for the Atonement of Jesus Christ never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail-
But the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.”
So Easter really reminds us of love. The first and greatest commandment.](https://www.raisinglemons.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Every Christmas Eve we get together with my family. We look at Christmas lights and open one present(which always is PJ’s) Kaden use to have such a hard time with this, who wants pj’s for christmas?! Last year we tried something different at our house. When the kids woke up the quickly went to the living room to see what Santa had left for them. The quickly found their stocking with a book sitting next to it. Last year Santa wrapped all the presents in the same wrapping paper. They were a little confused. Usually, Santa wraps each kid in their own paper. They went into the kitchen to see if Santa and the reindeer ate the Cookies and Carrots that we left for them. When they did this they found a letter from Santa. Santa said that he was trying something new this year and only a few families would be trying this out. He expected a full report next year with the kids letter. This year Santa put a tag with a shape on each present. He then wrote some things about each shape and the kids had to guess what siblings Santa was talking about. This turned out to be really fun. The kids listened very closely as I read what Santa said about each shape.. Turns out they know each other pretty well. I really liked how the kids didn’t just come in and start going threw their presents. I liked having them listen so closely and see what Santa had to say about each one of them. It made Christmas seem more meaningful. It also made present time last 15 minutes longer!
We too do three gifts one of them being a outfit and as the kids get older it is harder to stay grounded.