Waking up on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought is a time-honored tradition for many kids. But one mom on Reddit doesn’t feel like sharing all the credit with the man in red.
In Reddit’s Am I The A–hole forum, a mom of a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter wants to know if it’s OK that she wants her kids to know the bulk of their gifts is coming from her and her husband.
In the post, she writes, “This year I want to only give a couple of cheap gifts as from ‘Santa’ for each child, the rest of their gifts will be clearly marked as from me, my husband, and other family/friends. My thought behind this is it’s not fair on kids whose families can’t get them big presents to hear of other kids getting big things from Santa.”
Sounds pretty thoughtful, right? She doesn’t want her kids going to school or the playground bragging about what Santa brought them, when he may not have brought gifts as expensive to other kids.
Unfortunately, her husband did not agree.
“This has caused an argument between my husband and me,” she wrote, “and other members of the family are taking his side stating [I’m] ruining the magic for my children.” Wait, what? I’m pretty sure the children — who are getting nice presents either way — will still be experiencing magic this holiday. She added, “[Other family members] don’t mind the kids not knowing what gifts are from them.”
Later, the mom clarified that of course she wants them to believe in Santa — but not in a way that could potentially hurt others. “[I’m] not against them believing in Santa and having that childhood wonder, but I don’t agree with it being more than a few small gifts….but I also don’t want to ruin their fun and Christmas,” she explained.
Commenters were quick to chime in with their opinions, most of them in favor of the mom taking credit. One said, “Santa doesn’t have to deliver a mountain of presents for the myth and the magic to come across to the kiddos. I agree completely that more harm will be caused by one kid going to school and announcing Santa brought him a PS5 only to make his friend who got a small toy and maybe some clothes wonder why Santa didn’t deliver equally.”
Someone had been there as a kid, writing, “I was that kid that got some homemade doll clothes and some candy while my friends got [Tamagotchi’s] and American Girl dolls, (yes, I’m dating myself). Feeling like Santa doesn’t like you as much as your peers BLOWS as a kid.”
Others shared how they did Christmas, with some saying Santa fills a stocking with little toys in their house and the rest is from mom and dad, and others mentioned Santa just brings one toy for each child.
No matter how this mom (or any parent) decides to do Christmas morning, your choices are valid. This commenter summed it up well when they said, “Your husband and family need to learn that ‘different’ doesn’t mean ‘wrong,’ and as the parent of your children you also get to decide what traditions you keep, discard or begin anew.”
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