I'm not making my kids pretend them believe in Santa

Anonymous 1

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This year we are going to stay with my mom for Xmas. My brother and his kids will also be there.

We open presents on Christmas Eve. It has always been the tradition we did with my kids. It is how my parent did it with us as kids. We opened Christmas presents Christmas Eve, played until we fell asleep, and then woke up in the morning and had family time and a big breakfast. We never did the santa thing with my kids.

My brother and his wife open gifts "from santa" on Christmas morning. They want everyone to partake in their traditions. They say if we do our thing it will ruin Christmas for their kids. I said maybe we can do some gifts the night before and some in the morning as a compromise but they said that the kids will think it is weird that santa is bringing gifts so early. They are insisting that we all do the santa thing. That is just not going to happen. I'm not going to force my kids to pretend they believe in Santa. We have always taught them to not tell other that Santa is not real and just to say it isn't something they believe in.

My SIL is bitching to everyone. My mom is about to uninvite them. It was going to be the first Christmas where we all were going to be together but it is turning into a train wreck. As of now we will do our thing and they will do their thing and we will have Christmas breakfast together.
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MrsDavidB
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Oh no! SIL is mad!!
Anonymous 2

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well since this was going to be the 1st year doing this, nothing lost over it. Just do your own thing like always.
Anonymous 1

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MrsDavidB wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 9:48 am Oh no! SIL is mad!!
And my brother but of course they aren't willing to compromise.
Olioxenfree
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Our kids don't believe in Santa, but we teach them not to spoil it for others. Yes, your SIL is going overboard and being pushy, but Santa aside, even if she had never brought that up, it seems very strange to have your kids open their gifts in front of her kids the night before, but her kids have to wait. Im guessing her kids are very young if they still fully believe in Santa, and it could be very upsetting and just kind of put a damper on the festive evening when they see other kids opening all these gifts, but they just have to sit there and don't get any. It's one year, I'd just have my kids wait until the morning of Christmas to open them, just to help the holiday flow better.
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Olioxenfree wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 9:58 am Our kids don't believe in Santa, but we teach them not to spoil it for others. Yes, your SIL is going overboard and being pushy, but Santa aside, even if she had never brought that up, it seems very strange to have your kids open their gifts in front of her kids the night before, but her kids have to wait. Im guessing her kids are very young if they still fully believe in Santa, and it could be very upsetting and just kind of put a damper on the festive evening when they see other kids opening all these gifts, but they just have to sit there and don't get any. It's one year, I'd just have my kids wait until the morning of Christmas to open them, just to help the holiday flow better.

I was trying to compromise and say we can all open some that night and some in the morning. Like the gifts we got her kids they could have opened them that night. It wouldn't spoil Santa.
Anonymous 2

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my SIL would never budge on anything. It was her way or no way. Now it's no way and we don't see them.
Anonymous 1

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Anonymous 2 wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:02 am my SIL would never budge on anything. It was her way or no way. Now it's no way and we don't see them.
That's what it feels like here. Even my mom is pissed off and she is almost always very easy going and never irritated.
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LiveWhatULove
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Are your kids just going to sit down in the living room and open their gifts while their cousins watch with no presents? That seems awkward in general.
Anonymous 1

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LiveWhatULove wrote: Thu Nov 21, 2019 10:07 am Are your kids just going to sit down in the living room and open their gifts while their cousins watch with no presents? That seems awkward in general.
No idea what they plan on doing when we open gifts.
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