I think I worked it ou at about 5 or so, I think my parents knew I knew but we all just played along, tad odd but it worked. I did have an odd childhood however, excuse me while I curl up in the fetal position for a while.

Did anyone here ever get told to go to bed and stay there or the 'thing in the closet' or 'thing under the bed' would get you? :weird: How about the bogeyman?

Oh hell no! I was already a big old wuss when it came to the dark and what may or may not lurk in it. :D

I spent my childhood being on good speaking terms with the thing under the bed. I only interacted with the thing in the closet on UTB's days off.

My parents never really did the bogeyman thing when I was little but they didn't need to. The quartersized spider I came face to face with while spelunking under my bed was plenty and that was VERY real.

Hey! From back in my "Capitalisation? What the fuck is that?" phase. Thanks for bringing this back to mind, I still owe him that asskicking. :)

hey! that's the phase i'm in

My parents had an odd twist on the Santa thing. I remember My Dad being the last one after myself and my sister still believing. We both (at 6 & 8) felt so horrible having to tell him that it was just a story for kids.

What do you do when your kid becomes ostracized by his/her peers for telling them you said there's no Santa? :confused:

Juju will have to let us know when the time comes.

I deal with that before it happens. I make sure he realises it's not his place to correct his peers attitides regarding things like that. I said it a bit more eloquently in another thread around here somewhere.

There's a bumper sticker I like that says "God is Santa Claus for grown-ups."

Now THERE's a thread derailer. ;) (Rerouting to the Philosophy forum as necessary.)

That's funny. No in the real world, what will you do?


I've told my kids that the idea of the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are symbolic for the spirit of giving, which is why the myth is different in different cultures.

For the last couple of years they've lost that spirit of giving and went more commercialistic, but this year it's gonna be all about giving thoughtful (home made) gifts, and not the latest trend. I'm taking them to Michael's and walmart to pick items to make for family members.

:p

Steal your idea.

I think thats a great way of going about it. And if I do find out that he was going around telling kids Santa isn't real after being told it's inappropriate, he will be punished appropriately and made to apologise. Not sure whether this will change as he gets older, but he does know that when I tell him a certain action carries certain consequences, he's pretty good about doing the right thing. Hopefully the trend will continue.

Please do!

I know that a GREAT gift idea (specially for mom, step moms, grandmas and perhaps some more feminine lifestyled males) can be found at michaels, its in the klutz series (which are ABSOLUTELY phenomenal!) and it's the tissue paper flowers book. The book has pipe cleaners and 70 sheets of tissue paper to get you started, and I can say after going through the book that they really make great gifts. and you can mail them.

Another idea is also at michaels. It's a book on how to make your own cards. It runs $25 and has some paper, templates, a paper scorer and lots of ideas in it, and instructions. (You can make your own christmas cards and save OODLES.)

Also, the little $3 cross stitch projects are great for beginners, give a sense of accomplishment, and if you buy the little magnetic frames for $2 you're in with just about anyone! (and that's a great springboard for larger cross stitch projects, like bookmarks. Something else EVERYONE likes.)

What I generally do is go to Michael's for the ideas and materials list, then go to walmart and buy what materials they have, (at 1/3 the cost) then go back to michaels and pick up what walmart doesn't have.

Once you really get into something, it's all about the internet. Oooh yeah.

And the time to start is NOW, because you'll want to do a few projects to warm up and get used to it (the first one is usually the worst). That way you have most everything done by December 15th and then you can take all those brown paper shopping bags you've been saving up and let the kids make WRAPPING PAPER!

(Stay tuned for more "Christmas on the cheep" :D )