Growing up, I always saw Santa as a fictional character. I immigrated to the States when I was four and I don’t think it crossed my parents’ minds to make a big hoopla out of the jolly old man. It was a mix of reasons I’m sure, from Santa being completely foreign to them, to being busy working long hours, to simply not doing many “kiddish” things when we were growing up. Mr. Pizza grew up similar to the way I did and did not believe in Santa either.

This Santa business is completely foreign to us. I honestly don’t like him entirely. Why is this man giving out gifts to just the “good kids”? (I had to do a little history lesson on good old Santa and how he came to be!) Do kids talk about what Santa left for them with their friends? And if so, will certain kids feel cheated because one kid got an iPad while another kid got a stuffed animal? Does Santa generally give the “best” gift? My questions are endless!

I also get a little uncomfortable with the idea of having my kids sit on a strange man’s lap. I know I’m probably overthinking it. We are still navigating how much of a big deal we want it to be in our house because we want to center our Christmas around the birth of Jesus. However, we love the wonder and excitement Santa can bring to Christmas. Lil’ Pizza is really into role playing, so we have reenacted Santa talking to Rudolph many times (she is currently obsessed with the Rudolph story which has given me a break from her unicorn obsession). We have also reenacted the story of Jesus being born and Lil’ Pizza loves to be pregnant Mary, riding me – the donkey – and Baby Pizza is always playing baby Jesus. We’ve been borrowing Christmas theme books all month as well as listening to Christmas music nonstop, which sparks up lots of fun conversations about anything Christmas. We’ll see how the whole Santa thing plays out by Christmas day!

Holidays have definitely been more exciting for us now that we have our own family and are figuring out what kinds of traditions we want to start because growing up, both Mr. Pizza and I didn’t do a lot of the traditional things a lot of American kids grew up doing. It has gotten us talking about some of our favorite childhood memories around this time of year (even if it only happened once), like the time Mr. Pizza went caroling with his family or the times that I piled in the family car in our pjs to drive around and see the Christmas lights in some of the best lit neighborhoods. We hope that we can carry on some traditions with our girls that can create fond memories that we can share together but also traditions that can instill love, hope, joy, generosity and kindness.

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What are some of your absolute favorite family traditions around this time of year, whether it was when you were growing up as a kid or one that you started with your own kids?