Yesterday (the sixth) was Saint Nicolas day.

[conuly]

My sister and I never did that growing up, but we (or at least I) knew about it. So yeah, we all colluded to lie to Ana. On the one hand, I'm morally opposed to lying to young children... and on the other hand, it's really funny sometimes, and I'm mean that way. So I think the plan is we're not really lying, anyway - we do a lot of weird pretend games like that (for example, I pretend I find bunnies and squirrels to be scary, or I pretend that I don't know my colors. Actually, I feign ignorance a lot, but the colors game is well-accepted), and if it comes up we'll do The Line:

"Do you think that this could really happen, or are we just being silly?"

There's only one answer to that, and Ana knows it, so... yeah.

What's funny is that I explained the celery to candy cane transmogrification to Elise and her friend Monique, and both of them went "Does that really work?" like they actually thought it might, y'know, work for them.

I never knew 13 year old kids were so gullible before. I explained to them that it works the same way as the tooth fairy, which luckily they'd already been spoiled on. It was a close one.

(Ana, by the way, was very excited. I caught her sneaking more celery into her shoe the next day. I mean, heck, why not?)

(By the way, Jenn and 'dul - if I'm wrong on the plan, tell me now.)

Comments

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

My daughter got asked if she got anything for St. Nick's. Never have I lived in a place where they actually asked that. (NYC, London, Frankfurt, Lynbrook)

She said the kids just got candy, hot chocolate, small things. Weird.

[conuly]

I believe my grandmother was raised on the holiday (well, Belgian, y'know...), and yeah - it's small things that you can share out, isn't it?

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Surprises me a bit that in Frankfurt they didn't ask if you'd got anything for Nikolaus.

Also, it's very strange for me to see the holiday's name in English.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Me too, and I lived 'on the economy', not on a base, and actually went out and about. Maybe no one bugged me because I was American? (Although I would be quite pleased when people thought I was from there and would speak to me in German.)

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

We never celebrated the 6th, but then, growing up atheist, we didn't celebrate many saints' days anyway.

For the whole "Santa Claus" issue, my family's story is that "Santa Claus is everyone who loves you." Thus, I am 32 years old and still believe in Santa Claus, because I was never lied to about it, never disillusioned, etc.

In many ways, I bet my mother wishes she had disillusioned me as a child, so I might stop asking for completely impossible things on my wish list (like "a ride on a unicorn"-- hey, a girl can dream!)

[conuly]

For the whole "Santa Claus" issue, my family's story is that "Santa Claus is everyone who loves you." Thus, I am 32 years old and still believe in Santa Claus, because I was never lied to about it, never disillusioned, etc.

That's largely what I got, but not so explicitly. I hear people arguing over whether telling the truth is "ruining the magic" and "do kids have to learn the hard truths so early???" and I wonder what's so "hard" and "painful" about knowing that your family loves you and your family gets you presents!

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

My daughter got asked if she got anything for St. Nick's. Never have I lived in a place where they actually asked that. (NYC, London, Frankfurt, Lynbrook)

She said the kids just got candy, hot chocolate, small things. Weird.

[conuly]

I believe my grandmother was raised on the holiday (well, Belgian, y'know...), and yeah - it's small things that you can share out, isn't it?

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Surprises me a bit that in Frankfurt they didn't ask if you'd got anything for Nikolaus.

Also, it's very strange for me to see the holiday's name in English.

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Me too, and I lived 'on the economy', not on a base, and actually went out and about. Maybe no one bugged me because I was American? (Although I would be quite pleased when people thought I was from there and would speak to me in German.)

[mortaine.livejournal.com]

We never celebrated the 6th, but then, growing up atheist, we didn't celebrate many saints' days anyway.

For the whole "Santa Claus" issue, my family's story is that "Santa Claus is everyone who loves you." Thus, I am 32 years old and still believe in Santa Claus, because I was never lied to about it, never disillusioned, etc.

In many ways, I bet my mother wishes she had disillusioned me as a child, so I might stop asking for completely impossible things on my wish list (like "a ride on a unicorn"-- hey, a girl can dream!)

[conuly]

For the whole "Santa Claus" issue, my family's story is that "Santa Claus is everyone who loves you." Thus, I am 32 years old and still believe in Santa Claus, because I was never lied to about it, never disillusioned, etc.

That's largely what I got, but not so explicitly. I hear people arguing over whether telling the truth is "ruining the magic" and "do kids have to learn the hard truths so early???" and I wonder what's so "hard" and "painful" about knowing that your family loves you and your family gets you presents!