Reply to My brother and his wife don't "do" Santa

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Do Santa the morning you leave to see your brother.  Tell your child that there are Santa people and there no Santa people and that your family are Santa people and that her Uncle's family are no Santa people.  Tell her that you have arranged for Santa to come early to your family so that you can have Christmas together with her Uncle's family.

Does your Uncle's family do gifts under the tree or no presents at all?  [/quote]

I think they still do gifts, but it's low-key. They don't spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on gifts (which is totally fine...we don't spend a ton either!)  They are frugal people, borne out of their own idealism, as well as necessity, because they do not have high-paying jobs.  We have always been thoughtful of that when spending holidays together and try not to spend too much conspicuously on our own child so that our niece doesn't feel slighted.  We also don't exchange gifts between adults.

When he first told me about it (this year I think is the first time they've taken such a hard line against Santa), I was so surprised I didn't really know how to react. I laughed uncomfortably when he said his in-laws were considering uninviting them.  Fortunately this year, we won't be sleeping the same place until Christmas night.  I think I'm worried about the "What did Santa get you for Christmas?" talk that inevitably happens when we're with extended family.  Is he really going to call my 96 YO grandmother beforehand  and tell her not to ask my niece about Santa, or be ready to swoop in when that conversation comes up? What about my dad who's nearly deaf? And all of the cousins and people you see once a year only at Christmas.

Honestly, I think he's just so very short-sighted. He and my SIL take stances on things that don't always make sense.  Like when they decided that the only paper products they would buy would be toilet paper, and diapers, kitchen and hand towels and napkins and tissues would only be their reusable/washable version.  Except they didn't have a washer or dryer and had to schlep their stuff outside and pay $0.75 a load to wash and them another $1 to dry, or string them out across their tiny and only bathroom to airdry.  And their kitchen was so tiny that to have enough towels on hand they had to give up half of one of two small square workspaces to have them available when you needed them.  I usually just say, "What a great idea, we should do that, too!" because it doesn't impact me. [/quote]

Wait a minute...OP are you saying that you don't actually spend Christmas morning with your brother?  Then this is a non-issue.  I thought this was a question of establishing your own traditions, etc. on Christmas morning.  If he's not even around and you aren't being asked to modify your own traditions to fit in whatever stance he's taking, what's the problem exactly?  [/quote]

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