SO Santa traditions: What is your most memorable Santa story?

[Hmmmmm]

I'm loving reading everyone's Santa traditions in the other thread.  It has brought back found memories of my childhood and my kid's.  What are your favorite Santa memories?  Here's two of mine.

When I was 5 and sis was 8, we requested new bikes for Christmas.  Mom and Dad had explained that Santa no longer had time to make all the toys, especially bikes anymore and also every child had a different preference.  So Dad took us down to the local store that sold bikes and sis and I picked up our favorites.  Mine was pink with a white wicker basket and flowers on it (this was around 1970).  The store manager said that he'd set those aside for Santa to come get and deliver to us on Christmas Eve.  Christmas morning arrived and sis and I know we are not allowed to wake up our parents or teenage sisters till after 7 but we just couldn't stand it.  So we sneak into the living with the tree, excitedly find our bikes.  We decide we can't wait to ride them so we sneak outside and ride for a half hour then we come back inside, wash the wheels so no one will know and go back to bed till after 8.  Mom and Dad couldn't believe how patient we'd been. 

When my kids were 3 & 5, we decided to get them an outdoor wooden playset for Christmas.  This  required lots of assembly which DH and his brother did in the garage the week up to Christmas Eve.  Their plan was to move it to the backyard after the kids were asleep Christmas Eve.  What they hadn't accounted for was once assemble there was no way to get it over the short fence that separated the driveway from the yard because of the breezeway between the house and garage.  I said to just leave it and we'd tell the kids that Santa asked their Dad to finish the set up the next day, but DH wouldn't hear of it.  So around midnight, DH, BIL, and 2 nieghbors and tearing down our fence and moving this huge structure to the backyard.  I was amazed my kids never questioned how Santa got it into his sleigh or why we no longer had a side fence. But what I was most amazed was that we had friends willing to spend their night helping us out.   

[magicdomino]

  So around midnight, DH, BIL, and 2 nieghbors and tearing down our fence and moving this huge structure to the backyard.  I was amazed my kids never questioned how Santa got it into his sleigh or why we no longer had a side fence. But what I was most amazed was that we had friends willing to spend their night helping us out.   

Now that's true friendship.

[AylaM]

We weren't allowed to even go into the room with the tree until after everyone else was up.  Some gifts wouldn't be wrapped and they didn't want us guessing what stuff was (or so I thought).  After a certain time we could wake mom, dad, and whoever was visiting up.  I would later learn Mom used to get upset that we never got as excited as she did as a kid.  Apparently she and her brothers were so bad that her parents booby-trapped the gifts.   They'd carefully open and re-wrap presents.

But I can remember being about 8 and waking up early.  I had just began learning to crochet, but all I could do was a chain.  I sat in the hallway outside my room and crocheted a chain all the way down the hall.  But never once got up to look at the presents.

That year I had wanted an RC car, so my sister and I both got one.  Dad thought he was smart racing me with hers (which had been marketed as one of the fastest) vs. mine (a spinning car).  Christmas candy was on the line.  He thought he would definitely win and get the candy.  He did not.

She got angry the one year I decided to shower before waking her.  I wanted to look nice for the pictures and she wanted my hair mussed and me running around in PJs.  Oops.

As we got older I remember the first year we had our own money to spend on our parents.  We had set an alarm early and laid out presents to Mom and Dad for the first time.  Looking back at it, we didn't choose particularly good presents. But we were so proud that, for the first time, mom and dad would have presents that they weren't already expecting.

[Yvaine]

When we were all pretty young, we believed in Santa and in the absolute importance of actually sleeping on Christmas Eve "or he might pass you by," no matter how hard it might be to get to sleep. Another one of our family traditions, though, was that our parents would drive us through the neighborhood on Xmas Eve so we could ooh and aah at the lights. So one year my sister, about 5 at the time, was dead certain she'd seen Santa's sleigh flying around the area we were driving through--just a few minutes from home. (To this day I'm not sure what she saw--maybe the lights of a plane or just an exceptionally large lawn decoration.) And the rest of us kids believed her, too.

So we're all freaking out because CRUD MONKEYS!, Santa's just in the next neighborhood over, and we're all still awake! We start freaking that we need to go home and get to bed right away. When we do get home, our parents serve us huge cups of ice cream! It's great ice cream and we all love it, but the whole time we're panicking because what if Santa comes while we're still eating? He'll pass us by! I'm sure no kid has ever eaten ice cream so quickly or worriedly.

Mysteriously, Santa did not arrive until after our parents were done eating their own ice cream and putting us to bed. 

ETA: Ayla, I remember that too. We picked out horrible presents for our parents with our few bucks. But it was so much fun to do it.

[MissRose]

My favorite was when I was about 9 and my sister was around 7.  I think we had been watching tv in a different room, most likely after having gone to church for Xmas eve. We had changed to our pajamas at that time.  Our mom calls us to the living room as Santa was there.  To this day, I do not know who was dressed as Santa.

[Yvaine]

My favorite was when I was about 9 and my sister was around 7.  I think we had been watching tv in a different room, most likely after having gone to church for Xmas eve. We had changed to our pajamas at that time.  Our mom calls us to the living room as Santa was there.  To this day, I do not know who was dressed as Santa.

My mom woke us up in the middle of the night once for the same thing. She told me later it was my dad, with his suit all padded out (he's very thin).

[Spriggy]

I have two memories, each from when I was about 4 or 5:

1) There was a utility pole in our yard that had some sort of transmitter box near that top of the pole that had a red blinking light.  One year on Christmas Eve my cousin convinced me that the red blinking light was Rudolph's nose and Santa and his reindeer were just waiting there for me to go to bed.  I went to bed shortly after that!

2) Another year I got out of bed and crept to the tree to check out all of the presents before anyone woke up.  I saw two HUGE presents and thought "great - one for me and one for my older sister!"  No such luck - my sister got a stereo that year and those two boxes were the speakers (it was the 80s).  No large gift for me.   

[Hmmmmm]

I have two memories, each from when I was about 4 or 5:

1) There was a utility pole in our yard that had some sort of transmitter box near that top of the pole that had a red blinking light.  One year on Christmas Eve my cousin convinced me that the red blinking light was Rudolph's nose and Santa and his reindeer were just waiting there for me to go to bed.  I went to bed shortly after that!

2) Another year I got out of bed and crept to the tree to check out all of the presents before anyone woke up.  I saw two HUGE presents and thought "great - one for me and one for my older sister!"  No such luck - my sister got a stereo that year and those two boxes were the speakers (it was the 80s).  No large gift for me.   

We did this to my niece one year when she was 3.  But she insisted  ALL of us go to bed. 

[SamiHami]

One year when I was very little-kindergarten or pre-K, I remember we were finger painting Christmas pictures for our mommies and daddies (mine was a reindeer...they still have it  )

We were sooooo excited when Santa a couple of his helpers came into the classroom! We lined up to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted. I'm sure you can imagine the excitement!

Excitement that died once it was my turn. I got up on his lap, and he...gave me a shot.

They were doing vaccinations.

What an awful betrayal of chidrens' trust, right?

[Momiitz]

I remember on year when I was about 6 years old.  My mom, dad, two sisters and I were watching T.V. on Christmas eve in the living room.  All of a sudden our front door opened and in walked Santa Claus.  He saw us kids and said "oh, you kids should be in bed already. I'll have to come back later."  My sisters and I were all surprised and went to bed straight away.

When I was older my mom told me it was the next door neighbor who they got to dress up and come over. 

Another time I woke up really early one December to find my dad loading up our bikes into his car.  I said what are you doing with our bikes?  He said he was taking them to the bike shop to get fixed up as a surprise.  On Christmas morning under the tree were three new bikes.  My parents wanted to give away our old bikes early to charity so they could be fixed up and given to other kids less fortunate that Xmas.   


edited to add info.

[Hmmmmm]

One year when I was very little-kindergarten or pre-K, I remember we were finger painting Christmas pictures for our mommies and daddies (mine was a reindeer...they still have it  )

We were sooooo excited when Santa a couple of his helpers came into the classroom! We lined up to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted. I'm sure you can imagine the excitement!

Excitement that died once it was my turn. I got up on his lap, and he...gave me a shot.

They were doing vaccinations.

What an awful betrayal of chidrens' trust, right?

NO NO NO... That is absolutely horrible.  Sounds like a scene out of a Grinch story.

[afbluebelle]

One year when I was very little-kindergarten or pre-K, I remember we were finger painting Christmas pictures for our mommies and daddies (mine was a reindeer...they still have it  )

We were sooooo excited when Santa a couple of his helpers came into the classroom! We lined up to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted. I'm sure you can imagine the excitement!

Excitement that died once it was my turn. I got up on his lap, and he...gave me a shot.

They were doing vaccinations.

What an awful betrayal of chidrens' trust, right?

That is sadistic and wrong.

That being said, I laughed like a buffoon when I read that. I'm so sorry

[MorgnsGrl]

My brother talked in his sleep when we were kids. It was usually just mumbling but one night I heard him say, very distinctly, "Santa Claus! Don't forget to come to me!"

[mmswm]

This is my dad:



One year, when I was 15 and my youngest sister was 2, my father had to be out of town for most of December.  He was planning on getting back into town in the wee hours of Christmas day.  My sister was getting upset because Daddy wasn't home and was worried that he wouldn't make it back in time.  My other sisters and I (19 and 12) convinced the little one that Daddy was really Santa Claus and the reason why he wasn't there was because he was busy at the North Pole getting everything ready for the rest of the kids, but he would be home when she woke up on Christmas morning.

Yeah, we were kind of mean, but with a dad that looks like that, can you blame us?   

[Amava]

This is my dad:



One year, when I was 15 and my youngest sister was 2, my father had to be out of town for most of December.  He was planning on getting back into town in the wee hours of Christmas day.  My sister was getting upset because Daddy wasn't home and was worried that he wouldn't make it back in time.  My other sisters and I (19 and 12) convinced the little one that Daddy was really Santa Claus and the reason why he wasn't there was because he was busy at the North Pole getting everything ready for the rest of the kids, but he would be home when she woke up on Christmas morning.

Yeah, we were kind of mean, but with a dad that looks like that, can you blame us?   

With a dad that looks like that, you almost have /me/ convinced that the story was true!

Actually... are you /quite/ sure you didn't inadvertantly hit the nail on the head? Maybe he is really Santa Claus and you just don't know it!