What does Father Christmas/Santa Claus bring to your household?

Tweet

In the week or two after Christmas, adults trying to be friendly often ask the girls ‘What did Father Christmas bring you?’ and the girls, trying to be polite, will tell them what they found in their stockings – usually little things like chocolates, bath bombs,a keyring, a small ornament, a small toy, even a packet of seeds or a pair of socks. This usually results in an awkward sort of pause where the adult is clearly thinking ‘Is that all you got for Christmas? Gosh your parents are mean!’ but doesn’t want to say it, and the children (at least if the adults are people they want to chat to) would like a chance to tell them about some of the other gifts they received from other people, but they don’t like to blurt it out without being asked. These awkward conversations were also a feature of the post-Christmas period for me when I was a child, because I also didn’t know quite what to say. To announce ‘But I got this that and the other from Auntie So-and-so and Mum and Dad and Uncle Whatsisname’ feels like bragging when they hadn’t asked about that. In our house, Father Christmas leaves assorted small gifts in the stockings laid out for him. All other gifts are from real people. Isn’t that what he is alleged to do for children around the world? Every story features Father Christmas filling stockings, as has been the case for centuries. If adults want to know ‘What did you get for Christmas?’ then why not simply ask that? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2017.