Oh boy, what are we going to do? I need opinions...

So, we took Ava to see Santa at the mall. She loved him. She ran up to him and said, "SANTA! I MISSED YOU!" and told him what she wanted. She was absolutely elated the rest of the day that she got to see him. Then yesterday, we went to see Olive the Other Reindeer and afterwards, you get to meet with Santa. Well, Ava turns to me and says, "Hey mommy, Santa's face is different. Why is his face different?" So I explained that Santa is so busy this time of year that he had to send a helper and that made sense to her. Now here comes the dilemma. On Christmas Eve every year, "Santa" comes to visit and hand out gifts to the kids. It's usually an uncle or a friend of the family who dresses up, and I don't want her to think it's not the real Santa, but I'm thinking that she's definitely not going to buy it this year. Should we still do Santa? Should I try to pass him off as Santa or tell her it's a helper again? I really want her to believe he's the real thing that night and it's making me sad that she might figure out that it's not really him

Re: Oh boy, what are we going to do? I need opinions...

Yeah, Josh is totally catching on.

I swear its because Party City has a 50.00 costume...we can't leave the house without bumping into a santa.

this month, we have seen him 7 times.

Josh asked if we lived in the North Pole.

2 santas gave him wrapped gifts with his name on them...that threw him totally off...why doesn't every santa give him a gift?

Last santa we saw...a neighborhood party, this guy has such a strong ny accent.

josh sat on his lap...tells him his name is joshua...santa looks at me out loud and says is this a little boy or a little girl.

my poor baby was mortified. but even worse how does santa know if he's naughty or nice, sleeping or awake if he doesn't know he's a boy??

2 b-day party santas
1 in the streets while we were waiting for a train...he was the best one though, horse and carriage..
1 at neighborhood party
others at the mall

Re: Oh boy, what are we going to do? I need opinions...

Geez, I'd begin to wonder if you live in the North Pole, too
I mean, I guess i'll have to go the helper route again, but still, I really wanted her to think the Christmas Eve Santa is the real thing. I KNEW I should have skipped the mall Santa, he's so real that nothing can compare.

Re: Oh boy, what are we going to do? I need opinions...

I know, I am scared of this too. Hailey saw santa at the christmas tree farm today and first thing she says when we walk away is "sooooo we live at the north pole mommy?" I said no, he is just visiting. So she says " oh, I thought he was busy for christmas?" I was like ummmmm, he has some free time while his elves are busy making toys so he stopped here for a visit. My daughter is so going to ask 100 questions I can't answer. i better be quick.