How Christmas has changed since I was a kid

Looking at the Christmases from when I was a child and comparing them to the Christmases that my children are experiencing, I’m amazed at how much has changed.

When I was little I remember my parents taking my sister and I to Santa’s grotto. This would usually involve standing in a pretty long queue with lots of other parents and their children. Children would take it in turns to go in and see Santa with their mums and dads. They’d usually be given a present by Santa himself or by one of his elves, and this would be done in the presence of Santa.

Nowadays though, it seems that we, or the companies and shops behind the numerous amounts of Santa’s grotto’s that pop up every year, want, or feel the need to enhance our children’s experiences of a visit to Santa.

Gone are the days of standing in line to see Santa, as we now have full on, walk-through experiences available to children. Children can go on a magical journey to meet Santa. They can start off by helping the elves make toys or by helping Mrs Claus decorate some gingerbread men. Maybe, they’ll even visit the reindeers or the elves bedroom, sing a song around a camp fire and build a snowman with fake snow.

Of course, this is great and our children love the experience, but it does leave me wondering if any simple grotto’s, in which children just queue up, see Santa, receive a gift and leave, are left anymore?

Although the whole Christmas experience is great for children in these walk-throughs, I feel it’s a bit of a shame that in some of these places, Santa doesn’t actually give the children a gift himself. Instead he gives them a ticket that children exchange in his ‘toy shop’ for a gift of their choosing. To me, the fun of seeing Santa is knowing that he’s going to give you a surprise gift. By allowing children to choose their own gift, I somehow feel that this takes away some of the magic!

Aside from the whole Santa’s grotto thing, my biggest bug bear has to be ‘Video Calls from Santa’. For me, personally this takes away the magic of Christmas. These video calls are automated so regardless of your child’s desperation to ask Santa a question or have a conversation with him, it’s just not going to happen!

The video usually consists of Santa asking a question, followed by a short period of silence in which your child needs to answer said question, followed by another question, or perhaps a short story, before Santa says his goodbyes. I just don’t like this idea at all!

Another thing that didn’t exist when I was a child were elves who come to stay in your house to make sure your good and report back to Santa. I must admit that we’ve taken part in this for the first time this year, but I’m not sure I’ll be doing it again next year!

I’d love to hear your thoughts! What’s changed since you were a kid at Christmas?