My oldest daughter is already 4 years old, and naturally, she begins to delve into Details about the delivery of Christmas gifts. He wants to know who are in charge of bringing his toys home, why they do it, how they do to bring gifts to all the children of the world in one night and other curiosities with which he tested me in an exhaustive questionnaire.
When he asked me about Christmas when I was his age (because he asks everything), I told him that it was Santa Claus who was coming down the chimney, or failing to enter through the window, to leave us the presents. I am Argentinian and when I was little the “important” gifts came for Christmas, while for Reyes some detail was received. It remains the same, the Santa Claus version has become stronger.
But my daughters are Spanish and they are living the Christmas of their childhood in Spain, where by tradition the gifts are brought by the Magi from the East. The letter is written to them at the end of the year and the gifts arrive on January 6, as always, although we cannot deny that Santa Claus is sneaking up little by little lately.
Faced with such a deployment of protagonists, of course, my daughter rebuked me: “But mom, then who brings us the presents Santa Claus or the Magi?” Before I could answer, she herself replies: “Ah… I know. Both. First Santa Claus and then the Kings ”. She's not a fool, she quickly deduced: "Why choose? More gifts, more gifts".
It saved me the complicated trance of having to choose between one and the other. We stay with both (well, with all four). On the one hand, they live in Spain, where customs dictate that the gifts are made by the Kings, but on the other I am interested that they also live the tradition that the rest of their family celebrates, even if it is far away.
Therefore, at home we have chosen give at Christmas and Reyes. It does not mean that there is an excess of gifts. Santa Claus brings a surprise gift (I am also interested in maintaining the illusion of receiving something unexpected) while the Kings ask for it through the letter. In addition, so they can have a new toy to play on vacations since in Reyes there is almost no time.
And in your house who gives, Santa Claus or the Magi?
