I know Christmas is come and gone

Oh, I see now. I didn't know children were aware that presents were bought as well. Over here, the Three Wise Men bring everything, so everything is kept hidden until the night of January 5.

Makes sense now

yeah I forgot about the Spanish tradition too! I didnt know about The Three Wise Men bringing gifts however! Nor Can I understand, why you have to wait until January. Anybody know why this is?

Because it took a while for the Three Wise Men to reach Bethlehem. January 6 is sort of the official date - as random as it may be.

I quite like it. Some people are starting to switch to Santa because they consider it's best for the children to play with their new toys during the holidays. But me, I loved the anticipation that lasted that long. And you didn't get tired of them so easily.

But, I was always aware that the Three Wise Men, found baby Jesus on 25th December in Bethlehem. Maybe ive been out of school too long.

Well, I found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_wise_men

Christianity celebrates the three kings on the day of Epiphany, January 6, the last of the "twelve days of Christmas".

In Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, the three kings (Sp. "los Reyes Magos de Oriente", also "Los Tres Reyes Magos", Cat. "els Reis Mags d'Orient") receive wish letters from children and magically bring them gifts on the night before Epiphany. The Wise Men come from the Orient on their camels to visit the houses of all the children; like the Northern European Santa Claus with his reindeer, they visit everyone in one night. In some areas, children prepare a drink for each of the kings, it is also traditional to prepare food and drink for the camels, because this is the only night of the year when they eat.

And then on Epiphany:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_%28feast%29

Epiphany (Greek: επιφάνεια, "the appearance; miraculous phenomenon") is a Christian feast intended to celebrate the 'shining forth' or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus. The observance had its origins in the eastern Christian churches, and included the birth of Jesus; the visit of the three Magi, or Wise Men (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar) who arrived in Bethlehem; and all of Jesus' childhood events, up to his baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist. The feast was initially based on, and viewed as a fulfillment of, the Jewish Feast of Lights. This was fixed on January 6.

The first reference to Epiphany in the Eastern Church is a slighting remark by Clement of Alexandria in Stromateis, I, xxi, 45:

"There are those, too, who over-curiously assign to the Birth of Our Saviour not only its year but its day…"
Origen's list of festivals (in Contra Celsum, VIII, xxii) omits any reference to Epiphany. The first reference to an ecclesiastical feast of the Epiphany, in Ammianus Marcellinus (XXI:ii), is in 361.

Thus in the Western church, the feast of Christmas was established before that of Epiphany. Over time the West decided to celebrate Christmas on December 25. The East continued to treat January 6 as the day marking Jesus's birth. This has given rise in the west to the notion of a twelve-day festival, starting on December 25, and ending on January 6, called the twelve days of Christmas, although some Christian cultures — especially those of Latin America — extend it to forty days, ending on Candlemas, or February 2 (known as Candelaria in Spanish).

Well a fair bit of that was new to me! Maybe we get a different story over here?! Thanks for the post Chsristine

I don't know. I think the Catholic Church and the Church of England do have the same calendars, but I couldn't really say. The story must be the same everywhere.

Well, here on January 6th the one who comes for children is "Befana", an old and ugly woman... for me, she always brought just sweets, not toys, as we received the bigger amount of gifts for Santa Lucia and for Christmas.

'The Lie' is that Santa Claus brings the presents (hopefully I am not shattering a dream of yours now *gasp*). When he was tiny, we'd pretend that Santa brings all the presents, but that is really tough cause he might find one *rolls eyes*, or he would recognize the wrapping paper (explain that one), or lately, he tells me that some kids don't believe in Santa (so, we say that parents DO buy presents but santa brings one or two as well - hence the kids at school that 'know' are right partly as their parents DO buy presents, but unfortunately since they don't 'believe', Santa will not bring anything.

I just have this feeling that he knows it is all a lie and doesn't want to spoil it for me....

kev is now oficially heart broke bad move