January 17, 2025 at 1:15 pm

Her Oldest Daughter Refuses To Protect Younger Kids’ Belief In Santa, So She Uninvites Her From Christmas Until She Agrees To Preserve The Magic

by Heather Hall

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/Jesson Mata

Keeping the magic of Christmas alive is important for many parents, especially when younger children still believe in Santa.

But what happens when a family member doesn’t share the tradition and risks spoiling the fun?

Would you go as far as uninviting the person to protect your children’s belief in Santa?

Or would you let them join and hope for the best?

In the following story, one mother finds herself facing this exact dilemma with her grown daughter.

Here’s what happened.

AITA for uninviting my oldest daughter to Christmas over Santa?

I (43f) have children with very large age gaps.

My oldest is 25, and I had her with a high school ex.

Then we separated, and I married my husband much later.

My younger two are 9 and 7.

My younger children believe in Santa, while my daughter’s son doesn’t.

She raised him without the Santa magic, which is perfectly okay.

I just would rather not have it ruined for my children who do believe in Santa.

I was having Christmas at my house, and I asked my daughter if she’d please talk to her son because I wouldn’t like the magic ruined for them.

I still put packages under the tree with “from Santa” on them and leave out cookies and reindeer treats(bird seeds.)

Here’s where everyone stands on the decision.

My daughter told us she wouldn’t make her son lie, and my children are old enough to understand if her son decides to say something.

I told her if she wouldn’t talk to her son, they could spend Christmas at their apartment.

My daughter didn’t like that and said I was choosing my younger children’s happiness over hers and that I was being completely unreasonable.

My husband supports me but thinks I might be being a little high-strung as our children are getting older.

I just want to keep the Christmas magic alive.

AITA?

It’s easy to see both sides of this, but the mother wasn’t really asking that much.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit have to say about this situation.

Here’s a solution that could work.

Source: Reddit/AITA

This person doesn’t mince words.

Source: Reddit/AITA

According to this person, she treats her older daughter unfairly.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Yet another person who thinks she’s not treating her daughter right.

Source: Reddit/AITA

Exactly, this person makes a great point.

Source: Reddit/AITA

There’s nothing wrong with her decision.

The daughter needs to realize that it’s a harmless lie and it’s the mother’s home, so she should respect her wishes.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.