The lengths parents will go to to deceive their kids amazes me. My 1st wife and I never tried to get our kid to believe something that wasn't true. Later she asked why we didn't do the SC thing; we said we didn't want to lie to her and have her find out we had been lying to her. She was impressed; our parenting stock went up severalfold that day. Go ahead, flame. I know all the arguments by the way about the magic of childhood and all that, so merely repeating them won't change my mind.

Chestnuts, to me, taste like a combination of walnuts (which I don't exactly hate, but don't really love either) and baked potatoes (which I like, but not plain). Bleh.

Our kids always get a night to lie in sleeping bags underneath the tree, which for that night we kept lit all night. It's part of the magic for them (something my wife did with her kids before I married her/them).

Alex