Steve, 27, married, mechanic
When my older brother had kids, I couldn't believe the change in him. We had always had a small Christmas as kids, maybe just one family present like a new TV or a couple of weeks away camping.
Santa was never very big at home, although we would always go and visit Santa in town and tell him what we wanted for Christmas.
We never got what we wanted so I couldn't see the point of asking him after a while. We kids always knew Santa wasn't real, just something fun to do in the school holidays. There was never much emphasis on the presents.
When Mick had his first kid I watched him turn into the spending king of Christmas and saw how he became a slave to the Santa lie.
He stands in long lines for things his kids have asked Santa for on a whim, and he spends more money than they have than they have in a desperate effort to give their kids everything they've asked of Santa.
I don't get it. Why is it such a big deal now that he has kids of his own but it wasn't when we were little? That's weird. I won't be doing anything like that when I have kids.