Santa was very real. Receiving gifts was appreciated as it only happened at Christmas.
My many cousins, Aunts and Uncles gathered at my Grandparents where we all sat together eating the beautifully prepared hot meal in the heat of an Australian Summer. There was no thought of not eating what was put in front of you as there were many hungry children in the world who would give anything to be so lucky...this message was something we heard at all meal times but added on Christmas Day was " There wont be any pudding if you don't " Now it wasn't the pudding but the sixpences carefully hidden inside we wanted. However, if you didn't eat all then your treasure was taken from you.
When we went decimal in 1966 the dilemma was these modern coins could not be cooked, so each sixpence was given back in exchange for a five cent piece so Nan had her Christmas booty for the following year. I could go on forever but these were just some of the important events on that day.

see others doing the Dec Challenge here, http://form.pbase.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=47481