Yes

Santa is great says Roni Skye, because he reinforces the magic of Christmas - as well as showing children the importance of giving

IF we don't believe in Father Christmas, there's not much point believing in anything in life, is there? Everybody has to have a sense of magic in their lives and if we can't allow ourselves to believe in Santa and get excited about Christmas, when will we get excited?

Every child dreams of waking up on December 25, feeling that warmth and anticipation. My children are 12 and 13 and they join in the excitement.

Santa is not just a big fat man with a beard, he represents something more: the magic of a world we don't see for much of the year, with its sadness and poverty. Father Christmas brings a little bit of escapism from the sadness around us.

As for my children, we always taught them that Santa came in on Christmas Eve and leaves presents. Even as adults we have to believe in magic.

Santa Claus reinforces the message of giving and sharing at Christmas. It's a time for giving and, thanks to Santa, children learn about sharing, learn about being good and learn about children who are not as fortunate as them.

We teach our children that Santa is always portrayed as a happy person who treats everybody the same, no matter what their culture or race, whether they are rich or poor. This reminds children of the true meaning of Christmas - that no matter who you are or where you are born, you are important.

When they were younger I always took my children to see Father Christmas. In fact, I still do and we waited for 20 minutes at Worcester Garden Centre to see him.

Father Christmas is alive and well, and so he should be. It makes Christmas a bit more magical and magic is not just something children crave, it's something we all desperately need.

No

According to University of Worcester lecturer Annie Lambeth, Father Christmas is just another symbol of our over-commercialism

LET'S get this straight from the start. I'm sure the idea of St Nicholas, as it was first imagined, is a very worthy tale. But Santa has become the epitome of a Christmas that's over-hyped, too expensive and out of control.

The very fact that the Father Christmas that we tell our children to love is red and white and just the product of a marketing executive's imagination, shows how Santa is just the personification of all that it wrong.

To teach our children about Santa is to teach them that the real meaning of Christmas is lost.

It teaches children that Christmas is all about receiving presents and not a lot else. It's not even about the giving of presents because the idea of Santa means children can avoid having to say thank you.

After all, when children are asked in the playground what they got for Christmas and one says a PlayStation and the other says a bag of sweets, that's when they begin to wonder why life is so unfair. How can that be the true meaning of Christmas?

We are all sick of Christmas being over-commercialised and the first way to try to regain some ground is to get rid of this obvious money-making tool.

As early as October, we start seeing Father Christmas peering out at us from shop windows. He has become the logo of the money-making, vulgar Christmas that I want nothing to do with and I would want my children to have nothing to do with.

I'm three years older than my sister and I wanted to prolong the myth to get more presents out of my parents.

I'm not against Christmas but it should be a time for reflection, relaxation and teaching children the real meaning of giving and receiving. Santa Claus has come to symbolise everything but.

FATHER CHRISTMAS FACTS

The Coca-Cola company says it invented the modern Father Christmas. The firm used him for ad campaigns from 1931 to 1964 and he brandished the soft drink company's red and white colours.

In the 1800s Santa was often depicted wearing a scruffy brown suit - but that all changed when artist Thomas Nast drew him in red for the magazine Harpers Weekly.

Father Christmas was joined by reindeer in 1822 thanks to a poem called A Visit From St Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore. Written for his children in 1823, the family poem was later published for the general public. But Rudolph and his red nose did not join in until 1939.

St Nicholas, from where the name Santa Claus comes, was a bishop in the Third Century in what is now Turkey. St Nicholas reportedly died about 350 AD.

The tradition of St Nicholas, or Sinter Klaus, was taken to America by Dutch colonists in the 17th Century.

The first sign of Santa in Britain was in the Middle Ages when he was a pagan figure who enjoyed drinking and eating at the pagan Yule festival.

In Greek, St Nicholas is known as Hagios Nikolaos, Bishop of Myra (in the present day Turkey).

He has been the patron saint of Russia, Moscow, Greece, children, sailors, prisoners, bakers, pawnbrokers, shopkeepers and wolves.

In Puerto Rico, children receive gifts from the Three Kings on January 6, also called the celebration of Epiphany, the Three Kings' Day. Each child puts grass under their bed for the camels. In the morning the grass is replaced with gifts.

In Italy, Babbo Natale, which means Father Christmas, is Santa. Children put a pair of their shoes by the door on the day before Epiphany and the following morning they find them filled with small gifts and candy.