Santa - A great big guy or a great big lie?

My oldest daughter, at four years old, is what you could call... Practical.  Even her imaginary friends, despite the rich fantasy life she has with them, are emphatically “Not real, Mommy.  Sheesh.” [eye roll]

In this season of elves and flying reindeer and the fat man in a red suit that magically comes down the chimney, I have to admit that I’m a little worried about her lack of wonderment. 

If you were to ask her about Christmas and Santa Claus her response would be “Yay! Presents!”  Pretty typical of any four year old but I guess I was hoping for more visions of sugarplums dancing and less finding the switch on the dancing Elmo.  Kids need magic and fairy tales.  And I need something to hold over her head for at least one month out of the year.

“Don’t forget, Santa knows when you're being good and when you're doing something naughty,” I tell her after she’s poked her little sister for the 20th time that half hour.

She nods thoughtfully, and then she pokes her sister again.

Against my better judgment, I’ve decided to take her to see Santa this weekend at the mall.  The weekend before Christmas.  Where we’ll probably have to stand in line for 45 minutes.  I am spectacular at planning ahead, I’ll tell you.

The ironic thing is, before we had kids my husband and I weren’t sure if we wanted to tell our one-day kids about Santa.  We’re straight shooters, my husband and me.  But sometimes a little drop of white lie must fall and this is one of those lies.  I mean, deceptions. I mean...  I’m doing this for my kids!   Santa is good for them!  Right?

Did you perpetrate the Santa lie myth?  Was it important to you that your kids believed in Santa or did you tell them the truth from the get-go? 

Comments

[Christine Sierra]

Ahhhh...you mean...wait...uhm...there isn't a Santa Claus?

[Fairly Odd Mother]

Oh, I lie like a rug on this one. I think some of it has to do with my firstborn who has LOVED all characters, costumed people, etc since birth. She's sat on Santa's lap from Christmas #1 on and she just LOVES the entire thing. My 2nd though. . .petrified of Santa and wouldn't go near him. My 3rd. . .oy . . I had to tell him that Santa just comes down the chimney and stays ONLY in the first two rooms and would never EVER come upstairs b/c he was afraid Santa would start roaming our house.

But, after a few years of Santa, I've been letting things slip. I'm tired of pretending and am ready to let the kids in on the secret. It was fun while it lasted but mama's tired of having to keep the jig up.

I, though, have lovely memories of waiting for Santa and don't recall EVER feeling like I was 'lied' to by my parents. My belief in Santa just faded.

[Alex Elliot]

My 6 year old is very suspicious. He's caught me in my lies..er deceptions.. a couple times now which doesn't help. We go see Santa at Hebert's because it's free. This year we went on a Sunday around 2 pm and there was no line whatsoever. The boys walked right up.

[kim]

There's this British author whose name escapes me at the moment - anyway, he says he's perfectly fine with Santa Claus, because he thinks his kid will eventually figure it out for himself. We are highly secular people, and that's how I feel. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, all that -it's not a LIE. It's fun. It's pretend. It's what parents do for their kids.

[Chanel J12]

When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something

[Chanel Handbags]

Your third resource is confidence: repeat the process and stack the feeling of confidence on to happiness and strength