December – okay let’s face it, November – brings with it the anticipation of what many people, regardless of religious affiliation, refer to as the biggest holiday of the year.
And the well-known icon associated with that holiday?
Santa Claus.
It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, you most likely know the story of Santa. You’ve probably been exposed to the idea of putting out cookies for him, hanging stockings on the mantel (or near it), writing the man who resides at the North Pole a letter and trying to stay up as late as you can, hoping for an opportunity to catch him in the act.
It is nearly impossible to go anywhere in the month of December without running into an image of Santa. Just go ahead and try to brave the local mall without seeing him in person, wandering around during his designated “break” from sitting in his big red velvet chair and having thousands of kids tell him their Christmas wishes.
Santa is everywhere!
And if your kids are anything like mine, you’ve also been asked no less than a hundred times, “Mom, are you Santa?”
Now, I am all for truth-telling in my home. However, there are some things that I feel just should not be disclosed when it comes to children.
Santa is one of them.
I don’t care how old they are, I will never, ever tell them that Santa is not real. I may wink at them when they are parents themselves, trying to figure out what to put in their own kids’ stockings, but you will never catch me uttering those fateful, dream-ending, innocence-gone, earth-shattering words, “there is no such thing as Santa Claus.”
Why? What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that kids need to have any shred of innocence and imagination that they can get in our world. We can’t control many things that they will be confronted with in life, but we can control the little things. We can control the tooth fairy and Santa Claus. We can read them The Nutcracker and see the wonder in their eyes when they gaze upon the little wooden man put out for decoration this time of year. We can bask in the excitement and anticipation they feel as the house gets cozier, the weather gets colder and the television is brimming with Christmas specials, causing them more excitement than known to man when they find out they will be allowed to stay up a little pastbedtime to watch them. We can tell them the stories, religious or not, that surround this magical time of year. We can share with them all the cookie-baking and carol-singing.
And for one month they will listen.
It doesn’t matter if they are four or fourteen, when they ask me if I am Santa, I will say “I hope not.” And I will mean it.
To me, there is nothing more sad than a kid who’s been told that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.
A few weeks ago, my nephew’s guitar instructor informed him, “well, you know that Santa isn’t really real, don’t you?” My nephew is eleven. Chances are that he’d figured this out, if he hadn’t already. But to be told, by an adult, that the one thing everyone is allowed to believe in at Christmastime isn’t real?
Now the magic is gone for him. Once a kid hears those words from a grown-up, there is no turning back time.
So let’s try, even if we think it’s silly, even if we know better, to keep a little wonder alive in our children for as long as we can. Yes, there is going to come a day when they figure it out. They may even find your stash of stocking stuffers and recognize them when they appear on Christmas morning. And when they do, I will respond with a wink and a knowing look, and nothing more.
They are only children once, and when it comes to Santa Claus, we only get one shot not to mess that up for them.
Carrie is a stay-at-home mother of three and wife to one busy firefighter. You can read more of Carrie’s mothering meanderings at her personal blog, Third Time’s a Charm?, or send questions, topics or suggestions to carrieb{at}seattlemomblogs.com.
Hello again Seattle Moms!
