A part of me still believes in the idea of Santa Clause, if it were up to me, I would perpetuate the story of Santa for the entire lives of my children, but in reality, it is not real and the story of Santa can cause some complications.
Ethan hasn't believed for a while. He doesn't believe in the tooth fairy either. He said, "Do you really think God would create a fairy?"
AJ told me he believes that St. Nick once existed, but he isn't alive anymore dressed up in red with flying reindeer.
The girls still believe in Santa. I hope they do for a long time but, I don't know how long that will last with older brothers. When I was young, my older brother showed me the toys hidden in my parents room. A few days later, I received them from Santa. A friend found herself with the same dilemma when she asked her three year old what she wanted Santa to bring her, the little girl replied, "A doll, just like the one hidden in your closet."
I had another friend who didn't have any money at Christmas time whose child asked why Santa wasn't going to visit when he had been good all year. It's hard to understand. I remembering wondering why some kids got more toys than me. Aaron and I find ourselves wondering which gifts should be from Santa and which should be from us. Should we give the "big"items or should Santa? We have decided to give some gifts to our kids throughout the year, not just in December.
Although, the Santa Claus story is fun and one of my favorite things about Christmas is putting out the toys on Christmas Eve. I can still do that whether the kids believe or not. The real reason we celebrate, the birth of the Savior, is a true story. He was born in a stable, He did live, and He still does. Now, that is the Christmas story I can hang on to.
2 comments:
I believe in Santa. He ate all my cookies and drank my milk when I was six years old. (I later learned that it had really been my uncle from Mexico, who didn't know why someone would leave milk out.) But that excitement when I saw that empty plate and glass, has always stayed with me. I've tried to carry that on to my children, but they must be smarter than I was at their age.
When I was little, we didn't set out milk and cookies. That probably explains why other kids received more gifts from Santa than I did.
My kids leave milk and cookies for Santa, but since they don't have an uncle from Mexico, I eat the cookies and the nasty warm milk gets dumped down the sink.
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