Why is Santa so quirky?

I can explain what we have told our children. Santa presents are never wrapped. They may have a larger bow, or a special bow, but are never wrapped. Then again, Santa doesn’t “bring” all of their stuff. Keep in mind, one of my children is a teenager and participates in this for the benefit of her sibling. We never wanted either one to expect the world from Santa and also to understand that Christmas doesn’t equal millions of gifts. We also stressed that Santa gives to so many, it would be selfish to ask for too much from Santa.

Truth be told, neither of our children has ever gone without and get most of everything they ask for, unless it’s just ridiculous. My 7 year old asked for a 30 inch flat screen. I’m against the tv in the room thing, and wouldn’t approve of a new flat screen! I think we just watched too many friends have their children hand over Santa lists that were ridiculous, so we kept ours on the more tame side.

We also wanted them to understand that the family exchanges gifts and that it wasn’t just about receiving.

Everyone is different on how they handle this in their households. I don’t think there is a set of “rules” on how to handle the Santa thing. :)

12 and still believed? Yeah, my daughter went through Santa panic. She understood he wasn’t real, one year; but thought if she admitted it, there wouldn’t be a Santa gift. We let her in on the fact that she would still get something special.

As the years go by, I have come to be more and more baffled as to why anyone is worried about whether Santa is real or not. Do we worry about whether Mickey Mouse is real? Or any of the Disney princesses? I can’t recall ever seeing a parent in a seizure of angst about maintaining a child’s belief in the reality of Mickey, nor have I seen an older child plotting and scheming to tell their younger sibling the truth about Mickey.

We are all perfectly comfortable suspending disbelief in all kinds of other situations, yet we have a fetish about belief when it comes to Santa. My children have a perfectly good time whether they believe or not. And as I grow older, nobody I know has any problem seeking to create an illusion about Santa’s travels in the world.

It’s probably some kind of reverse perception of the world. Normally we have no problem believing the myth of reality, but with Santa, we are always at pains to assure the reality of the myth. Everyone seems to forget that myth lasts as long as there are people to pass it on.

The reality of the Santa myth can be found every day in many places around the world. Most people don’t see it. They are looking for some commercial version of Santa—another myth entirely.

But I believe in Santa, because I have seen people helping each other all over the world. I have seen how people care for each other, and give each other all kinds of gifts. To me, Santa is about sharing and caring, and I surely believe in it.

Frankly, I think people who are urgently trying to make sure their little ones “believe” are completely missing the point. I don’t mean to be insulting. I understand how it can be possible to overlook the spirit of Christmas. I see how people might not connect Santa with a spirit. I understand that people think that myth means it’s not true.

For me, myth is truer than any “reality.” There are philosophical and scientific reasons for this, but I will spare you that here.

Santa is real! I’m an adult (ok, I’m over the age of 50, but who’s counting), and I believe in Santa. It dismays me that so many other adults think that Santa only exists for children. The problem is not preserving children’s beliefs. They already understand the truth. The problem is that adults seem to be unable to see the truth.

Santa didn’t wrap at our house, either, and only brought one gift each. It was the big thing, that the kids were convinced we were too cheap to ever buy.

Santa always brought wrapped presents at our house. Santa’s quirky because all these parents are just making Santa their own – it’s hard to be really consistent on every detail regarding an imaginary being.

I think a lot of times, the kids actually do know that Santa isn’t real, but his parents haven’t told him, and are terrified that they’ve let it go on too long, so then they don’t tell him because he’ll be mad that they waited that long, so it’s not so much that Timmy believes in Santa as Timmy’s parents don’t know that yet.

The children who lived across the street from us when my son was four years old told him that Santa didn’t come to their house because they were Black. The real reason was because they were Seventh Day Adventists. It is one of the saddest stories I have heard.

People teach their children to believe in Santa because they think if they believe in magical things like fairies, elves, Santa and other things it will ease their mind. Kids are not all about logic, when we grow older we stop believing in everything and the magic of things because we become more ‘logical’ and then we lose the childlike quality that is so admired in children and babbies.

At my house, Santa gifts weren’t wrapped. When we were little, he would bring an awesome toy (I remember a Radio Flyer wagon and an Easy-Bake Oven), stocking stuff, and often a stuffed animal (when I was 3 or 4 he brought me a stuffed E.T.). Once we got older, he started bringing a video or DVD, a calendar, or a board game.

We always left milk and homemade cookies, and a carrot for the reindeer, along with a little note for Santa. He’d write a note back saying thanks, and would drink almost all of the milk, leave some obvious cookie crumbs, and the reindeer would gnaw away at the carrot (I still laugh when I imagine my dad doing that!).

I think my parents did an awesome job with Santa. When I found out he wasn’t real, I wasn’t dejected or angry; I was kind of sad that he didn’t exist, but I thought my folks had been really clever with their Santa-ness.