So I had an interesting conversation with one of my friends from the office the other day. I asked him if his kids were into Santa Claus or not. He told me that they don't believe in Santa, that they've taught their kids that he's more like Mickey Mouse...make believe, but fun. He mentioned that he hated the idea of on one hand telling his kids "never lie" and on the other telling them that you've lied to them all of these years about Santa. So I thought about it a bit and I thought, that actually makes sense. While I like the idea of Santa Claus for other reasons, I could at least see his point. Who knows, maybe some day people won't tell their kids to believe in Santa because it's found to be harmful or something. It's not like the world stands still or anything. However, here a couple reasons I like the Santa story. (1) Tradition- isn't it great when things can be passed down from generation to generation? Both my sister and I buy 10 little presents for our kids to be opened one-at-a-time every day for the 10 days leading up to Christmas - - just like our Mom did with us when we were kids. The story of Santa Claus has been passed down for ages now right? (2) Imagination - a lot of the benefit of Santa Claus is that kids get to imagine what's going on, how the toys are being built, how the reindeer fly, etc....and in a world of TV and video games I'll take all the imagination I can get.
So I know what you are thinking, isn't being able to relate to the other kids important too? To me, this is a cruddy argument because there are so many different religions, beliefs, etc. - - kids are all exposed to a million different ideas and beliefs, many of which don't include Santa. And when are we going to stop trying so hard to be like everyone else anyway?
So there it is - - a little random thought on Santa. I appreciate my buddy telling me how they talk about Santa at their house. As a parent, it's pretty awesome to be able to talk to other parents about what they do with their kids. It's nice to hear some other ideas every once in awhile. ....and the thing I'm looking forward to most this year.....Devera and I are going to make some Snicker Doodles to leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. Devera loves talking about Santa and how he brings presents....super cute!