Another year has passed and I’m amazed that my daughter still believes in Santa. She’s eight. Part of this is because she doesn’t have older siblings to crush her belief. Last year, she came home from school telling me that some of the kids in her class didn’t believe in Santa and I could tell she was very hurt by this. She just didn’t understand why.
“They don’t believe in Santa?” I asked in mock surprise. “Well, that’s just silly. Who else comes down the chimney, eats your cookie and drinks the milk you leave out?” I continued by saying I felt bad for the children who didn’t believe, because than Santa might not believe in them! I also wanted to know which children were going around the grade two class saying that Santa wasn’t real, so I could ask them if they could, “please, please, please keep it to themselves!”
I know older children who pretend to believe in Santa, just to get the gifts! They make lists to give to their parents to give to Santa. Kids are smart! They know if they believe then they’ll get gifts (though they’ll probably get gifts anyway). For my daughter, it’s not so much about the gifts; it’s more the experience of having Santa come.
I leave ripped up cotton balls by the fire place each year. My daughter believes this is because Santa’s beard got caught in the fireplace and she saves the pieces. I make sure that my daughter knows that Santa only comes when she’s asleep. I eat that damn half cookie, and half glass of milk. I leave a note from Santa saying: “Ho, Ho, Ho! That was the best cookie of my entire night! Sorry I got caught in your fireplace.”
And, also, in the middle of the night, I will tickle her back – just enough to wake her up, and then pretend I’m asleep. “Mommy,” she’ll say. “I think Santa was just in the room.” I’ll ask her how she knows. “Because I felt him kissing me!” Then he must have been here, I’ll tell her. I wonder if I’m leading her up for a major disappointment later in life, when she eventually realizes that there is no Santa.
She’ll be spending Christmas with her father this year and I had to explain to him everything that he needs to do to for her to continue believing in Santa. “You need to go buy cotton balls! And you need to leave out a cookie! And you have to leave her a note from Santa too!” Her father is not as into this as I am. But I think it’s fun.
So, no, I don’t believe she has to stop believing yet. How can she when I make Santa so believable! At what age did your children stop believing? Did they break the news to you, or did you break the news to them? Share!
Image: Benson Kua
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