Every Time A Bell Rings...

(© Graphics By Irene)

Well, it finally happened. At least one of my three children no longer believes in Santa.

Yes, we 'do' Santa. Without reservation (there's a whole raft of back-story to this point but we'll leave it at that for now). And Boofah has known for several months now about the fallibility of the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny, so it really was just a matter of time. I've caught the concerned looks, the 'hang on, that doesn't add up at ALL' furrowed brows and the first flurry of questions. We decided at the outset that we'd let this thing run it's course. We understand that some families don't do the big Santa thing, and we respect that, but we always have, and so when we first had kids we decided that when they were ready, they'd let us know, and we'd spill the beans.

Of course, I'd have to be blessed with a very analytical child, LOL. As soon as I started answering questions with 'What do YOU think?' instead of 'yes' or 'no', he could smell a rat, LOL.

Boofah is 7 ½, but I was kind of hoping for a year or two extra with him. Our eldest, with perfect honesty here, would believe in Santa at age 15, but then with him there are other factors at play. And our youngest is still a couple of months from turning 6, so I would expect her to still believe. But I love Christmas. Every tiny bit of it. I would easily swap three birthdays for one Christmas. The magic, whether you find that magic in Santa or in Jesus (or both?) is undeniable, and I want/wanted to keep that going for as long as I possibly could with my own kids. I don't have strong opinions against the commercialisation of the season - I know we are, on purpose, a whole lot less extravagant than others we know, and we take an extremely practical viewpoint on what constitutes a 'good gift'. So even while we 'do' Santa, we're reserved in how we approach it. We don't buy for buying's sake. The kids get minimal presents, and they're usually something they need. We know others, yes, even some Christians, who are heavily into the commercial hype - we might have the hype, but it's not commercially driven.

Boofah was totally okay with knowing the truth (though at this point he really just needed confirmation from a grown up of something he already knew), and in fact he's rather enamoured with the idea of adding Santa to the list of 'grown up things' he already knows about. He and I, along with Hubs, had a little talk about why Mummy and Daddy 'did' Santa all these years, and how he was such a big boy now that we'd really like his help keeping the secret for Master J and Miss Moo, until they're ready to know themselves. Since we'd already been doing this for the Tooth Fairy/Easter Bunny, this was no big deal.

No doubt, some of you will disagree with the way we've approached the issue of Santa. I'd just like to point out (before the comments start, LOL) that we've always taken great pains to present 'both sides' of the story to all of the kids. But the reason our children believe in Santa is absolutely because we've provided them with the story, and for that I really don't have an apology, only a sincere expression of respect for people who've done it differently to us. And I hope you'll all have the same thoughts toward us! LOL.

Cheers,
Lizzie