When Princess asked if Santa Claus is real, I said, "He's as real as you want him to be. He's a very real legend from way back. See, when people get a gift, they feel obligated to give something in return. Parents want to give kids gifts without making them feel like they owe us or they have to be grateful, so we put Santa Claus on the tag." It worked, because it justified the "lie" in a socially decent way. I was also trying to reinforce the idea that gifts are not reciprocal, and if you can't give gladly, don't bother. Gothgrrl never asked, so I assumed that Princess explained it to her.
We kept up the pretense for several more years, because the kids loved the surprises. As they got older, I explained how parents love to play Santa Claus and I considered it an honor to give their childhood some magic. It wasn't always easy. I only recently told them the trouble I went through to get Princess a parakeet one year. I arranged with the pet shop ahead of time to keep my paid-for bird until Christmas Eve. Some time later I realized that Christmas Eve was on a Sunday and they would be closed anyway, so I called. By then they'd decided to close on Saturday, too. So I had to hide this loud, cat-attracting bird all weekend. I rigged up a heater in the attic for couple of days, but I couldn't get into the attic without waking up the girls, so that last evening meant a parakeet and cage in my closet, which didn't have a door at the time, with the cats lurking about suspiciously. I even constructed a huge wrapped box that I could throw over the top of the cage at the last minute, but of course the cat had to sit on it and make it collapse. Good times.
11 comments:
I once told my nephew that Santa was like bigfoot or aliens - everyone knew he existed but no one could get a decent picture of him. Thank you for the canary story, that was one lucky bird. Merry Christmas Miss Cellania!
Marry Christmas to you, too, Rick!
I like your explanation of Santa that you gave your girls. And that parakeet story, LOL! You went above and beyond for that surprise!
My son is 15 and still hasn't figured things out, which is good news because it means I probably won't have to pay for college.
Merry Christmas Miss C..
Merry Christmas, Miss C!
Merry Christmas, y'all!
"See, when people get a gift, they feel obligated to give something in return. Parents want to give kids gifts without making them feel like they owe us or they have to be grateful, so we put Santa Claus on the tag."
Yes yes a thousand times yes. You get it, that's a better explanation than the newspaper to Virginia.
Gifts are for giving, I hate the expression "exchanging gifts" making is sound like a business deal.
Miss C is always impressive with her smart grasp of reality, merry happy jolly.
Oi. Here we go. That post on It's a Wonderful Life below that set off (triggered?) xoBruce? This one's mine. In spades. x10.
First, how could you even ask if Santa's real when there he is, in living color, in the post directly above? Sure, call him Roger; just tell that to Sophie Joe.
Second, just 2 nights ago, Santa was in my front yard entertaining around 20 kids from around the neighborhood. We made snow angels, well the kids did. Santa started the snowball fight though. And based on the reactions of all the parents, none of their children are going to grow up with some sort of cultural inferiority complex. In any case, they're certainly not worried about it.
Third, Elf is The Stupidest Christmas movie evah. So sure, use that movie to denigrate Santa. Because
Fourth, Slate is nothing more than a leftist cultural mouthpiece for CNN and the WAPO.
I love Christmas, but I have never liked Santa. (See post https://chawedrosin.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/why-i-dont-like-santa/).
I hope you have a lovely Christmas, Miss C!
Hey! It's December 23rd! I forgot (I used to put up a pole at work). Happy Festivus Miss C! Time for the Airing of the Grievances. Whoops. Been there done that. Now, who wants to wrestle?
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