Tonight 5 of us loaded up in the be-flamed PT and headed to College Station in an attempt to behold the wonder of Santa’s Wonderland, a drive through light display complete with Santa town that includes Christmas movies, fireplaces, Santa and a mechanical bull. Unfortunately for us, apparently the rest of Texas had the same idea. The line was inordinately long and so we decided to pass it up on the way and head to dinner instead. Our first choice of dinner? Packed. Our second choice of dinner? Packed. We ended up at the fourth choice.

After all the driving around, eating and grabbing some after dinner coffee, we hoped we had wasted enough time and maybe had culled some of the herd, we were dead wrong. 1 hour in line? Just to get past an overpass in line. We gave up. No wonder for any of us.

People will do odd things when locked in a car for that period of time. D really wanted to stick her foot in a hole (oh nooooo. did ah do that?) Sprog and I had a conversation about Santa and LYING TO YOUR CHILDREN OH MY GOD. Which. No. He went into this whole diatribe about letting your child believe the lie of a big fat man on a roof, who can get to all those houses in one single night, with nuclear sludge affected reindeer pulling him along. Of course, I balked because I never said a damn thing about nuclear sludge? WTF?!? Plus, I happen to think the whole Santa thing is a right of passage and when he actually found out about Santa? He wasn’t upset. He said that he thought Santa was more of an idea than a person anyway and was about the spirit of the season and he would always believe in that, so now that he’s all conspiracy theory boy, he doesn’t get to rewrite history to suit him.

D had a bad experience with her own mother in how she found out so she doesn’t think that parents should lie to their kids about Santa. *shrug* I think it’s all in how you handle it. We always only gave Sprog ONE gift from Santa and the rest came from us. I felt that was really important so that when he did have that moment of transition it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

What about y’all? How are you handling the Santa thing? Do you think it’s this huge betrayal or like a right of passage that we all experience and grow through?

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 12:26 am and is filed under Around Town, Sprog, The Hell?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “betrayal or right of passage?”

blondie Says:

**** (oh nooooo. did ah do that?) ***

OMG i LOVE that commercial! Hubby and i make fun of it all the time!

Hmmm… i’m really the wrong person to ask about the whole Santa thing since we didn’t do Christmas at all when i was a kid - hence no Santa. In fact when i was 3 i told my dad he WAS coming to the house and Dad said “umm nope” and sure enough - nope. I know i never told anyone else Santa “wasn’t real” so i didn’t cause any horrible trama to other kids.

Hubby’s folks didn’t “do Santa”. Not really sure why? So we’re horrible, evil parents that don’t “do” Santa either. My main reason is that i want Boo to realize that gifts and presents come from SOMEONE - they cost money and you don’t just “magically” get everything you’ve ever wanted for christmas - especially if they’ve been sold out of it since July.

I like what y’all did - the ONE toy. It give a cedibility to Santa without the outrageous expectations. I have friends that do “santa stocking’s” - only the stuff in the stockings come from Santa - similar expectaion.

This is the first year Boo’s asked about Santa - he’s recognized him before - but never said much. This year he asked “Does Santa live at the north pole” and i just told him “that’s what some people believe” - he never asked about presents…..

Martinis or Diaper Genies? Says:

I think the santa lie is BULLSHIT. I was pissed.

that being said, i’m sure i’ll lie to my future kids one day too. It’s the american way.

TUWABVB Says:

I was just thinking about this last night as I watched “Elf.” I love the idea of Santa Clause - I think (if we have children), I’ll teach them the “idea” of Santa Clause a la “Yes Virginia” - that it’s the idea of spirit that lives in each of us. When they are younger, I see no hamr in giving that image a symbol of a man in a red suit.

Mags Says:

’cause I’m a pothoooole….

SANTA?! I KNOW HIM!!!!!

I talk Santa up at school because I do have a couple of students who truly believe.

Also, He still visits me, so I’m not about to talk smack.

;)

sensibly Sassy Says:

I think it is a right of passage. I mean the fun that believing in Santa provides totally outweighs any inkling of deception in my opinion

retta Says:

This was the first year the little has been over-the-top excited about Santa. He even had an elaborate plan to spy on the big man– which failed the moment he shut his eyes for a “short nap” at 9 PM.

As he was opening gifts on Christmas morning, we told him which presents were from us, which from his grandparents and which from Santa (also distinguished by their plain brown paper wrapping), but when it came down to excitement of the moment, all was forgotten and, in his mind, everything came from Santa. I couldn’t bring myself to correct him.

After bearing witness to his “gotta catch Santa” schemes, his eleventy billion Santa/reindeer/elf/North Pole questions and general holiday exuberance, I know that I could never deprive him of this rite of passage.

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