Santa Tales

What is your family tradition regarding Santa?

Did your parents perpetuate the Santa myth? How old were you when you knew Santa was no longer a real person living in this time period? Do you tell your own children there is a Santa spying on them? I'll tell you how it was for me.

I remember being in grade school when my father hired a Santa to come to the house. I guess I was already too old for Santa because I knew instantly it was just a man in a costume. But I kept that to myself, so my younger siblings could enjoy the magic.But I always felt hurt that my parents had lied to me. After all, as a child we are so gullible, and the two people we rely on to seperate truth from fiction are our parents.

Years later when we were doing singing telegrams, business was dead in December. We kept turning down Santa requests because my husband, who is a Christian, was dead set against it. One day a family called in. They were Christians too and wanted to hire "Santa" to tell their kids the story of Jesus. Framing it that way, my husband couldn't turn it down. he realized he could have a Santa ministry of sorts. Now he never has trouble finding enough work in Decemeber.

When I had kids I had to decide if I was going to mislead them with the 'Santa is real' myth, or tell them flat out the inside scoop or what. I came up with a compromise. I told them the story of the real St. Nicholas many years ago, and I explained the spirit of giving, and that it's not really relevant whether the man at the mall is the real Santa or not. It's the spirit of giving and goodwill and charity that is the important point.