How to keep your child believing in Santa Claus

It's getting cold outside. Most of the trees have shed their leaves. The RV's are going south for the winter. You ask your child if he/she has written his/her letter to Santa yet? Your child says "I don't believe in Santa Claus anymore." So now you know it's time for the talk. It's time for you to make the decision to let your child go on not believing, or do you want to try to run a little interference for Santa for just one more year?

If you choose to put Santa out of business, then read no further. You obviously feel that it's time for your child to grow up. There's nothing wrong with this.

Personally, I just like to keep the inocence factor going for as long as I can.

The following are a few ways you might be able to keep your child believing in Santa Claus for one more year.

Well duhh. There has to be magic. Reindeer can't fly without magic. Santa can't get into every home without magic. Having no magic isn't an option. But, magic can only carry you so far. Using too much magic can make the story less believable. You need to mix in a little education, modern technology and logic to go with the magic.

Your child may try to use questions of simple logic to prove that Santa doesn't exist.

Questions like, how can Santa fly around the world and deliver all those presents in just a few hours?

Answer; Santa has a lot more than a few hours. He goes by time zones to make deliveries. There are 24 time zones on earth and therefore Santa has 24 hours to get to all the presents delivered.

Q; How can Santa carry all the presents in such a small sleigh?

A; Santa doesn't carry every thing all at once. He has warehouses filled with toys at the North and South Poles where elves (like a NASCAR pit crew) check, make adjustments, reload, and get the sleigh ready for the next time zone trip.

Q; How can Santa find my house in the dark?

A; Santa uses his GPS. (Global Positioning Sleigh) The sleigh communicates with satellites all around the world and automatically updates its position 300 times every second. The sleigh also keeps Santa continuously updated 200 times every second on which children have been naughty or nice.

Q; How can Santa know if I've been bad?

A; Santa Net. Santa has a team of security elves monitoring thousands of computers. They see everything you do online on your computer. Santa also has the SSS (Santa's Secret Service) helpers all around the world reporting directly to him. These helpers make the naughty and nice list, keep the list updated and otherwise, just keep an eye on things in general.

Your child may ask you why they need to leave cookies and milk for Santa.

Santa needs all the cookies and milk he can get. Climbing down and up chimneys takes a lot of energy. Santa spends most of the year putting on extra weight so that he will have the ability to stand up to the physical and caloric needs of making several trips around the world at Supersonic speeds. As soon as Santa leaves the North Pole, his metabolism starts rising and he starts burning off the extra weight. Santa and the Reindeer need the cookies and milk to keep up their energy during the trip. It doesn't necessarily have to be cookies and milk. Just about anything sweet will do. Santa loves cake and coffee or candy and cola. He also loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and root-beer.

Your child may ask "why do I need to be asleep when Santa comes?"

Santa doesn't leave the North Pole until midnight. All good children should be in bed and sleeping by that time. If your not at least trying to sleep then you get moved to the naughty list. Santa has a lot to do and doesn't need any distractions in order for him to be able to stay focused. If Santa finds that you are awake, he will skip your home and move to the next home on the list. If there is enough time after all the other deliveries have been made, he may be able to swing back by your home. Do you want to take a chance that Santa may not be able to get back to you?

If you really were asleep and just happened to wake up and catch him, you don't get put on the naughty list. Santa understands. Accidents happen.

 You can also have Santa to call your child. There are services that (for a small fee) will have Santa call your children. I've never used any of these services, so I don't know what all is involved with setting up the call.

Or you could have a friend at work (someone your children don't know or recognise) play Santa, call and leave a message on your voicemail for your children.

I have grey hair and a full grey beard. When I go shopping, sometimes I get questioning stares from young children in the malls and parking lots. When I notice that I'm being watched, I pull out a small note pad and pen. I then give the child a wink and act like I'm writing in the note pad. I get a kick out of these children suddenly start helping their mothers and being very good children in general.

Unless it's something like Legos, or a toy that putting it together is intended to be part of the fun, then it shouldn't be from Santa. IMOHO Santa's toys should be ready to play with right out of the box. If your children wake up and catch you trying to put Santa's present together using directions that were translated into your language by someone whom doesn't really understand your language can be a major red flag as to Santa's true identity.

These have just been a few ideas that you can use to help Santa out for another year.

I'm sure you have a few ideas of your own. If you feel up to it, I would love to hear them.