One day it will happen. The day you’ve been dreading. The day your child asks you if Santa is real.
At first, you’ll say “Santa doesn’t bring presents to children that don’t believe in him”, and that’ll keep them quiet for a year. Or maybe two. But while you can keep the magic alive at home, the rumours in the playground, the whispers among friends, will have them begging you to tell them the truth.
It’s a watershed moment. Once you confirm Santa isn’t real, they’ll start questioning everything else. The Easter Bunny? The Tooth Fairy? Oh, where do the lies end? And once you’ve come clean, how do you stop them spoiling the magic for the younger kids?
Keeping the Magic Alive
In need of a solution, a friend passed this story on to me. A story that swaps one kind of magic for another that is much more believable.
“Santa”, she said, “was real. He lived a long, long time ago. And yes, he did indeed give presents to the children at Christmas. But Santa got old. So before he died he asked parents around the world to carry on his good work by keeping the magic of Christmas alive.”
“Tell your child this story” she advised “and let them know they’re now grown up enough to know the truth and to take the pledge to keep the magic of Santa alive for all the little kids and younger brothers and sisters. Buy their silence by inviting them to help you ‘be Santa’, and tell them one day, if they have children of their own, it’s their job to keep his magic alive.”
If they ask ‘why?’ tell them it’s because everyone needs a little magic in their lives. And as Roald Dahl said, “those who don’t believe in magic, will never find it”.
Polly Unsaturated 
My son is only 5 and he’s already asked if Santa’s real. I said he’s magic, to which the reply was, “I know he’s magic, but is he real?”. I was expecting such questions so soon. There I was stalling madly, when Mr 5 said “Actually, I remember, he is real. He came to the kindy picnic”. The random bloke from one of the kindy teachers football team who got his arm twisted at the last minute has kept Santa alive for another year!
I like that story. I remember being very sternly warned about not running Santa for my younger cousins.
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Wow, 5 – that’s way too soon! My daughter (the one in the photo) used to have a fear of Santa – to the point where we couldn’t go anywhere near a mall from November onwards. Husband got talked into being Santa at a Xmas party so we faked a phone call from Santa asking husband to stand in for him because he was so busy making toys. Worked a treat as daughter understood that the Santas at the malls were just daddies who’d been handpicked to help. Phew!
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What an excellent way to handle this. After Mama almost ruining Santa this year (tip, hide ALL Santa gifts IMMEDIATELY upon arrival home), when Master very nearly 8 starts to question this I have a magic answer all ready.
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Haha – yes hiding the gifts is very important 😉
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This reminds me of the end of the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, this is Susan Sto-Helit speaking with the Grim Reaper (in caps):
HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
“So we can believe the big ones?”
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
“They’re not the same at all!”
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
“Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what’s the point—”
MY POINT EXACTLY.”
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This reminds me of the end of the Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, this is Susan Sto-Helit speaking with the Grim Reaper (in caps):
HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
“So we can believe the big ones?”
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
“They’re not the same at all!”
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
“Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what’s the point—”
MY POINT EXACTLY.”
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