Friday, November 22, 2013

Mom, Is Santa Real?

Two weeks ago completely out of the blue....that dreaded question came up.
Yes, the one I've been dreading.
Mom, is Santa real?

I heard every one's opinions on the topic whether I wanted to or not.
We had 3 older brothers growing up who didn't let us believe a stitch in magic.
They knew all the best hiding places for presents and were masters of unwrapping and rewrapping.
After a few years of this mischief our parents just hid them at my Dad's office.  No visions of sugar plum fairies ever danced in our heads.

I promised myself as a kid that when I had a kid of my own that it would be pure magic
in every sense of the word.
We love Santa and the Tooth Fairy at our house.  They really are the only ones that seem even remotely real right?  Here is one of her notes to the tooth fairy, embarrassed of the cavity she had.
 I would never lie and I never have, I'm a master of asking round about questions.  "Is Santa real?", "Well do you think he's real?"  "Do you believe in Santa?" "Well do you believe in Santa, do you want to believe in Santa?"  The only time I've walked the line was while we've been in stores shopping with Candace and our kids and I tell them Santa is watching them through all the store security cameras so they'll behave.
Or maybe when I printed out those awesome Christmas pictures secretly snapped when Santa was caught eating cookies.  I hadn't even cleaned off the counter and that sneaky Santa was too impatient to eat those cookies!   If you haven't seen this website Capture The Magic you have to go~it made me giddy creating the pictures!
             
I've never been more grateful for this cute little letter, a love letter of sorts from a Mother to her Daughter explaining Santa Claus.
It is found here from Cozi.com written by Martha Brockenbrough 

 I think it's one of the very first things I ever pinned and it saved my life.  I didn't know how to even respond at first.  Some people want to believe in Santa, some people don't.  He's the magic of Christmas that loves the children and brings joy through his kindness and generosity towards others.

"You lied to me?"  So how do you explain that you didn't really lie....
My daughter isn't confrontational~she expresses herself through drawings and books.  Her "book" response to me was titled "Santa is a phony, my parents lied to me."  She has since destroyed the book probably because I told her she misspelled some words and she might want to fix that because I intended to keep the book to show to her kids one day.

I quickly printed out this wonderful letter, adapting it to fit her and I and gave it to her.  My hubby and I drove down to get a soda, this was a pain only Dr. Pepper could fix.  My husband's quick fix-it-hat response was "Are you more upset that she's calling you a liar or that her innocence is lost?"

Upon arriving back home her reaction to me was completely different, soft, pleading for answers.  It was a therapist dream session, explaining all my "issues" from my youth and my promise to my child I hoped I'd have someday.  After tears hugs, tears and more hugs everything seemed okay.  I felt so emotionally drained but so grateful for that letter.
Later that afternoon I found her busy hunting down her wish list off of eBay.  I guess as a parent I'm okay...and I've survived to parent another day.

Have a wonderful weekend friends!:)

1 comment:

  1. Oh,I feel your pain. I had always worried about the day my sons found out that Santa isn't always dressed in red and white. I reminded them that if they didn't believe in Santa, he would not visit. But I also reminded them that Barney is not a real dinosaur and Micky is not a real mouse, but it is fun to pretend and play, and they were ok with that. I told them that grown ups like to play too!! We had a long talk about the spirit of giving and how we can all remember the real reason for the season. We all still love Santa!!

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