The Santa Dilemma
More and more these days I hear people talking about not wanting to tell their children that Santa is real; that it’s not right to lie to them and that they want their children to have their feet solidly planted in the REAL world. Why do we perpetuate this fantasy of a jolly old elf in a red suit that flies around the planet giving gifts and spreading good cheer? SHOULD we retain the tradition that is Santa Claus? I believe that with technology and social media each generation may be becoming more and more jaded. They want everything quick and easy. Everything is available at a keystroke and there is nothing sacred anymore and it compounds with each generation and every new technological advance. When my children were little, I used to go to great lengths to make them believe that Santa and Rudolph were real, that there was a MAGIC to Christmas that transcended everything else. I wanted to pass on to them a little of the mystery and magic that I still held in my heart from when I was child. That spark of magic should be encouraged and fed and passed forward, not doused with the grim cascade of reality. Children learn soon enough about the real world and how to deal with it in due time. Encourage their imaginations; tell them there are fairy folk living in the forests and that Dinosaurs still roam the earth; tell them that, yes, Santa is real and that Reindeers do fly. Tell them that there is still magic in the world!