Thoughts on Christmas Magic and Santa
Nathan has begun working out for himself whether or not Santa is REAL. I think it will probably be a few more years before he lands solidly in the no longer a believe camp, but it’s exciting to see him puzzle something out and being okay with questioning something that he could just take for granted. What can I say, I get excited about seeing my kids doing mental gymnastics, and when you’re nearly five, that I guess that includes wrestling with the existence of Santa.
This is not to say that I am excited about abandoning the magic of Christmas. A few days ago I was talking with Nathan about his announcement that “Santa isn’t really real you know” and if this meals there’s no Santa at the North Pole (I don’t know is Nathan’s conclusion) and what the other magical parts of Christmas are. We talked about the fun of making a Christmas list so that the people who loves us and what to let us know how special we are by giving us gifts will know what gifts we think are extra special. We talked about the joy of picking out the perfect gift to give someone we love. I shared how much I love seeing the empty stockings all full in the morning (we didn’t talk about how they get filled).
The family story is that Sarah questioned the existence of Santa long before I did, and since she’s three years young I feel like this means I should remember believing in Santa, but I don’t. I remember putting out cookies and carrots on Christmas Eve. I remember getting gifts from Santa, Mrs. Clause and the Reindeer (probably because we still occasional get gifts from the reindeer…) but I don’t remember expecting Santa to bring the big shiny favored gift (as a parent now, I totally want credit for that gift) and I don’t remember the existence of Santa being The Thing that made the holiday magical. The time and love spent preparing gifts to give, the wonderful waiting songs of Advent and all the opportunities for caroling, the lights, the ornaments, the family gathering together. That is the magic.
So Nathan questioning the existence of Santa doesn’t bother me. And when Nathan decides he is sure that Santa doesn’t exist, we’ll celebrate that discover and let him in on the little secret that now he gets to help be Santa to all the people who do still believe in him. But I suspect Santa will be visiting Nathan again this year. And if he does, he’ll be the one to fill up the stockings.