Santa Claus

I bought a copy of "Polar Express" today and Leo and Papa just read it together. It's a sweet, sort of sad book. Gary and I just had a conversation about Santa Claus and where the myth fits into our parenting. We are agreed that it is a good idea to have Santa Claus as part of Christmas. We both see it as being a multi-functional myth, in that little children see him as being a real person who brings toys at Christmas, and older children see him as a silly and fun fairy tale and adults see him as the spirit of the season and the spirit of giving and of unconditional love of children. It's all useful and good.

I also see it that the same people who would disapprove of Santa for children wouldn't enjoy a good fantasy/sci-fi novel. That is, fairy tales help to teach children to imagine and dream. I know my mother and father struggled a bit with the idea that they were lying to us. But they decided to teach us about Santa Claus anyway. I really enjoyed Santa as a small child. I remember the cookies and milk and the wonder of the new presents under the tree. I can't pick out when I started to realize that he wasn't real, but was just a story. I remember that for several more years we put cookies and milk out for him and I just knew that Dad ate it. It was still a fun ritual and was fun to pretend.