This May Be The Year

Christmas is less than two months away.  Fletcher attends a Christian school and there are some families who choose not to do Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy.  From what I understand, reasons vary but one of the main one is that they don't want to lie to their children and later have their children think that their parents lie to them and that Jesus could be a made up character too.  I get that to a degree.  And I respect the fact that families make their own choices about all types of things and that's ok. 

We've always done Santa and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny (but Fletcher says the EB is a guy in a costume).  Both Kevin and I grew up with those traditions.  I don't remember exactly when I found out they weren't real, but it didn't destroy my trust in my parents or wreck my faith in God.  Since I have two older brothers and one older sister, I'm actually impressed I believed as long as I did.  They did a good job keeping the magic alive when they could have told me many years earlier. 

In our home the emphasis at Christmas is Jesus and his birthday.  We have our Jesse Tree and spend a large portion of our time talking about the true meaning of Christmas.  There are a few gifts from Santa on Christmas morning and other gifts from mom and dad and family.  We may go to the mall to see Santa, but it isn't a big deal if we don't.  We don't say that Santa can see everything (only God can do that).  When Fletcher has asked a question about Santa or the EB or TF, we always ask him "What do you think?"  He comes up with an answer and we move on.  Of course, now he is bringing logic into it.  I mentioned his jet pack request in an earlier post.  He thinks that the cost of something doesn't matter because Santa and the elves make it for free.  I'm guessing that there will be more questions this year. 

There are at least two kids in his class whose families definitely don't do Santa.  And like I said earlier, that's fine. But here's where it gets tricky -- at least one of the kids has taken it upon him/herself to tell the other kids that Santa isn't real.  I think the child's parents have asked him/her not to do it, but the proclamations continue and I think they might get more intense as Christmas gets closer.  Some parents probably aren't ready for the "magic" to be over just yet.  I'm not either.  But just in case, Kevin and I need to have a conversation about how we will handle it when the time comes. 

Oh the joys of parenting!