Ho Ho Humbug

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(With thanks to Laurel Synder for her tweet that inspired me to write this little slice of honesty)

It's that time of year again, when I rant about Santa: killingthebuddha.com/mag/confession…
— LaurelSnyder (@LaurelSnyder) December 21, 2012

Okay, so I admit I am a total humbug this time of year. I dread decorating, since it just means that I'll need to put away those decorations again in a few short weeks. I enjoy a live Christmas tree, but the smell makes me sneeze. Removing the tree just means even more cleaning, vacuuming, and hoping that the prized yet fragile ornaments will be stowed away carefully enough to survive another year.

My lack of holiday cheer, though, is absolutely not the reason for the following admission:

I have never tried to convince my children that Santa exists.

In fact, my husband and I agreed early on that we would go out of our way to ensure that our children do not believe in Santa. Now, before you hunt me down and try to cover me in glitter, let me explain.

* Even from the earliest days, my sons were able to keep from "spilling the beans" to anyone around them. I never got a single report from a daycare or classroom teacher that they had said anything to a classmate that would ruin someone else's fun. That was part of the deal.

* I know that there will be times I feel I need to at least lie slightly to my children to protect them over the years. Why should we waste those precious necessary lies on something like Santa? We keep the fun of Santa. We just make sure they know it is pretend. As a family that adores fantasy and science fiction - pretend is a way of life.

* You know all those people saying, "Oh crap, I forgot to move the elf!"? Yeah, that's not me. I didn't  have to worry about dance around why there are Santas in every mall. I didn't have to come up with scientific explanations for how Santa can reach all those homes in such a short amount of time.

* Do I really want some corpulent stranger getting credit for the cool presents I buy for my kids? Heck no! I want them to know they came from me! After all, it's not Santa they will be taking care of in his old age - it's ME!