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How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa Claus? Did a teacher or babysitter spill the nasty beans to you? Did a mean older child whisper the terrible secret about Santa into your ear on the school playground? Did you catch a trusted adult wrapping hidden gifts? Or did you simply stop believing in Santa Claus all on your own?
Whether you believe in an actual red-suited Santa Claus or not, Santa is the stuff of Christmas dreams for young children.
How can parents keep the mystery and wonder of Santa Claus alive for young children?
Look for a Letter from Santa
Several websites like Santaletters.org offer to mail personalized letters to children from Santa. As a bonus, 10% of all profits from SantaLetters.org goes to Toys for Tots!! Parents may choose to order this service, or they may compose their own. When children receive stamped, mailed missives from the North Pole, their Santa faith is rebuilt. Isn’t Christmas more fun when parents and children foster the magical mystery of Santa?
See Santa Up Close
Somehow, Santa’s magic is reinfused each year for many children when they have the opportunity to visit him in person at the mall or in a store. In some communities, Santa strolls the downtown area to greet children at Christmas time. In others, the jolly old elf rides through neighborhoods on the village fire truck to pass out candy canes and a few “Ho-ho-ho’s.”
When our own children were young, we used to host an annual Christmas party. Santa would attend and sit on the floor with all of our young guests to read Clement Moore’s classic Christmas tale, A Visit from St. Nicholas. We loved to hear Santa answering the children’s questions, particularly about the reindeer. Several parents (each year) thanked us for helping their children to keep on believing in Santa Claus.
Track Santa’s Sleigh
NORAD, the North American high-security aerospace tracking system, publishes a live Santa-tracking service on Christmas Eve. Parents and children can go online to access the NORAD website and view Santa’s sleigh on Google Earth. What fun it is to locate St. Nick on the big night and continue believing in Santa Claus for one more year.
Watch Santa’s Wrappings
Children can be pretty smart. In fact, how many children have pointed out that Santa seems to use the same wrapping papers as their parents do? Parents who wish to rekindle their children’s belief in Santa really ought to choose completely different wrappings for gifts from the North Pole.
The savviest Santa wrappers will type gift tags or enlist another writer to spell out children’s names on their gifts.
Leave a Santa Trail
Parents can build some merry Santa magic for Christmas morning by creating clues that he has been there. The tidiest housekeepers might be willing to allow Santa to leave a few snowy footprints on the floor and cookie crumbs on the counter.
Perhaps Santa will leave the fireplace doors ajar. In fact, one year, Santa Claus left a small fragment of red flannel fabric in the door of our own fireplace. We have always wondered whether he may have felt a slight draft on his journey back to the North Pole that night.
Do You Believe in Santa?
Children want to believe in Santa Claus. Even older children will act as if they still believe, perhaps to encourage a greater bounty of gifts on Christmas Day. Whatever the reason, the Santa magic is pretty easy to perpetuate, and it surely is fun to do. In our home, real sleigh bells have jingled each year, shortly after the presents and stockings were delivered.
What harm is there in perpetuating the mythical magic of Santa Claus for a few years, while children are still young?
Children seem to grow up at warp speed, and parents will have plenty of opportunities to explain how Jesus is real and Santa is not.
In fact, isn’t the real lesson of Santa the wonder of generosity and selfless giving? Santa spends all year creating gifts for others. What do we give St. Nick? We leave a small plate of Christmas cookies and glass of milk for the jolly Father Christmas, who fills stockings with delightful goodies and stashes toys and other gifts under our Christmas trees.
May we adapt Santa’s example, even when our children outgrow their belief in his actual annual visitations. May the spirit of Christmas kindness and generosity continue in our homes.
