FredMcKinnon.Com

“Everybody knows that Santa Claus is not real”.

That’s what my oldest, Jon Michael (9) proclaimed, virtually out of nowhere, last night at the dinner table.  The younger 3 siblings (7, 5 and 3) seemed too busy eating their dinner to pay attention.  Not to mention my quick dampening of the subject.

Why does this come out at the dinner table in March?

Well, I had the “Santa” talk with my 9-year old this morning.  It’s one of many “you’re growing up” talks we’ll have over the years, I’m sure.  He wasn’t phased a bit.

We’ve always stressed that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ.  We don’t open presents until we’ve read through that great story from the Bible.

But … we decided to allow our kids to enjoy the mystery and fantasy of “Santa Claus”.  I realize this is debated among Christian parents, and that’s OK.  Each parent should prayerfully decide for themselves, right?

One of the main things I wanted to ask my inquisitive 9-year old was if he felt that Mom and Dad had lied to him or betrayed him.  After all, that’s one of the things I hear a lot.

To my relief, he said “not at all” and was thankful that we let them enjoy the mystery.  I tried to cast some excitement (though it’s still 8+ months away) for this year so that he could share in the fun with the younger siblings.  (Though he’s certain that our 7-yr old already has the clue)

We’ll see.

Anybody want to share their parental “Santa” stories?