I wrote the below three Christmases ago for “Parentlode” at the Huffington Post. My twins were on the cusp of Kringledoubt. I expected, when I wrote this, that by now, at ten years old, the Santa expiration date I talk about would have long past. It has not. I post their Christmas lists at the end.
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Santa Claus has an expiration date. Every parent who has introduced Santa Claus to their kids knows this. You get a few good years and then the doubts start creeping in. Other kids at school are usually the catalysts in this process, which seeps through school lunchrooms with the first signs of frost every year. Usually it’s the hand-me-down scoffings of older siblings. Sometimes, however, it’s an axiom discovered through a child’s deduction alone. Continue reading They Still Believe