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A true believer

By Jess
Some folks are here looking at the chimney, since some pieces of the clay lining fell down earlier this year. By the time Alex joined us, the chimney folks had gone outside to look at the chimney. Leo was standing, holding on to my fingers, so I was a little distracted and don't know exactly how he phrased it. Alex: Where are they?
Me: They had to go outside to look in the chimney.
Alex: They're INSIDE the chimney?!
Me: No, no, just looking inside. Not inside like Santa Claus.
Alex: Santa Claus is just pretend, isn't he?
Me (without realizing the turn in the conversation): Yes.
Alex, laughing: He's just made up. Santa Claus isn't real.
After a moment of what-have-I-done horror, I'm actually quite relieved. Then we talked about the real reason for Christmas.
Clarification:

No, there was no trauma -- on either of our parts.

Honestly, we don't talk very much about Santa Claus except for his part in books and movies, so it was a little awkward at Christmastime when folks kept asking if he was excited about Santa. It wasn't something that we took care to cultivate at home.

Any oh-my-goodness-he's-only-3-and-doesn't-believe-in-Santa was a knee-jerk response on my part to the cultural pressure of the Santa myth and -- although I have avoided the Santa question entirely -- it still felt like an important childhood rite of passage had just occurred, almost without my knowledge.

What a relief! Paul suggested that we'll see what he remembers come Christmastime, but I'm a pretty terrible lier so I hope we can put it all in perspective and enjoy Santa without having to carry on the charade. Alex is a bright boy who came to his own realization about the fantastic elements of his story, so I'm proud of him for figuring it out.

I just hope he doesn't ruin it for the rest of his friends!

Comments

Paul Gestwicki said…
It's especially funny since we've never even really talked about Santa Claus with him. Wasn't last year his first Santa experience at all?
3:10 PM
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