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Disclaimer: If you are under the age of 12, please do NOT read this.
I ran downstairs on Christmas morning, seeing presents under the tree and filled stockings. I frantically searched for the magical present that would be all mine, the one that would say those glorious words: “To Noah, From Santa.”
But once I found it and began to open it, I realized what it was. What it had to be. Clothes.
What 12-year old wants clothes for Christmas? I looked closer at the handwriting on the tag.
Suddenly, it dawned on me.
It was the exact same handwriting as my mother’s. I looked up at her suspiciously, and at that moment, she knew I was getting closer to revealing the secret all parents try to keep from their children as long as possible.
“Noah, we need to talk,” my mom said.
“No. If this is about the birds and the bees again, I don’t need to know anymore.”
But then she broke the news to me, and it all made sense.
How can a fat man travel around the entire world in one night? How could reindeer carry that fat man all night, let alone fly? And how could that fat man, the fat man that so many continue to believe in, fit down a chimney without getting stuck?
Let’s say Santa is 6 feet tall, even though people who live in colder climates are usually a couple inches shorter. There are 6 billion people in the world. No man on this planet could ever consume that many cookies in a lifetime, no matter how big and tall he is. But somehow Santa does it in one night.
So why do parents continue telling lie after lie to children, making them believe in Santa Claus? Shouldn’t we avoid lying to kids? If we keep this big of a lie going for so many years, all we’re doing is setting a bad example. We’re saying that lying is OK.
I’m not saying that we should end all the usual Christmas activities like getting a tree, making egg nog and trying to lure that one girl, who we all know is way out of my league, under the mistletoe.
But we can get in the holiday spirit without the big man in a red jumpsuit. I’m perplexed about why he’s even relevant to the season.
So when should we stop believing in Santa? The answer to that is that we should never have believed in him in first place. I’m sorry, faithful parents and children, I just want to stop the heart-breaking moments children have when they find out there is no Santa Claus.
Running downstairs with the same Christmas spirit is not affected by knowing that the tags on the presents say “From, Mom and Dad.”
