The day Santa Claus disappeared…

 

 

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32

I told my sons there was no Santa Claus a few days ago.  Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE the Christmas season. I love the lights, the decorations, the spirit of giving that permeates through everything, and I especially love our tradition of watching the Santa Tracker of where in the world Santa is on Christmas Eve. I especially love getting Santa’s cookies and carrots together for him and his reindeer!!

But, I also am a truth seeker and a truth speaker. So, justifying Santa to my boys was getting more and more ridiculous. Plus, my boys are too smart to continue with the facade.

You see, I knew the charade wouldn’t last much longer anyway. My boys are smart. I mean reeeaallly smart AND analytical. Here’s a taste of the types of questions I’ve received over the years from my 6 and 9 YO:

“Mommy, how can Santa get back UP the chimney?”

“Mommy, how do we know the Rudolph story is true or even that he’s named Rudolph since no one can ever see Santa to ask him?”

“Mommy, how does Santa go to the doctor?”

“Mommy, doesn’t Santa get lonely in the North Pole since he only sees people once a year?”

“Mommy, can we pray for Santa? I’m worried about him being so far away from everybody.”

“Mommy, if Santa never dies, how does he age?”

“Mommy, if Santa doesn’t come unless we are asleep, and no one can ever see Santa, why don’t grownups have to go to bed early? If you’re up, won’t he go past our house?”

See what I mean? And, they’re only 6 and 9!!!

But, really, it just boils down to this. I didn’t want the boys to NOT equate the season fully with Jesus. I also didn’t want the boys to become disillusioned with God once they found out Santa wasn’t real and possibly equate the two.

Here’s how the conversation went down at breakfast…

Me: Boys, I’ve been lying to you and I want to tell you the truth.

Jacob (my 9 YO): Do I want to hear this? Is it something horrible? You tell us not to lie, but you’ve lied?

Me: Yeah. I have. And, it’s a big one. And, it’s BECAUSE I tell you to seek the truth and speak the truth that I want to now tell you the truth…There is no Santa Claus.

Boys (in unison): WHAT??!!

Jacob: Why couldn’t you wait until we were teenagers to tell us this???!!

Hudson (my 6 YO): I don’t believe you!

Jacob: Yeah, me neither!

Hudson: Well, you don’t have a job or any money, so where did the gifts come from? And OUR BIKES??!!

Me: Grandma’s friend bought you all your presents, and your bikes were from a great agency who helps families in need.

Jacob: So where did you keep the bikes?

Me: Grandma and I hid them in her closet.

Jacob: So, who ate the brownies?

Me: I sprinkled crumbs on a plate to make it look as if they had been eaten.

Jacob: I sort of figured Santa might not real because he wrote in cursive this year, and he never has before.

Me: Really? I thought I wrote in cursive last year because you know my regular handwriting.

Hudson: I’M SPEECHLESS!!!!

Me: HAHAHAHA I just wanted you all to understand how God has really blessed you all this year since mommy wasn’t working.

Hudson: So, Rudolph’s not real either?

Jacob: Nope.

Me: No, Hud. He’s not real either.

Jacob: Well, we’re Christians, and we know Jesus is who we’re really celebrating. Couldn’t you let us keep believing? It’s not gonna be fun now.

Me: Yes, it will! You still will be surprised by what you get. You just will no longer think it’s Santa who surprised you.

Hudson: I’M STILL SPEECHLESS!!!

Me: HAHAHA I’m sorry boys. I know it’s a lot to take in right now. Do you have any questions?

Hudson: So reindeer?

Jacob: Not true.

Hudson: Mrs. Claus?

Jacob: Oh YEAH!!!…yeah, not true.

Hudson: I’M STILL SPEECHLESS!!

Me: Ha! Well, the Bible says you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. I don’t know what you’ve been freed from, but you now know the truth.

Boys: HAHAHAHAHA (and they fall out laughing–Huh??!! this is going better than I thought)!

Jacob: Oh well. It was still a great Christmas this year. Thank you, Mommy (hugs me).

Me: You’re welcome, baby. Now remember, every parent hasn’t had this talk with their children, so wait for their parents to tell them. They’ll need time to deal with knowing this information, and we should let their parents be there for them.

Boys: Ok. (and they get ready to run upstairs to play)

Me: And, just because there’s no Santa doesn’t mean there’s no God.

Jacob: What? Who would ever believe there’s no God? God is NOT Santa.

Hudson: Yeah! Santa just delivers gifts, but God CREATED THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

And that was it. And that was that….(nothing like the image above LOL)

Although, I did overhear Hudson asking Jacob the next day, “So, there’s no elves??!!”

Hahaha