Kids and Santa

Does your kid like visiting Santa?

Mine never has. Mind you, she's always been a bit weary of strangers. And this year she has decided that the Santa's you meet in the mall and on the parade float are not the real Santa, but rather men dressed up as Santa. She watched her video email from "Santa" the other morning and then called my mom. She told her that she made the good list, and that Santa knows what she wants for Christmas, so she doesn't need to tell the fake mall Santa.

I remember being in elementary school and finding out that there was no Santa from an adult and being traumatized, so I wanted to try and do some damage control with this whole fake Santa thing. I told her that while she is right, the other kids likely don't know that the mall Santa's aren't the real article, and not to discuss this with them. The entire class is going on a field trip to see a mall Santa next week, and I am not sure how that is going to go. Also, on Sunday my work is having a kids Christmas party and there will be pictures with Santa. I will gage her reaction then and let her teacher know.

Did you do a video for your kid? Hailey was so excited about hers, she watched it twice that morning and has asked to watch it again. I love how they allow you to add photos and information. She loved it when Santa told her she'd been a good girl this year, because we'd been chatting about the naughty and nice list quite a bit lately. I hate using the "Santa is watching you" threat to get her to behave, because she will ask specifically "is Santa watching me now? Did he see me at this time?". I was chatting with a co-worker the other day who told me his little guy was asking if Santa could see him on the toilet. It is a sort of creepy concept. I told her that Santa stays in the North Pole but that he has lots of elves that help him assemble his list.

What do you tell your kids? Let me know at allisonleannegray@gmail.com.