Santa Claus...BAHUMBUG!

It is no secret to those that really know me that I am no fan of Santa Claus. In fact, I think that this whole universal lie and farce should be banned. But unfortunately, so many different mediums make a lot of money off of this lie, so to no avail, I still deal with it.

I must have been at least seven when my family finally told me the truth. I remember how hurt I was, not because Santa wasn't real, but because my family had lied to me. I wondered if they thought I couldn't handle the truth. In the end, the truth made me appreciate Christmas so much. I can remember one Christmas, my brother and I came home from church and the gifts were all the way up to the door. I stood there with tears in my eyes, wondering what did we do to deserve all of that. Yes, we had some great Christmases as children. It was the one time of year, we got whatever we wanted. That sacrifice, that show of love from my parents truly made me realize the real meaning of Christmas. This further deepens my disdain for the jolly old St. Nick lie.

So as fate would have it, tonight as we left church from the Christmas service, I got pulled into the lie by my little cousin. At four, he hasn't been told the truth yet, and as bad as I would like for him to know it, I didn't want to be the one to open his eyes, his parents should do that. But he started asking questions about Santa Claus, and I realized I was getting pulled into the lie. I can't remember what I told him, but I do recall telling him to thank his parents. He asked me why. So I told him to thank them because they were buying him gifts too, and that they were the ones to tell Santa Claus what he wants. I don't know if that made sense to him, but I honestly didn't know what else to say. It got me to thinking about when I have children, and if I will become apart of the big farce. I just don't know if I have it in me to lie to them about something so ridiculous. Here, parents and grandparents, etc., go out of their way to make that day special for children and they must give the credit to some fantasy man? It just doesn't seem fair. The jury is still out on that one, but one thing for sure the birth of Christ will be the focus, not the Hallmark business of it all. And for that matter, I hope people realize the religious significance around Christmas because it means so much more than well, you know - the make believe guy!