I've taken the path of -what now seems- most resistance by being upfront and honest about the whole Santa Claus myth. I did this for a few reasons, but the main one was because when I became a single mom again I simply could not afford the sort of Christmas that we'd had before and that their friends and our neighbors seemed to be enjoying. The last thing I wanted was for them to feel that our temporary poverty meant that they were "naughty". They were having a tough enough time without also internalizing Santa's lack as being somehow their faults.

But of course the media, schools and our overall culture of parenting with mythological deceit has done its best to undermine me in this form of compassionate honesty. This year I asked them to tell me what they'd like to believe because I'm open to interpreting this thing in whatever way they feel most comfortable and gain joy from. My littlest ones said they believe in the "spirit of Santa Claus" even though they know I am the one putting presents under the tree. I said okay, "so should we make some cookies for Santa's spirit?" and they looked at me like I'd lost my mind! They both laughed and said, "spirits don't eat COOKIES, mom!". Then I laughed and said we could leave it some rice and we all ended up laughing and tickling each other and just generally feeling happy about the season and the holidays. So, we left it at that for now.

Anyway, I'm curious how those of you with kiddos handle this mythical fat man in a red suit that supposedly creeps into your house while you're asleep issue? (And then we can talk about that life size rabbit that somehow had something to do with zombie Jesus a few months down the road).

-K