Christmas spirit: Will they hate me for lying?
Santa Claus (Photo credit: Christopher S. Penn)
I love Christmas, the tinsel, the baubles, even the tinny songs in supermarkets aren’t all bad…
So when it reaches December the 1st in our house, it means one thing only; advent calendars out, tree up and Christmas music on the iThingies. You couldn’t get a house with more Christmas Spirit if you stole an Elf from the North Pole.
Nonetheless, it still makes me feel uncomfortable.
I know, I’m an old Scrooge It didn’t used to make me feel this way, it was only when I had kids that it started…
Kids are meant to make you MORE Christmassy.
But they didn’t, I was overdosing on tinsel anyway.
My problem is that I find it gob-spankingly hard lying to the kids about Santa (and the Tooth Fairy too).
Don’t get me wrong, I am just as into the whole Christmas deception thing as the next man, but that doesn’t mean I have to feel comfortable about the whole thing. Don’t worry, I am not going to be the bad Christmas Fairy that tells the kids that Santa isn’t real, and steals away Christmas Joy.
My kids love the magic, the wonderful anticipation of what Santa will bring, and the writing of those amazing letters that we pop into the post box is a highlight of my year. I can’t wait to see what the two most treasured things in my life think is important enough to include on their list.
However, I still feel weird about lying about the big man.
Particularly when Chatterbox believes SO much that last year she made sure the route from the Christmas tree to the chimney was spick and span. We wouldn’t want Santa tripping now would we?
Rules is Rules, Mum
You see, it worries me what Chatterbox will do when she discovers that its all a big adult fib. Will she think I have betrayed her trust forever? Will she hate me and slam the door because we told her the same super-amazing lie each year?
She is such a trusting soul. In her head, life seems to work because there are rules, and people stick to them. One of those rules is that parent’s don’t lie to their daughters…
I am very much hoping that she will think its “cool” that she has grown up enough to be “let in on” that big adult secret that we all have to keep for the “kids.”
I certainly don’t remember throwing my Santa hat at my mum when I found out he wasn’t all I thought he was. In fact, I don’t even remember finding out, so perhaps its not that bad after all….
How do you feel about the Santa fib? Do you feel the same as me, or have a lost my tinsel-soaked mind?
Source for photo is Flickr.
Schizophrenia: Shadows creeping into Christmas celebrations | stickers stars and smilesstickers stars and smiles
Dec 17, 2012 @ 23:28:31
[...] Disclosure ← Christmas spirit: Will they hate me for lying? [...]
Dec 14, 2012 @ 14:51:26
Hopefully like you say, she’ll not really think of it as lying – I too can’t recall feeling cheated by my mum for fibbing to me about Father Christmas. Mind you if I told the kids it was me it would elevate my parental status to demi-god…. hmmmm…..
Dec 13, 2012 @ 21:52:35
We too have a daughter who works on rules and how things ‘should be’. She, in some ways, is more caught up in the magic this year than her younger brother. I think it’s just something we will deal with when the time comes… x
Bah Humbug – Goodbye Christmas (hosting the BritMums Blogging Carnival)
Dec 13, 2012 @ 17:12:38
[...] from Stickers, Stars and Smiles is feeling guilty and asking Will they hate me for lying? You see she’s discovered that having kids doesn’t necessarily make you feel more [...]
Dec 11, 2012 @ 08:53:37
What do you mean he’s not real? *goes running off into the corner to sob now the joy of Christmas is taken away*
Dec 11, 2012 @ 13:39:28
Oh dear, Ally – so sorry to have burst your Christmas bauble!