Not for the first time, she wondered if she should continue the Santa story for her son.
She was almost overwhelmed looking at her little boy...
They thought they could never have children... then Joy! the doctor said, congratulations, you're expecting a baby!
Of all the things she had to learn after having this baby, how to bathe him, all about vaccinations, being careful with food choices, she didn't even think about whether to tell him about Santa.
She asked her Mom who said, "what do you mean? Of course you'll tell him there is a Santa!"
She asked her friends, most of whom kind of shrugged and said, "it's up to you but I did"
She talked it over with her husband who said, very man-like, "whatever you want to do is fine"
She remembered the fear of realizing that her parents were Santa, and not wanting to tell them she knew or the toys would dry up! The disappointment of it all. Then of course she recovered quickly seeing the boxes under the tree that Christmas.
It's so magical isn't it? To believe.
It's fun! It's pretty! Go on, everybody's doing it, right? It's cultural, around the world in some form, all Christians, even non Christians have a form of Santa to reward children and keep magic alive. There's no harm in the little white lie is there?
She felt a little hand in hers wiggling and tugging. She looked down into his little face, lit from within with anticipation and excitement. Joy. Yep that was Joy on his face. How she loved him!
"Mama, lookie! There he is in that chair! I get to sit on his lap right? and tell him what I want? and he'll fly through the air with his reindeer and all the toys and and and..."
He continued to chatter on, reminding her, himself and everyone within earshot of that little high-pitched voice of the magic he felt.
"yep!" she answered with a smile.
yes, she made a good decision to share this with him, to give him this excitement for years, to keep it alive in her heart too. After all they got to relive their own childhoods through his eyes. They had fun sitting together Christmas Eve putting together trikes and stuffing stockings.
One day he'd realize that Santa is real, in a different way, and they'd share that rite of passage too.
6 comments:
Oh dear-I was 6 when my mom told me the truth about Santa. I was devastated! Then I had to keep it to myself from my little brothers.
The sweet news is my grandson can believe for many years because of his cerebral palsy. Life is weird.
I'm enjoying your stories, Lee Anna! And we all remember the magic of believing in Santa!
YES to the last sentence, lovely build up to it!!
The magic of believing!!!
What a lovely post. This made me smile.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
Lovely! Sometimes parents quit too early with the magic in my opinion. Life is hard, we all need the magic.
Traveling Suitcase
Good story..that was a really good build up.
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