The magic of Christmas has come and gone again but I cannot get a recent conversation about Santa Claus out of my mind.  So secure was I in the idea of him that I could see no other tradition but Santa and his magic in the lives of the future little people that I envision sitting on my counter tops licking frosting from  beaters or making bells with colored, construction paper rings to count down the days to Christmas.  I believed Santa Claus was an absolute until just the other day. Now, I’m not so sure.

A young mother told me rather blandly that her husband is against the lie of Claus.  She said she didn’t have a strong sense either way.  Then another individual shared his own experience growing up in disbelief and admitted that he was the kindergarten classroom spoiler, insisting on sharing his parents’ denouncing of the Saint’s existence to all the other children.

At this a Grandma in our midst expressed her concern for the issue and how her own two grown daughters with small children and differing viewpoints would come together under her roof this year for the very first  time in their kids’ lives and confront the question of Santa’s existence.

And it felt horrendously sad and disappointing, like I had just learned of the truth myself.  Santa Claus seen as a bad thing?  A lie?  I recoiled.  They were wrong.  It was a pity.  All of the sweetness, excitement and magic would die.  It bubbled in the back of my brain for days.

Maybe it has been an influence of my meditative practice or the oddness of the past year in all our “fake news” and political upheaval but I am okay with letting Santa go too.  If my own children decide that perpetuating a myth is not in the best interest of their own offspring, it will be okay.  There is magic in life every single day and I am confident that my kids will be able to show that to their own, Santa Claus or not. No Easter Bunny, no Tooth Fairy – life changes and so do traditions – what doesn’t change is the constant unfolding of new and exciting magic and wonder.  I have raised four bright, thoughtful humans who are capable of seeing and sharing their own discoveries in these realms and I am excited to see what will come of it all.