(no subject)
My wife has a typical Christmas sermon that posits Santa is a teaching device for faith. Kids, by learning to have faith in Santa, are able to transition to faith in God more easily. She typically preaches it once during advent.
This year she was concerned that U was losing faith... faith in God, faith in Santa, so she went to these extreme lengths to get an actor to come by tonight wearing a really authentic Santa costume. She briefed the guy on our bios, gave him some presents, set it up so the boys were up way later than usual, to 'catch' him while he was in the house. The plan went off without a hitch... but the outcome? very peculiar.
1) Her father was sort of freaked out because the guy knew an unnerving amount of details and he managed to give him the book he asked for (true grit), but it was a first edition that had been given to him by his dead wife's sister back in '69 that he'd long forgotten about. He was noticeably rattled until I explained to him how it could have possibly been so (remember the dude is a radiologist who interned at the mayo clinic).
2) Oliver wept... openly. He went to bed mumbling over and over again, it must be real... he made a sarcastic comment about the fireplace, and knew I was statistician... and he got me the one thing I wanted...
3) Uly just freaked out. He picked up a piece of a 'veggie tails' nativity set and tried to bean Santa with it. He chucked it so hard it actually ricocheted around the room. When Santa gave him exactly, the only thing he wanted... he was stunned that he knew, but I could tell he wasn't convinced at all...
Now me, I'm an atheist. I remember my parents having a Santa come over when I was about Uly's age and I saw right through it. Personally, I think it's not a bad thing that in America we get kids to believe in Santa, or the easter bunny, or even God... By teaching faith in magic, it motivates us to dream, and innovate, to appeal (generally anyway) to our better natures. I'm not sure, however how much good it did Oliver tonight though. The boy's almost ten, and quite frankly a bit of a hard core geek. Having him show up at school swearing he met Santa over break, while his brother is still pretty skeptical may lead to some pretty serious bitterness when he realized it must have all been a sham we set up for him.
Ah parenthood, why must you be so tough?
This year she was concerned that U was losing faith... faith in God, faith in Santa, so she went to these extreme lengths to get an actor to come by tonight wearing a really authentic Santa costume. She briefed the guy on our bios, gave him some presents, set it up so the boys were up way later than usual, to 'catch' him while he was in the house. The plan went off without a hitch... but the outcome? very peculiar.
1) Her father was sort of freaked out because the guy knew an unnerving amount of details and he managed to give him the book he asked for (true grit), but it was a first edition that had been given to him by his dead wife's sister back in '69 that he'd long forgotten about. He was noticeably rattled until I explained to him how it could have possibly been so (remember the dude is a radiologist who interned at the mayo clinic).
2) Oliver wept... openly. He went to bed mumbling over and over again, it must be real... he made a sarcastic comment about the fireplace, and knew I was statistician... and he got me the one thing I wanted...
3) Uly just freaked out. He picked up a piece of a 'veggie tails' nativity set and tried to bean Santa with it. He chucked it so hard it actually ricocheted around the room. When Santa gave him exactly, the only thing he wanted... he was stunned that he knew, but I could tell he wasn't convinced at all...
Now me, I'm an atheist. I remember my parents having a Santa come over when I was about Uly's age and I saw right through it. Personally, I think it's not a bad thing that in America we get kids to believe in Santa, or the easter bunny, or even God... By teaching faith in magic, it motivates us to dream, and innovate, to appeal (generally anyway) to our better natures. I'm not sure, however how much good it did Oliver tonight though. The boy's almost ten, and quite frankly a bit of a hard core geek. Having him show up at school swearing he met Santa over break, while his brother is still pretty skeptical may lead to some pretty serious bitterness when he realized it must have all been a sham we set up for him.
Ah parenthood, why must you be so tough?