Santa Poll: I'm flexible this year. Naughty or nice!
Any children reading this avert your eyes, okay?
Now, are we adults ready? To take a Santa Poll? Answer as a parent, parent-to-be, or as someone who had a parent. I think I've hit everyone there.
Santa is one of those perennial parent arguments. What do you tell the kids about the Fat Man? Everyone comes up with their own answer, but boy, do we like to argue it. When the Christmas Meme was going around, it asked how you found out, but didn't get into how you dealt with others. So, a poll! I could not get Dreamwidth to cooperate with me in the polling, so I'm going straight to LJ with it. My answers after the poll and behind the cut.
Poll Santa Poll
I told my boys the tale, but modified. Santa never left presents under the tree, only filled the stockings and occasionally left a big gift for the family. The store Santas were representatives, not the real deal, and we very seldom did the lap-and-ask thing. When #1 reached an age we enrolled him in the adult conspiracy to keep the spirit of Santa alive for #2 and other young ones. I had a friend who thought this was reprehensible, and declared she would never lie to her children. Good luck with that, I thought. It was hard on her son, who knew Santa wasn't 'real' and told everyone he knew. It's a rite of passage, I think, and one of the first realizations (for us coddled kids with happy childhoods) that things aren't always what they seem. It's a chance to glimpse the truth that what is Real isn't always what is 'real'; that there is a whole realm of unseen wonder and truth that can't be measured or quantified.
That's my story. And I'm sticking to it.