The Santa Dilemma

Sam, at 4, is at the perfect age for Christmas this year.

He's old enough to remember a bit about last year; he's excited about all the lights and the decorations.... We watch Christmas TV shows and movies and sing Christmas songs all the time! And he's so excited about Santa.

Every thing he sees on TV, he's asking Santa for. We've had to do some serious expectation setting this year (for both boys). He's narrowed down his list, but still... It's exciting to see him so enchanted by the whole Christmas Spirit.

But, then enter Josh. He's seven. He's in the second grade. Last year someone in his class told him there was no Santa. He said this boys mom said "Santa" was the parents. (This is the same mom that didn't call me when Josh broke his arm at her house earlier this year so she was already not high on my list.)

Luckily, Josh didn't believe him because we can watch Santa on the computer! Thank you Norad Santa Tracker!

But this year, he came home from school and said there are more kids in his class that don't believe.

And he's talking about this in front of Sam.

We've been able to laugh with him about how ridiculous those kids in his class are and say, "Well of course there's a Santa!" I think he still WANTS to believe, but the time is coming... very soon... when he won't believe any longer.

I don't want this knowledge to ruin the magic for Sam. Realistically, you only have a handful of years, maybe 3 or 4, for the whole "Santa" thing with the kids when they really and truly believe.

Rich and I have talked about what to do and say to Josh. Do we tell him? It would crush him. If he brings it up again, do we pull him aside and tell him to stop talking about it in front of Sam? Because it's just not fair to Sam to take the magic away this soon. We can't ignore it and hope it goes away, because it won't.

This is our last year with Josh believing. I don't want it to be Sam's last either.