[fanfan]

My parent's did it to me, and I was heart broken. Even so I did it to my own kids. I guess I forgot how much the ‘finding out I'd been lied to’ hurt.

One Christmas in the early ‘90s, when my daughter was 5 or 6, we were barely keeping the bills paid. She hadn't asked Santa for much, but he didn't/couldn't bring the one thing she really wanted, because I didn't have the money.

You see, she believed the whole story, and she just knew she had been good that year! It wasn't the present, it was the lack of reward for being a good girl. That may have been the year where she decided it didn't matter if she tried to be good.

Santa is a lie we tell children to make them behave.

The truth is a much better motivator.

[mlizzy]

Thanks a lot fanfan for your heartfelt commentary. (My husband, the author of this post, will appreciate your words, and understand. His parents truly were and still are darn-near saints, and he was crushed when he found out they had lied to him.)

Our kids, because of his experience, were told the truth regarding St. Nick, and they have never really doubted anything we say. They don't follow our advice, mind you, but they've never thought of us as handing them a line of bull.

[fightingirishthomas]

My parent's did it to me, and I was heart broken. Even so I did it to my own kids. I guess I forgot how much the ‘finding out I'd been lied to’ hurt.

One Christmas in the early ‘90s, when my daughter was 5 or 6, we were barely keeping the bills paid. She hadn't asked Santa for much, but he didn't/couldn't bring the one thing she really wanted, because I didn't have the money.

You see, she believed the whole story, and she just knew she had been good that year! It wasn't the present, it was the lack of reward for being a good girl. That may have been the year where she decided it didn't matter if she tried to be good.

Santa is a lie we tell children to make them behave. The truth is a much better motivator.

I'm so glad to read your comment; you realize the true meaning of Christmas is "Truth" Himself. Don't beat yourself up about coming late to the faith, the important thing is you are breaking the Santa chain, and opting instead for the story of St. Nick ... and Jesus Christ.