Christmas and the Dark Side
It finally happened. Christmas arrived, and for the first time in 16 years, no one in the house believed in Santa.
It started when I asked my youngest, “Shouldn’t you go to bed so Santa will come?”
“Santa isn’t real,” she responded with an uncomfortable smile and borderline sinister laugh. She dropped that bombshell before trying to escape up the stairs to play with an older sister.
Of course, my wife went into CIA operative mode and interrogated our little one, and when our daughter’s answers were repeated and unwavering during what some may call an adolescent adaptation of waterboarding, my wife texted our eldest daughter to share the bad news.
“What?!?” responded my distraught 16-year-old daughter with emoji symbols I can’t even begin to explain. “How can she not believe in Santa? That just isn’t right!!” She immediately drove home from her boyfriend’s family Christmas to form a crisis response team with my wife.
Obviously, they were disappointed that our little one had turned to the dark side… which is where we all are located in our belief system, by the way. If you are reading this, you don’t believe in Santa. Yes, welcome to the Dark Side of Christmas.
The real darkness we are faced with as parents is thousands of children learning the truth about Santa, and thousands of children realizing that for a decade or more their parents have been lying to them.
Think about this deceit from an adult perspective. For ten years, you have been told one thing, and then the rug is ripped out from underneath you, as the truth is revealed. We would be ticked, and yet we just expect our children to move on from this Santa crash and be okay with things.
That evening, as my wife and I sat upstairs discussing the loss of Santa, my wife asked who was going to put the Santa presents under the stockings. My middle daughter walked by our room, so I told my wife we could have our daughter put out the stocking gifts from Santa. I was ready to call out to her when an elbow caught my ribs.
My wife actually hit me and told me how awful that idea was. Really? I thought it was a great idea. We were in a warm bed and neither of us wanted to get up. I relented, and we didn’t have our daughter put the gifts out. Then, we both fell asleep.
Christmas morning arrived and our youngest daughter, who no longer believes in Santa, was downstairs. What did we do as parents when we realized that not all of the Santa gifts were down in the living room? My wife distracted our youngest, who doesn’t believe in Santa, and I moved the Santa presents into their proper location.
Don’t judge! You all step into the dark side of the pool this time of year, and if you are young enough to have Santa believers in your house, rethink your lies and deception. The dark side is powerful and should not be underestimated. And don’t get me started on Elf on the Shelf. Talk about a creepy premise for Christmas. A doll that moves around the house while you are sleeping… What is wrong with people?!?
