I recall a cool December day many years ago. I’m driving toward home with my oldest son in the passenger seat beside me, just the two of us in the car. He’s probably 5 or 6 years old. He asks the question all parents of young children expect at this time of year:
“Hey dad, is there really a Santa Clause?”
I take a minute to gather my thoughts, and answer very thoughtfully. I carefully and artfully walk us through a discussion of how much fun it is to believe in Santa Clause. We talk about how the idea of Santa Clause is a really nice reflection of many of the things that are good to celebrate this time of year, things like the gift of light returning to us, and the gift of G-d’s presence in our life.
Regardless of whether or not there’s an actual and factual Santa Clause, we agree, it’s still a great deal of fun to pretend he exists. We agree that the little traditions associated with Christmas Eve are made more fun by pretending there’s a thing called Santa Clause. We smile at how nice it is to see the cookies on the fireplace half-eaten in the morning, even if it was dad who took the bites out of the cookies to make it look like Santa was there. Read more »