Is Santa Claus real?

Sonya, who will be 10 in March has been asking me for a few years if Santa is real and I've managed to persuade her that he is, or at least make her too afraid to admit that she thinks there's no Santa, lest she be left without any presents under the tree.

She asked again a few weeks ago and again I persuaded her to believe in the jolly old elf. I don't want her not to believe, I like putting out milk & cookies and putting sparkling oatmeal outside on the grass to attract the reindeer and I like to see and hear the joy on Christmas morning when they all wake up and see the living room filled with presents from St. Nick (though my hubby hates that we give that old fella all the credit).

Well the ladies at my work said she was too smart to really believe anyway and that I was just prolonging it and soon she may be really mad at me when she finds out I haven't been truthful with her. Also, they thought if she believed for much longer, she may get made fun of at school.

So, Friday night she told me that another girl at her school told her that her parents said that Santa Claus wasn't real and Sonya wanted to get the truth from me. So, I bit the bullet and told her that Santa wasn't real, but that parents wanted this time of year to be magical for their children and they made the whole story up. It's been going on for decades and it's a really fun part of Christmas - helping to keep everything secretive until the big day. Her response - "I kinda figured he wasn't real. I mean, who would believe that some strange man flies around all over the world delivering presents to all the kids on flying reindeer?"

I then told her that it was a very magical idea and now that she knew, she could never tell anyone the secret. She should not be like her friend at school and ruin it for others, especially children younger than she. She agreed and understood that it's part of the fun now to help get others to believe.

She then asked if DJ knew that Santa wasn't real. He's 15. I told her no that DJ just did his best to help make her believe. She then asked if Colby still believed. He's 12. I said, I wasn't for sure, that Colby didn't ever really say anything about it and he probably knew but just didn't want to ask me about it.

I heard this conversation from his room a little later....

Sonya - Hey Colby, so do you still believe there's a Santa Claus?

Colby - Uh, I don't know, there might be, I'm not sure.

Sonya - Well, there's NOT!!!!!

So much for helping to keep the secret. When I asked her about it, she said "Mom, he's 12 years old, it's about time he faced reality. Besides, you wouldn't want his friends making fun of him, would you? I did him a favor."

Well, it's a good thing I have her around to make sure everything's taken care of, huh?