I must have realized in previous years that my mother lied, and knowing me, I probably tried to catch her in it. Now, she has Borderline Personality Disorder, which means that she believes any lie she makes up (even if multiple people try showing her the reality, she'll just say we all remembered wrong). So, she's really good at lying.

I'm a very trusting and gullible person. I imagine I probably suspected that she lied over a lot of things, and Santa was the first lie I ever had 100% proof over.

And to be honest, I don't believe that Santa itself is a lie. I believe the lie is in telling your child that he's a real life, animate being that *does* exist. I would've been able to cope a lot better if my mother didn't have a mental illness in the first place, or was at least smart enough not to reproduce had told me that Santa was the spirit of giving (a very Virginia-esque answer).

I have a huge problem letting children believe that Santa is a real life person. It really grates against my moral code (which is *way* too honest for my own good; I often forget to give out the white lie to keep my relationships with others from being strained), but I grit my teeth (and bitch to my dad/friends) simply because I don't want to be the jackass that destroys a kid's misguided belief in Santa being a real person.

When I have kids, I fully intend to tell them that Santa is the spirit of gift giving. And I also intend to put presents under the tree before Xmas Eve (though I plan on only filling the stockings on Xmas Eve, to replace the missed magic).

When I've gotten presents from extended family (we moved 1,000 away from them when I was 5), they've been put under the tree before Xmas Eve. That was always a treat, because I got to take the boxes and shake them to try to determine what's inside.

What magic was ruined by the truth of Santa was replaced by getting to guess what was inside presents. And replaced by my parents filling my stocking Xmas Eve, after I'd gone to bed.

Also: we open presents Xmas Eve here, simply because my parents decided they liked their sleep (which hey, I totally don't blame them there!), and didn't want to be woken up at 3am to witness me opening presents (yes, I still am that obnoxious person!). I plan on doing this with my own kids, for the same reason (although, again, they'll have to wait to rot their teeth with candy from the stockings until Xmas morning, whenever they get up then).

I must have realized in previous years that my mother lied, and knowing me, I probably tried to catch her in it. Now, she has Borderline Personality Disorder, which means that she believes any lie she makes up (even if multiple people try showing her the reality, she’ll just say we all remembered wrong). So, she’s really good at lying.

I’m a very trusting and gullible person. I imagine I probably suspected that she lied over a lot of things, and Santa was the first lie I ever had 100% proof over.

And to be honest, I don’t believe that Santa itself is a lie. I believe the lie is in telling your child that he’s a real life, animate being that *does* exist. I would’ve been able to cope a lot better if my mother didn’t have a mental illness in the first place, or was at least smart enough not to reproduce had told me that Santa was the spirit of giving (a very Virginia-esque answer).

I have a huge problem letting children believe that Santa is a real life person. It really grates against my moral code (which is *way* too honest for my own good; I often forget to give out the white lie to keep my relationships with others from being strained), but I grit my teeth (and bitch to my dad/friends) simply because I don’t want to be the jackass that destroys a kid’s misguided belief in Santa being a real person.

When I have kids, I fully intend to tell them that Santa is the spirit of gift giving. And I also intend to put presents under the tree before Xmas Eve (though I plan on only filling the stockings on Xmas Eve, to replace the missed magic).

When I’ve gotten presents from extended family (we moved 1,000 away from them when I was 5), they’ve been put under the tree before Xmas Eve. That was always a treat, because I got to take the boxes and shake them to try to determine what’s inside.

What magic was ruined by the truth of Santa was replaced by getting to guess what was inside presents. And replaced by my parents filling my stocking Xmas Eve, after I’d gone to bed.

Also: we open presents Xmas Eve here, simply because my parents decided they liked their sleep (which hey, I totally don’t blame them there!), and didn’t want to be woken up at 3am to witness me opening presents (yes, I still am that obnoxious person!). I plan on doing this with my own kids, for the same reason (although, again, they’ll have to wait to rot their teeth with candy from the stockings until Xmas morning, whenever they get up then).

You are overthinking this. Kids at the age when they typically discover the truth (I’d say between 5 and 10) aren’t going to make the global integrations to realize the scale of the perpetuation. The implications didn’t occur to me until I was in my twenties (mostly because I didn’t really think about the Santa issue until I started thinking about having kids).

As for why we did it, I don’t think it was especially for us or for them. It’s definitely easier to perpetuate the myth: it sort of feels like being a killjoy and drafting your children into that role to tell them the truth about what they see on TV and hear from their friends and relatives.

But you can definitely see how it benefits them to believe in Santa: they already believe that the world is a magical place because it’s all so amazing to them. Santa is just another aspect to the world. Oh, guy flies around and gives away presents? Got it. I can see a realtime view of Shamu on your computer? Sure thing.

Actually what even adds more to the sting is that Santa’s colors came from Coke!

For shame…

I wonder if we (Microsoft) can buy Santa.. hmm need to draft an email to acquisitions team..

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Scott Barnes
RIA Evangelist
Microsoft.