Imagine this: Jolly music is drifting through the air, the smell of sweet, warm cookies and fresh, refreshing pine engulfs your nose, colorful lights surround you. Sounds pretty awesome, right? And yet, one thing still tops this all. The sounds of kids laughter, uncontainable excitement, and overflowing joy. It’s December. You’re at any place in Texas that has a lot of people, whether it be a park, a mall, or a busy street. And everyone is in a happy mood, as the holiday so many people look forward to is arriving. But the happiness of little children is greater than the Grinch’s grin when he devised his “brilliant plan” to steal Christmas. It’s more thrilling than the feeling Kevin felt in Home Alone when he cleverly pranked two thieves, one after another, doubled over with laughter at watching them fail, yet having to be on his toes the entire time while creating the pranking devices to ensure each one carried out the   And the whole “magic” of Christmas, that is 10X greater in most little children than everyone else, is more heartwarming than a warm glass of steaming hot chocolate topped with gooey marshmallows and whipped cream filling up your insides. And what is the main reason for this magic in most children? Well, it’s from one person- Santa Klaus. “MOMMY- SANTA KLAUS!!!” the voice of a little kid screaming. 

Yet, the whole Santa Claus is really a myth. When children finally find out the truth, either from a sympathetic parent, a scornful friend, or just from searching it up on the internet themselves,  many are heartbroken. The joy of Christmas seems to die down so much for so many. And this raises an important question; should parents “lie” to their kids about Santa klaus for so long only to set them up for extreme sadness afterwards when they finally find out he’s not real?

The answer is yes. While kids may be heartbroken to find out later that Santa isn’t real, the magical feeling and the crazy excitement it brings them for years before is more than enough to replace it. And also it goes more deeper than the urge for Christmas magic; it also goes deep into life lessons. Kids learn how to move on from the sadness of losing Santa as a part of Christmas, and learn to find happiness from other things as they mature, like the entire holy spirit, the fact that one holiday can put so many people in a good mood and result in so many people acting in harmony with each other, the fact that Christmas can bring back families closer not dwelling on little things that may have once sparked anger, and using Christmas as an excuse to just push stupid grievances and arguments to the side and love each other, or spending time with family and friends, buying their own gifts for them. The sadness of losing Satna Klaus is one that may hurt for a little while but they will soon get over it. It is a pretty strong sadness for the typical elementary school kid to deal with, but not such a big part of their life that it can hurt them. It’s like a flu shot. It hurts in the beginning, but in the long run, it protects you. It will help prepare them for other losses that hurt even more in life, such as huge failures, and learning to cope with them from the start in a healthy manner from a young age, sets a paramount foundation for the future. As Kelly Clackerson best puts it, “If it doesn’t kill you it makes you stronger”.

One reason that parents should tell their kids about Santa Claus when they are little is because it is what creates the whole Christmas magic experience for it. I remember when I was in elementary school and believed in Santa Klaus, how much I loved it. Any time we did a Christmas activity, I would glow and literally be grinning from ear to ear- whether it was drinking hot chocolate, iceskating, watching the polar express, or even hearing Santa Klaus’s “HO HO HO” whether on recording or from some random mall guy. I can do all of these things now as well, but the fact about believing in Santa Klaus what was really caused that exhilarating feeling in me. I have had so many happy memories in my life from Christmas those years ago because of believing in Santa Claus, and believing that a man who could travel the entire world in one night sliding down the chimney eating the cookies I laid out for him and the carrot for his render and then leaving presents under the trees was enough to make me giddy. 

And then, at the age of 8, with a bunch of other kids in my school, I started hearing the gossip going around school on how Santa wasn’t real. Obviously, I have heard it before but I always tuned it out- I mean, have they ever even watched the Polar Express. But in my wise 2nd grade year, I found out that a man visiting a billion people in the world was simply too unrealistic. Still the fact never registered with me, and an inkling of Santa being real still was always in the back of my mind. Until the day, I interrogated my mom about him, and her getting tired of my constant pestering finally told me.

The feeling, I felt, was like a blanket of sadness was just thrown and wrapped around me. The shock all hit at once. Many other kids feel this way too. According to the Guiardin, “Around 10% of kids feel extreme negative emotions and lingering sadness when they first find out that Santa Klaus wasn’t real).

…Then the anger hit. About 3 minutes later. I wanted to go up to my 5 year old brother who was cheerfully humming jingle bells and tell him that none of it was real. That Santa Klaus was fake. This was all lies. I mean, really, how could he be so stupid in believing in Santa Klasu.

Thankfully, my parents spotting the look on my murderous look on my face hastily held me back, and prevented me from whisking away the Christmas magic for my brother early (he found out a couple of years later; oh my, that boy sobbed and ocean worthy of tears when he found out).

But then what happened? Well I had no choice but to simply move on. After dealing with the shock that Santa wasn’t real, many kids will feel emptiness. But then, slowly, they will learn to find happiness in other things. Santa Klaus is really like a disguise. Kids think that he’s the reason Chrismtas is Crimstas when they take for granted the family and all the other great things. ANd in a poof when he’s gone, but family will always be at your side. Its the family that  made you happy in the first place. Because, let’s be honest, who would be happy with a big fat old man coming down the tree giving presents (which does sound pretty awesome when you have no one to share the happiness with. NO one to go on about how excited you are.No one to really be there taking pictures laughing with you. As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized that maybe my heart doesn’t beat faster when Chrismatas is coming near, maybe I don’t start shaking with anticipation. But I am still so happy. I’ve realized that all along it wasn’t Santa that gae m true happiness. It was the thought of being with my family, mixed in with a little magic.

And that feeling of finally moving on from finding happy in Santa Klaus to happiness around you, is a real life lesson kids will have to learn for the rest of their lives; even when things don’t go the way they want it to, they  have to learn how to accept it and move on.

Many kids experience tragedies later in life, and it comes as a huge shock to them. Learning to deal with them early on, will actually help them in the future. And besides the myth of Santa Klaujs not  being real only hurts about 10% of kids for longer than 2-3 days, so learning about it won’t be unhealthy in a way that it is too sad. It is a great starting point.

So tell little kids about Santa Klaus. Let him bring the magic of the first few of their years. And then after that, when they one day find out, let them make their own.