I believed in Santa Claus until I was in sixth grade.
I have always always always been (to quote Uncle Buck) a daydreamer and a sillyheart. I have a vivid imagination, I'm ridiculously optimistic, and I want to believe that the best is going to happen. What better candidate could you find to believe in Santa Claus, I ask you?
I credit my long-lasting love for Kris Kringle to a couple of sources: First, my parents. They gave me the ability to be a kid for as long as I could. When I was eight, I was actually an eight-year-old, not some Britney-Spears-wanna-be shaking my tiny rump to "Milkshake" while playing Grand Theft Auto after school. I didn't watch a lot of television (except for Saturday morning cartoons, of COURSE). I spent most of my time creating. I would build forts, make up dances, go on "safaris", forms secret clubs with my friends, you name it. It honestly never occured to me to question the existence of Santa Claus.
The other thank-you has to go to my fellow classmates. According to my cousin Nell Frances (who was in the same grade as I) no one wanted to disappoint me by telling me the truth. None of them could understand how I still believed, but instead of being mean about it, they just let me go on my merry (ha!) little way. Now, this may not make sense to you, but I feel like deep down, my classmates still wanted to believe in Claus, and so by keeping me in the dark they were still keeping a part of the fantasy alive for themselves. You think? Maybe? I like to think so.
Life is better with Santa Claus around. My family still has "Santa" presents and "family" presents, even though the youngest of us is 22. Don't rain on our parade, man, that's how we roll in the Manford house. No matter how cynical we may get from January through November, everything serious and adult in us dissolves at the top of the stairs as we wait to go down into the living rooms on Christmas morning.
I love this post! Isn't it sad how different kids are now than they were back in the day? I LOVED playing outside & making up stories. Now my kids are like "YOu didn't play PS2 every waking moment? What are you a dinosaur?!?!?" Gah!
Posted by: Carrie | October 03, 2006 at 11:32 AM
We still do the "Santa" presents and "family" presents with my family, too. :)
Posted by: Jess | October 03, 2006 at 12:56 PM
That's because we're twins, dude. ;D
Posted by: Fuzzball | October 03, 2006 at 12:59 PM
My family does the same thing! My Mom (even BEFORE the Nephew and Niece were around) would ALWAYS have presents from "Santa" for us (her GROWN children). Plus she'd make us wait until Christmas morning for our stockings (which were always from Santa).
I'm so glad our family isn't "weird" ;-)
Posted by: Suzie | October 03, 2006 at 01:04 PM
I'm so glad our family isn't "weird"
Now Suz, let's not jump to any hasty conclusions here.
BWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Posted by: Fuzzball | October 03, 2006 at 01:20 PM
My little sister and I completely bought into it, as well. We left milk and cookies out for "Santa," and I'm still fairly sure I heard reindeer on the roof one year. Surely there is still room for whimsy in children's lives, even in our fast-paced, media driven, Britney-Spears-wanna-be-shaking-they-rumps zeitgeist.
Posted by: Chris | October 03, 2006 at 03:53 PM
I agree, Chris. I think that the key is to not let computers/televisions/cell phones raise the kids of today. Yes, they need to be up-to-date with modern technology in order to succeed in today's world, but there are just some things that can't be done with a Ninendo GameCube. I think I need to create an entirely new post about this. Hmmmm.....
Posted by: Fuzzball | October 03, 2006 at 03:59 PM
Yeah! Santa lives! :-) We still do family presents and "Santa" presents, and goodies in the stockings over the fireplace. :-) I still have trouble falling asleep on Christmas Eve and still wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning. I'm just a big kid. ;-)
Santa's boots tiptoing into the room with the Christmas tree and reindeer hooves on the roof cannot be duplicated realistically by Nintendo. No computer has yet created something as vivid as a believing child's (or adult's) imagination. :-)
Posted by: Gymshoes | October 04, 2006 at 12:12 AM
Yep, I had the joy of believing in Santa till I was around 9 or 10, I think. I'm very glad I didn't find out earlier.
And yes, we still do presents from Santa too...wouldn't have it any other way!
Posted by: Shan | October 04, 2006 at 11:57 AM
Ok, I've lurked long enough...
There is no Santa Claus?
At our house (even when I was a child) it's not about the man in the red suit, it's about the giving in one's heart. Therefor SANTA LIVES!!
Posted by: Mary Ener | October 09, 2006 at 08:24 AM