Are you ready? I’m not. I could spend another month baking and fussing and cleaning. All for one day!
Have I mentioned yet how very much I love Christmas? I know I shouldn’t focus so much of my time and attention on one holiday, but I love everything about Christmas. The careful selection of gifts for people, the wrapping, the decorating. Oh, how I love decorating for Christmas! I adore the angels and the nativity scenes and the rustic old Father Christmases. Santa Claus has never appealed to me as much as Pere Noel.
Do you know who I mean? He looks as though he should have a pair of handmade snowshoes on his feet as he trudges through the deep Canadian snows. Over his shoulder is slung a burlap sack full of gifts for the children, and in his hand he holds a thick and sturdy walking staff. He is earthy and rough. I love this picture of the German Pelze-Nicol. In this one, he bears an evergreen in one arm and the Christ child in the other. Can anyone tell me why that boy is always half-naked? It’s the middle of winter, people! 
Here is another one I like, although it’s still not quite what I’m thinking. This one appears to be very Celtic. Maybe the winters are warmer in Scotland, because the wind would whistle right up under that short and loose skirt! The Pere Noels that I am thinking about are sort of a cross between the two. Perhaps there are no pictures online showing it, although I’ve seen a number of them in stores. Is it entirely a Canadian thing, then?
While difficult to see, this one shows more of what I’m thinking. I like the thick fur on his hat and inside his long cloak, although the wide sleeves confuse me a little. This man supposedly lives at the North Pole. Who, exactly, is dressing him? Do they know that it is COLD in the north?
There is a lot of discussion about whether or not we should tell our children the truth about Santa Claus. Well, I entered parenthood with shining ideals – I would tell my children the truth. I would not devastate them by having them feel I lied to them (ignoring, of course, the fact that I never felt such a thing and neither has anyone I’ve ever known). I was also going to keep my children away from McDonald’s food and white sugar. Are you laughing yet? Thirteen years have passed and my viewpoint has changed just a little bit.
The simple fact is, Santa Claus is a societal lie and not a parental lie. If your children grow up feeling that you have lied to them, it will not be because of Santa Claus. You can outright tell your child “No, there is no Santa Claus. You and all children are being lied to by your grandparents and your teachers and … well every adult out there.” As the parent, you have that right. Do you know what that will do? It will make you the single most hated parent in the elementary school, and your child will bear the brunt of it.
Better to gradually let your children in on the great grown-up secret as they start to figure it out. They will feel mature and trusted and they will then know something that the little kids don’t know yet. Do you want to know who is most insistent that “Of course Santa is real!”? An older sibling who has been let in on the secret.
I’ll admit that I don’t like much of the way that Santa Claus is portrayed, and I do prefer the older versions. Santa Claus should not have all the traits and powers of God. It seems that our increasingly-secular society is slowly replacing God with Santa Claus.
So … three more sleeps. Are you ready?
