Christmas in June
Here’s something I wasn’t expecting. A couple of days ago, Gunnar came up to me and asked
Is Santa Claus real?
Needless to say, I was not prepared for that. And I just didn’t have it in me to spread the lie. So I used my old trick and asked him “Well what do you think?”
“The stories sound a little crazy” he said.
That was enough for me to run with, so I told him that there really was a St. Nicholas, but he’s not alive now, he never went to the North Pole, doesn’t fly a sled, and probably wasn’t fat. But he was kind and generous, and he might have had a beard. I told a version of the story of the three sisters who hung their stockings out to dry and found gold for their dowries in it the next day. He liked the story, and seemed happy that his doubts were cleared and the world was not full of crazy flying fat men.
Wait a minute…
I just said I couldn’t bring myself to lie. But I am certain that the dowry story I told isn’t really true. After all, there are a lot of different versions of the story. Maybe something like that happened, and maybe it was done by a Nicholas. Or did Basil do it? Oh, I don’t know.
At least my story was truth-like. Or maybe it I could call it “truth-plus” — it sounds like truth, but it’s embellished enough to be simple, interesting, and make you feel good.
Anyway, Soren overheard the whole conversation too and Niels is too young to care. So I won’t have to do any awkward pretending this December.
Well then who delivers the presents for Christmas in July?!?
Uncle Scott
June 11, 2008 at 10:30 am
Obviously you haven’t heard the Dave Sedaris riff on Santa stories. Get the CD of find an audio link if you can, but this text version should persuade you that you didn’t do so badly, dad!
My kids (admittedly much older than your precocious set) just crack up every time they even think about this part, for example:
“A Dutch
parent has a decidedly hairier story to relate, telling his
children, “Listen, you might want to pack a few of your things
together before you go to bed. The former bishop from Turkey will
be coming along with six to eight black men. They might put some
candy in your shoes, they might stuff you in a sack and take you
to Spain, or they might just pretend to kick you. We don’t know
for sure, but we want you to be prepared.”
This is the reward for living in Holland. . .”
JJ Ross
June 11, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Uncle Scott deelivers the presents of course… right?
That was hillarious JJ. I guess I could have a little more fun with the story.
Well we’re back on the road. The car is stuffed to the gills, of got my Woody Guthrie CD ready, and we’re headed west. We’ll see you soon Scott!
Rolfe Schmidt
June 14, 2008 at 7:55 am
I think it’s not a lie if you believe it to be true, at least at the time of telling it. I hate the pretending, and ever since the second year or so, I’ve wished I never did it in the first place. The funny part was, after having the tooth fairy talk with my son, he still believed in Santa for another year. We had to tell him without his asking. It took another month for him to figure out the Easter Bunny, but thankfully he’s now learned his parents are just big fat liars most of the time
Heather
June 18, 2008 at 10:37 pm