TheBanyanTree: Who The Hell is My Secret Santa? (paul)

Theta Brentnall tybrent at gmail.com
Sun Dec 26 11:23:39 PST 2021


One of our older daughter's friends decided she would not lie to her 
children about Santa.  Every time they walked by a Santa in a store or 
anyone asked the kids what they hoped Santa would bring, this friend, 
with an air of exalted virtue, would say that Santa is not real.  When 
Indy was a baby, our daughter threatened the friend with bodily harm if 
she said that in Indy's hearing and she said they would all be banned 
from the house during the Christmas season if her kids said anything to 
Indy.  Some years later, Maggie overheard her friend scolding one of her 
kids about something he'd said to someone that was honest but very 
hurtful. He responded that as long as they were talking about hurtful 
things, why had she refused to let them believe in Santa?  He had 
observed that when the kids who believed in Santa when they were young 
had more fun during the season anticipating Santa, and when his friends 
got older and found out the truth, they still had fun making Santa real 
for younger kids.  He told her that when he had kids, he was going to 
make Santa real for them and she better not mess it up.

So there's a vote for the Santa spirit.

Theta

On 12/25/2021 12:38 PM, paul via TheBanyanTree wrote:
> A theme this year seems to be "evil parents should go to hell for 
> lying to their children about Santa".  I don't know why.  Perhaps they 
> are still having a tantrum that they didn't get the Super Easy Bake 
> Oven or the bicycle was "just" a one speed and not a five speed.  I 
> know we would make a list from the Sears Christmas catalog and get 
> /nothing/ from our list.
>
> Yes, we had Santa when I was little.  It was a lot of fun.  All the 
> to-do about decorating the tree and wrapping presents you bought with 
> your saved allowance money.
>
> One year we made tree ornaments with the walnut shells left from Mom 
> making fruitcake.  She spray painted the shells gold and then we 
> looped dark green thread around a pine cone petal and glued the halves 
> together.  The next year we did it again with sycamore balls and 
> silver paint.
>
> I figured it out when I was nine, I think.  What with Mom leaving us 
> with a babysitter to go shopping and then hiding things around the 
> house.  Like we didn't know how to drag a chair from the dining room 
> to their bedroom closet to reach the shelf?  Yet, there were always 
> real nice surprises under the tree.  Come to think of it, she probably 
> stashed stuff in the attic or just kept it in the car's trunk. ...
>
> I was given the "do not say a word to the younger kids speech".  A 
> sister got the speech the net year.  It was, actually, a lot of fun 
> watching them being so excited for a few more years.  And I got to 
> stay up late and help wrap presents for my brother and sisters.  Kind 
> of like a grown-up.  :)
>
> Santa is for kids.  So is the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.  I 
> never felt lied to, I felt like "hey, I figured it out, I must be 
> growing up!"  And hey, look!  I have a Lady Head Dime under my pillow!
>
> I miss the fun.  I miss Mom's fruitcake.
>
> I have a pill bottle of Lady Head Dimes that I'll never ever spend.
>
> paul
>
>
>
> trsmith44 via TheBanyanTree said the following on 12/24/2021 9:13 AM:
>> I like puzzles. That's good, because reality is full of them.
>> I personally would welcome a secret Santa, both for the
>> prospect of benevolent gifts and for the opportunity to try
>> to unveil a mystery.
>>
>> I got over being lied to about Santa. That was easy when
>> there was a new bicycle or roller skates under a Christmas
>> tree. Maybe it is foolish for old folks to gift their children
>> in old Santa's name. I forgive them.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>
>



More information about the TheBanyanTree mailing list