How our childhood dreams were crushed in one afternoon.

Santa Claus – such a dream for so many kids when it comes to Christmas. And if you were a kid who got to experience the joy of Santa, I know you know what I am talking about.

From making sure the milk and cookies were perfect, to your parents somehow convincing you to go to sleep an hour or so before your normal bedtime — Santa was a big deal.

But at the end of the day, we have to find out eventually that our Christmas fantasy is actually just our parents putting in the work to make it the most special possible. So, for this blog I’m going to go casual and tell you about my favorite Santa stories from both my childhood and my friends:

I was weary of that guy

Maybe it was irrational, maybe it was something that stemmed from my fear of characters (i.e. Chucky Cheese), but one thing I was barely ok with was a big man coming into my house while my whole family is sleeping. Felt super sketchy to me….

So from the ages of about as early as I can remember to probably 8 years-old, I was terrified of the idea of Santa. So, in child fashion, I sure made it difficult for my parents.

I grew up in a house that ALWAYS had a dog — I had never gone a minute of my life without a dog in my house until I moved away to college — and we had dogs that barked at the air blowing the wrong way. This stemmed my first Santa suspicion, because how was this stranger breaking in through my chimney immune to my dogs barking?

Secondly, I think I was terrified Santa would come into my room to check on me. What if I woke up? Would I have gotten in big trouble? Is that an automatic boot to the naughty list? I had no clue and I was not about to find out.

So, with these two things combined, I decided I HAD to sleep in my parents bed every. Single. Christmas. Eve. And now that I’ve played Santa with my parents, I realize just how difficult it must have been for them to get around me being there.

The Slip Ups

            Santa Catches up on his favorite show:

Not only am I not a suspicious person who tries to debunk things, my parents were preeeetty good about thoroughly hiding any Santa evidence, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few times things didn’t exactly work out.

The first one I remember is my brother almost messing up. I want to say I was about 6 or 7 which would’ve made my brother about 16 or 17 (we are a family of large age gaps), and he didn’t understand that being in the chimney and Xmas tree room miiigggghhhttt give away a Santa moment. So, at around 1 or 2 AM (as I can deduct from how tired I remember my parents sounding) I heard the Tv turn on.

I jolted up from my sleep and immediately shook my mom and dad awake with a loud “MOM!! DAD!! SANTA IS HERE AND HE IS WATCHING TV!!!” and they played back into it with a “NO WAY! Be sure to be quiet and fall back asleep so that you don’t startle him”

And it worked, back to bed I went, because I was not a nosey or suspicious child, but I was one who sure believed in the magic of Santa.

Why Santa would watch TV in my house? I don’t know. But I assumed he needed a quick break before leaving to other houses.

It wasn’t until many, many years later I realized it was my brother that night and to be honest, he probably was the one to eat the milk and cookies.

            Santa left us wrapping paper

This is a short one but it is one I will never forget.

Like many families, Santa has their own wrapping paper (and handwriting) for the gifts he brings to the house. This year in particular, it was wrapping paper of dogs shopping that made the cut.

I was unwrapping gifts and there I see it — the wrapping paper sitting on the counter tucked behind things. I was sure quick to start asking questions.

But in quick to the jump parent fashion, they told me Santa left it on the roof on accident and they went out to get it this morning. In very me fashion, I believed them. I was overjoyed and this became the special wrapping paper for a couple years until it ran out.

Gullible is my middle name.

Good friend and my dream crushed

My best friend kept the magic alive

Back in Kindergarten, I made a friend named Renn and we have remained friends ever since. That being said, it was inevitable that we find out about Santa at different times.

As she described it to me, she was 7 or 8 and went to her mom’s closet to help her wrap up the gifts. As she was wrapping, unintentionally her mom said “oh hey, put ‘Santa’ on a few of those — and just like that it was over.

The fantasy for her was forever ruined. But in amazing friend fashion, she kept it completely to her self for years until I found out at 10 on my own.

How I found out

The way my childhood fantasy was crushed is honestly a boring story. I woke up on Xmas, excitedly opened all of my gifts, and then immediately called the friend I mentioned above to ask what she got. As I was on the phone, my mom motioned to me a no, trying to tell me it wasn’t Santa that got me that but it was them…

I guess she decided I was done that Christmas.

I didn’t believe her and asked Renn “come on, Santa is real right?” — and that’s when she decided to come clean too. So just like that, it was over and I sat on that all Christmas day.

I got to play Santa

Luckily, as I found out about the fact that Santa wasn’t real, my parents had a baby just a month before that Christmas. So although the magic was over for me, it was just about to start for her.

I’ve done the stay up late thing, the be excited when she sees the tree, and experienced the convenience of getting her to go to bed early for once. I cashed in on my extra 10 years if Santa.

As of last Christmas, she finally found it out. She saw the Elf on the Shelf boxes tucked away in my closet (such a snoop) and FaceTimed me to interrogate me on why they did not go back to the North Pole.

At that point, it was over for her too. However, now we just have fun with it. When I get home from college, I’m hoping she’ll happily join me in switching off on the elf and making it fun and stupid for my parents. Also, Santa still comes, can’t get rid of the novelty.

Let Santa Live on

The magic of Santa is still something I am so fond about when I look back on all of my Xmas memories. It really is a fun Hallmark tradition that you can make exactly what you want it to be.

So make the most out of your Xmas traditions

Happy Santa-ing!