Children and Parents and Santa

                             By Mary Kay Totty

 OK, so I am going to wade into the whole Santa  Claus conundrum with my two cents worth even though I am not a parent.

Time and again, I hear parents concerned about how to talk or not talk to their children about Santa Claus. Maybe many parents have already figured out a good way to approach this discussion.

I wonder about the possibility of telling the story of St. Nicholas. From there say that even to this day there are grownups who like to pretend to be St. Nick or Santa Claus because they want to make children happy.

It seems to me that this could explain the presence of so many different Santa Clauses in so many places. It could also account for the children who do not receive gifts from Santa and those who receive an abundance.

Not every child has a grownup who is able to pretend to be Santa for them. Of the grownups who do pretend to be Santa, different ones can afford different things. Stories of reindeer flying and North Pole workshops and elves are all part of the pretending.

Anytime "Santa" leaves a gift, Santa is really from an adult who wants to make that particular child happy. For what it's worth, that's my two cents about Santa Claus.