Creepy Santa - come dig into my issues with me

If you want to know why I have issues with Santa keep reading.

This was originally posted over at Anika's blog Pasando on the Fourth Day of the Santa Countdown.

What kind of parent let's their child sit on a stranger's lap and tell said stranger their deepest darkest secrets? Not my mom. Well, let me be more specific. She let us sit on his lap but was standing nearby cocked and loaded.

At this point you're probably already asking yourself, "Who's kid tells Santa their deepest darkest secrets? When did Santa become a therapist?"

Just go along with it.

My mom didn't play the whole Santa Is Real game with us when we were kids. She didn't want us believing that he was real or better yet thinking he was the main reason we center our Christmas traditions around. She always wanted us to know that he was make-believe and I assume didn't want us to be disappointed. She had seen kids she had grown up with really be scarred from it. We were told to play along when friends or cousins talked about believing in him and to NEVER ruin it for them. My brother and I liked to snicker behind our cousins backs when they talked about it like we were superior to them. It was awesome and I'm sure it bonded us eternally. Inside jokes and secrets will do that between siblings. In fact, we still have a bit of a superiority complex but that has nothing to do with us having never believed in Santa. That is a whole other bag of issues that you do not want me to get into.

Some people will read this and just gaff at the idea that my mom could deprive of us something so traditional and harmless. Let's be real here. I happen to believe that it's not Santa that kids get so enthralled with or happy because of during Christmas; it's the damn gifts. It comes down to presents. He brings presents and eats your food. Period. Or so I've heard. And who doesn't love gifts? I love them. Pets love them. Even high society escorts love them.

Just recently I was sitting on a bench in a mall right above where Santa was stationed. I sat there for thirty amusing minutes and watched as each impeccably dressed child was not placed on Santa's lap but yet ripped out of their parents arms and forced on to his lap all while they screamed bloody murder. Nothing could confirm my assumptions more. They like getting gifts not Santa the person.

In our family, as a child we went along with the traditions like the Easter bunny and the Tooth Fairy but we always knew it was make believe. I think it has made me view holidays in a different way and as an adult I appreciate it now. I hate getting caught up in the media driven aspect of them all. I think it takes the pressure off and I don't think I missed out on anything. I cave under pressure anyways so it's worked out perfectly in my favor. I can just blame it all on my mom if I need to.

Honestly the difference isn't even that major. Knowing of Santa and that he is make believe or a fictional character yet still playing a long with the fantasy aspect that he brings kids gifts and eats their cookies isn't that bad. It's less traumatizing in the long run anyways. At least I think so.

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