Santa...debunked.

I take a lot of photos. Like, ad nauseum (I can feel you nodding in agreement). This one, though....had to be taken. It represents a shift. One in which this girl views her world and one in which I view her.

Yesterday, Monique sends me a text that says Maddie has told Bella she doesn't think Santa is real. 

This girl, seven and a half with four new freckles and her 9th wiggly tooth has reasoned away Santa. After thinking about it for a long while, I realize we have to have a conversation lest she ruin Santa for everyone around her, including her impressionable and worshipping little brother.

When I ask her about it, she seems intimidated, like she knows she's supposed to believe but just...can't. I asked her why and she went into a well-thought-out hypothesis about the impossibility that some guy can navigate the night sky with flying reindeer around the entire world in one. night. She went on to say that magic isn't real. There is an explanation for everything. Feeling uncomfortable and intellectually challenged, I have no idea how to reply. I'm so not confirming this but I admire the process she used to come to her conclusion. 

So, giving her a safe space to be honest, instead of confirming or denying, I say to her:

"So, if Santa isn't real, then what does that do to the magic of Christmas for you?" (and frankly, me and daddy...). She looks at me, almost apologetically and says, "Mom, the magic of Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, not Santa.". Um, what? Mind. Blown. This little nymph of a girl has not only debunked Santa but confirmed her belief in the real meaning of Christmas. Nothing in her was disappointed or angry at us for trying to "trick" her.

I am simultaneously shocked and filled with pride. That said, I can't help but wonder how she believes in Jesus and God but not Santa. She's never seen either yet can easily dispute Santa. And without having to ask, I realize, that's real meaning of faith. The knowing, the believing, the hoping....knowing in your heart and soul that something is real, even if you can't see it, if it doesn't make sense. Feeling a sense of peace and knowing because something is stirred in you that you cannot explain...and cannot explain away.

So....while  once I may have thought my kids no longer believing in Santa may ruin Christmas in some small way, it has really made me more joyful, more "in the spirit." While I feel there's not a darn thing wrong with the "fun" of it all, Santa, the Elf, our kids, if we teach them it is so by love and example, know what it's all truly about.

And with that, Merry Christmas.