{"id":110,"date":"2011-12-22T09:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T09:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2011\/12\/why-santa-comes-to-our-home-and-brings-my-kids-crap\/"},"modified":"2011-12-22T09:11:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T09:11:00","slug":"why-santa-comes-to-our-home-and-brings-my-kids-crap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2011\/12\/why-santa-comes-to-our-home-and-brings-my-kids-crap\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Santa Comes to our Home and Brings my Kids Crap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/span><\/div>\n
Back in 2004, my first-grade daughter had to write a \u201cbook\u201d on famous people for homework.\u00a0 She threw the papers on the kitchen floor and wailed, \u201cI can\u2019t do this!\u00a0 I don\u2019t know any famous people.\u201d<\/div>\n
The 2004 election was just weeks away so I said, \u201cThere\u2019s John Kerry or George Bush.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t WANT to do George Bush!\u201d\u00a0 She stomped out of the room.<\/div>\n
Awhile later, she came back happy.\u00a0 \u201cI figured it out.\u00a0 I can do Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy, and Mickey Mouse.\u201d<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\u201cDo the famous people have to be real?\u201d I asked.<\/div>\n
She looked at me like I\u2019m an idiot.\u00a0 \u201cSanta and the Tooth Fairy ARE REAL!\u201d she shrieked, then thoughtfully, \u201cI\u2019ll have to ask my teacher if it\u2019s OK to do Mickey Mouse.\u201d<\/div>\n
Hmmm.<\/div>\n
Once again I felt the dilemma that our family participates in the myth of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.\u00a0 In the words of my brother-in-law, we\u2019ve chosen to LIE to our children about magical creatures.\u00a0 Some of my Christian friends would say I\u2019ve chosen to allow Santa to steal the glory of Jesus at Christmas.<\/div>\n
Guilty, guilty, guilty.<\/div>\n
My choices are ironic because Santa brought much humiliation to my life as a child.<\/div>\n
By about 1st<\/sup>\u00a0grade I began doubting whether Santa was real.<\/div>\n
\u201cWell if you don\u2019t believe in Santa, I guess he can\u2019t bring you any presents,\u201d was Mama\u2019s reply. . . for the next SEVEN years.<\/div>\n
I don\u2019t know why that argument swayed me since Santa was a notoriously bad gift giver.\u00a0 Many years we awoke to find our stockings drooping on their hooks\u2013absolutely empty. \u00a0\u00a0The presents on the piano bench weren\u2019t always much better.\u00a0 One particularly infamous year I received a large clamshell from Santa.\u00a0 When I say large, I mean large\u2014it was about 12 inches wide, 4 inches deep.<\/div>\n
So why did I decide to LIE to my kids about Santa?\u00a0 Because even though I argued with Mama about him, even though he gave terrible presents, even though he was the star of Christmas and not Jesus, Santa brought the best magic and fun our family experienced all year.<\/div>\n
Mama loved Christmas with an almost unholy gusto.\u00a0 This Chinese immigrant, who moved to America when she was thirteen, embraced every tinsel-covered trapping of the American commercialized Christmas season she could afford.\u00a0 In contrast with her childhood in China spent escaping from the Japanese and memories of hunger, she lavished the wonder, opulence and celebration she never had on us.<\/div>\n
And I wanted to give our kids some of the same wonder and joy.<\/div>\n
In my defense, I didn\u2019t bold-face lie. \u00a0I let my husband do it.\u00a0 I never told my kids Santa was real.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t say he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 And in the age-old Tuan tradition, I made sure Santa brought them crap\u2014slippers, banks, Christmas books.\u00a0 The fun presents came from us because I didn\u2019t want Santa getting the glory.<\/div>\n
Santa gives terrible gifts.\u00a0 The Tooth Fairy forgets to come for months at a time.\u00a0 But I\u2019m trusting that Jesus (who even in my most atheistic moments I desperately hope is real\u2014this is why it\u2019s called faith) will actually show up for me and my kids.<\/div>\n
On Christmas and every day.<\/div>\n
This was first posted on What She Said<\/i><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 2004, my first-grade daughter had to write a \u201cbook\u201d on famous people for homework.\u00a0 She threw the papers on the kitchen floor and wailed, \u201cI can\u2019t do this!\u00a0 I don\u2019t know any famous people.\u201d The 2004 election was just weeks away so I said, \u201cThere\u2019s John Kerry or George Bush.\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t WANT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Santa Comes to our Home and Brings my Kids Crap<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Back in 2004, my first-grade daughter had to write a \u201cbook\u201d on famous people for homework.  She threw the papers on the kitchen floor and wailed, \u201cI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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