Do You Believe In Santa? Do you believe in Santa?

[Hraefn 0]

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

When I was very young, I believed in a Santa that rode around in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, who gives gifts to good little boys everywhere. I'm older now, but I still believe in Santa Claus. Not in the way I did as a child, but in a way that seems to me to be even more profound. Who says Santa Claus isn't real? To me, he is as real as I am.

Just a few hours ago a wrote this post in another forum about my family's Christmas tradition and what Santa means to me. I would like to quote a section of that post.

As I type this post, December 25 has just drawn to a close. I'm tired, but pleasantly so. Few days are as enjoyable as Christmas in fact, a few years ago when I was still in my 'Bah! Hambug!' mode every yuletide season, my Scroogeish attitude barely lasted a few minutes into Christmas. Maybe it had something to do with my family's particular Christmas tradition.
In my family, Santa Claus is real. For the younger kids, that means a fat little man in a sleigh. For the parents and us older ones, it's a little different. The gifts are bought in secret and hidden away as we wait for Christmas to near. We buy for the younger kids based on their Christmas list, and also for ourselves. Come Christmas eve, us older kids (yep, I'm classed as a kid, even at 25 =^^=) and the parents prepare the Noche Buena, the traditional midnight Christmas eve feast while the younger kids go to sleep to wait for Santa Claus. All night long the kitchen is busy... and so is Santa. Unbeknownst to the little ones, those not involved with the cooking are hidden away, secretly wrapping the presents from Santa. When midnight draws near and the cooking is done, we Santa's helpers carefully tuck the presents underneath the tree and go to sleep ourselves. It's up to the eager younglings to wake up and discover the gifts 'Santa' has left for them.

I've been one of the 'elves' for quite some time now, and it's always been an exciting thing for me. True, I'm effectively buying my own presents (all the gifts are from Santa, remember), but that doesn't matter to me. As a kid, Christmas was for me a magical time of year, where Santa Claus drives a sleigh and secretly gives away presents to good little girls and boys. I never doubted that the gifts I got came from Santa himself. Okay, so maybe the brandnames on the toys should have been a giveaway, but if a child believes in Santa, then she can rationalize that the brandnames were purposely left there by Santa in order to keep his existence a secret. Technicalities just didn't matter much when the world you lived in was magic.

Okay, so now I'm older and I now know the 'secret' Santa Claus. Have I grown cynical of the childrens' belief in Santa? No. I still believe there is a Santa Claus, just not in the way tradition paints him. For last night and the nights of previous years, I was Santa, and it was only after I was initiated into the secret of Santa that I suddenly understood the meaning of the phrase "It is better to give than to receive." Yes, I buy my own 'Santa' presents, but the presents were the least of it. What I really enjoyed was the chance to make my family happy, to see Christmas through their eyes.

Christmas for us is a family affair. On Christmas eve, my immediate family (meaning me, my parents, and siblings) gather together for the tradition mentioned above. So, too, the families of my aunts and uncles (we share the same tradition). If Christmas eve was spent with the immediate family, Christmas day is spent with the entire extended family. Cousins, aunts and uncles gather together to celebrate Christmas as one big family, under our matriarch, my paternal grandmother. To this gathering we bring some of the toys and presents we have received, along with the presents we have bought for each other. December 25 becomes for us a day-long party. =^^=

And that's that. The rest of the original post was about what presents I've received (and those that I bought for myself), which I don't think is in line with this thread's topic.

Happy holidays, everyone!

[Dawiss 0]

I have never belived hime .. Pnce I remember when I was 7 my father dressed up like Santa and gived out presents.. When it was my turn to get present I sed to Santa (my father) "Dad whill I need to say any poem?" From that time they no more tryed to trick me that Santa exists .. I still belive in Santa who lives in Northpole but I don't belive that they make pressesnts for all worlds kids..

[zaqy 0]

actually i dont trust about santa. but i believe everyone has a chance to help poor's and become to kind and nice person.

[xereo 0]

I believe in the kings magicians that are those that there is in my country.Is it always good to have illusion for something, but rather sense would have the navidad?the christmas is illusion, peace and love.Illusion for the dreams and traditions, peace in the world and love to our dear beings, Santa he gives us illusion for the christmas and for the tradition and for very bigger that are it is always good that you conserve illusion for something, because without illusion you are not nobody in this world.