The Santa Claus Dilemma

In his book, "Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim" David Sedaris does an excellent job of articulating the strange and hilarious, yet important and meaningful ideas surrounding the notion of Santa Claus.  In one particular story he tells, he is in a taxi cab in Europe and has a discussion with the driver about how different cultures view Santa.  It is laugh out loud funny as he illustrates how attached we are to our own traditions and views of Santa and how utterly rediculous other depictions of the "Santa Story" seem to us Americans.  

In my work here at the hospital as a Music Therapist, I find myself in a myriad of situations and discussions with patients about all sorts of things you would never believe.  Each Friday afternoon I facilitate a support group in the Psychiatric unit, which is usually both a joy and a real trip.  I learn so much from these patients- they will never know!  Anyway- somehow we got to talking about trust and the holidays this past Friday and then people started talking about how they each "found out" about Santa.  It was fascinating to hear their stories.  

It also happened that later that night, Peter and I took Clara to see the "real"?? Santa Claus for her first time downtown.  I guess it seems like the thing to do to take your child to see Santa.  Am I depriving her of this meaningful experience if I don't?  Is this really for her or for me??  

My parents did a great job of dealing with the whole "Santa Dilemma" when we were growing up. They always told us the story of the historical figure and how he is still honored by people dressing up like him, and he reminds us to be kind and generous.  As a child this started to annoy me!  I felt like I was getting jip'd.  Why on earth couldn't they just humor me?  If you talk to my mother she will tell you the story about the time she was honestly and thoughtfully trying to explain the real meaning of Santa to me, and I precociously replied, "Mommy- you can believe what you believe and I can believe what I believe!"  

After listening to several stories of my patients telling me of finding out about Santa and how it made them feel, I began to realize that maybe my mom & dad had the right idea. 

Why do I feel this need to take my child to see Santa?  C'mon it's fun, right?  But then again, is their something kind of creepy to forcing your little girl to sit on some strange old man's lap?!

Yikes!

For now, I am glad that I have some time before I have to answer Clara's more challenging questions.  I have plenty of time to decide how to handle our own "Santa Dilemma."  Maybe it's harmless, maybe not.  I have absolutely no idea.  For now, I am just happy to share these photos of Miss Clara's first experience with St. Nick himself!  We ended up having a mostly good time.  She was more interested in smiling at him from behind Peter's leg, and was fine with hi-fiving him, but when we put her on his lap, she looked like we had just sold her into slavery!  I immediately removed her and felt kind of bad.  That is why the picture is kind of blurry.  However, she quickly recovered and we had a great time the rest of the night.  

Will we do the same thing next year?  Not sure and glad I have a year to decide!