Tonight is the night...tonight is the night when my children will lose part of their naivete and that pure and trusting innocence that we as parents cherish and protect so dearly.
It will all begin with the same question we have been avoiding during past dinners around the dining room table: So... is Santa real?
It is a simple question, quite easy to answer. But it is, at the same time one that comes full of meaning and contradictions. It means that us parents have to admit that we have been lying to them for 8-9 years...it means that the magic of Christmas will not be quite the same for them/us anymore...it means that we will never see that sparkle in our boys' eyes when they thought they saw Santa's sleigh in the sky...it means that they will never ask me again about that time when I was a little girl and I was convinced I saw Santa's boot outside my front door.
It means my children, my little children are not so little anymore...
I am sad to admit that they will lose some of their innocence tonight, but I am happy with what it meant for them to believe in Santa Claus, and the reindeer and all the magic behind it all. For one thing I am sure of: it sthenghtened the roots for their faith. It was the very beginning of believing in someone who was not real. And that paved the road to believing in God and in prayer.
Tonight my children will grow up, but to be human beings with treasured memories, whom someday will pass on their own traditions to their children. I am sure they will be asked over and over again about that time when they saw Santa's sleigh. And they will tell the story while in their hearts there will still be that conviction that they saw it for sure. As I told mine wishing to believe it was true.
Carmen
