Last night, as I was tucking her in, my youngest said, "It's sad when someone doesn't believe in Santa anymore." This is the year she's losing the magic. Today, I wrote about this in her diary, as I've written to all my children as they've questioned the existence of Santa. I want to help her see that the power of enchantment doesn't have to dissipate when we see through beloved myths into a new reality. We just have to work a little harder to bring it into our lives.
All three of my children have believed in Santa and other enchanting characters I've let into our home - the tooth fairy, leprechauns, the Easter Bunny. Now they've all outgrown the belief. This is a rite of passage for me and my husband as well.
When my son began questioning the existence of Santa, I wrote in his diary:
To Landon (age 7), November 10, 1994
. . Tuesday, when I came home from a shopping trip and mentioned for you not to go through my bags you said, matter of factly:
"Mommy, I know that you and Daddy put all the presents under the tree."
We argued about it a bit. I really want you to believe in Santa as long as you possibly can. Probably because I have a strong intuition that what you want most this Christmas is, not to be right, but just to have that magic a little longer. . .
But I'm also glad that you are growing in all the right ways, and it's a beautiful thing to have the cognitive power to explore the real meaning of things and not just see and believe in the surface of things.
This year, we will see what magic unfolds for all of us in a new way.
Kelly
How incredibly precious to have this archive to your thoughts -you created an emotional time capsule.
It tugs at the heart strings...
Happy holidays to you.
KHT
Posted by: Artiface | November 27, 2007 at 11:04 AM