not pushing santa

NOT PUSHING SANTA

December 23, 2025

I am not pushing Santa on him.
It is not about hating the tradition.
I am not trying to be different.
I just want his trust to stay clean.

He is learning the world through us.
Through our faces.
Through the way we say his name.
Through the way we keep our word.

I am not rushing to hand him a story
that asks him to believe in a stranger
just so the season can feel like a season.

If he meets Santa, fine.
If he points and smiles, even better.
If he wants the hat and the lights and a tree,
we can do all of that.
We can build meaning without building a lie.

I want him to know the real magic first.
A mother and father wrapping something he wanted or needed
because they thought of him while he was asleep.
Food on the table.
A hot bath.
A safe house.
A gift that shows up not because somebody said we had to.

People act like you are ruining childhood
if you do not sell the whole North Pole package.
Nah.
Childhood is already cool and glowing without it.
The sidewalk is a universe to him.
A dog walking past is a whole movie.
A cardboard box is architecture.

I do have holiday nostalgia.
Just not the kind built on Santa.
I was not raised inside that wonder.
No chimney myth.
No invisible white guy watching my behavior.
At least not the one with reindeer.

I am here to protect his sense of reality
while it is still forming.

We can teach giving without surveillance.
We can teach gratitude without fear.

And if one day he asks,
Who brings the gifts?
We will tell him the truth in a way he can open forever.

We do.
Because we love you.