Mommy is Santa Real?

"Mommy, is Santa real?" That is something as a parent, I dreaded to hear. I didn't want Kylie to question whether or not Santa was real just yet. I mean, shes 5 years old! But, yesterday she asked me the question.

I have been mulling over how to answer that question for a long time. I knew it would come up eventually and like most parents I don't want to lie to my child about something like Santa. So, I answered her as truthfully as I could without telling her that Santa the person is not real.

We sat down with her little sister on the couch and read "Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus". After I was done reading it to her, I explained that as long as there are people out there who are willing to give to others, that Santa Claus will always exist because Santa is the spirit of giving. We talked about the true meaning of the holiday season and why it's important to give to others this time of year. That it's not about toys and presents that we get, it's about what we can give to others and what we can do for them. Then we read a story about the birth of Jesus, and used that as a spring board to talk about God's gift to us all.

So I guessed I used the dread question as a way to open up dialog with Kylie about the true meaning of Christmas. We talked about how important it is to give to those in need this holiday season and lets face it there are a lot of people in need right now. We talked about how important it was that we participated in Operation Christmas Child and the annual Westside Moms Adopt a Family and even giving our canned goods to the church today as part of their annual Christmas food drive. About why we give to the Salvation Army this time of year. All that stuff is what Christmas is really about. It's about giving of yourself to others just as God gave His one and only son to us so that we may be saved.