A Christmas Story

Santa Claus, Old St. Nick, Chris Cringle – no matter how you say it, we all know who he is. He’s one of the main images you think of not only during the Christmas season, but your childhood in general. He’s the jolly fat man in a red suit with a bowl full of jelly and a bag full of toys that lightened up every December 25^th you can remember. To children, he’s the one they write letters to in hopes of getting the ultimate gift. To adults, he’s the one they secretly become every year and have to protect the image of. But how did this man, who started out as a simple religious Saint, become our seasonal cultural obsession, and what effect does it have?

Think about the moment you discovered Santa Claus wasn’t real. I didn’t react like most children – I was six and straight up told my mom that it all didn’t make sense, and she told me I was right. My reaction was calm and collected and I didn’t really care. My sister on the other hand, didn’t find out until she was almost ten and cried hysterically for hours. So is it somewhat deceitful for parents to do this, and do they just go along with it for the sake of tradition? Can we mark the finding out that Santa doesn’t exist as a monumental moment in life? It appears that’s what it’s become. And all that hard work the parents did comes crashing down. Although the fact the children had fun believing in magic all those years seems to definitely makes up for it.

So we come to the question, is Santa more of a cultural icon, or a loveable image created for our children’s happiness? There’s no doubt in my mind the parents love reciting the whole “naughty or nice list” spiel – that’s sure a way to get your kid to behave better. But what about the future effect on finding out Old St. Nick isn’t really there? Do some children never really recover, and never want to believe in anything again, even if it’s only subconscious? Does the message of what Christmas really is change once they find out their Christmas idol is a phony? And where do the fantasy and reality elements of this timeless and classic icon intersect? Although Santa Claus effects everyone differently, and we may never know how future and current generations will handle his presence (or lack thereof), it’s safe to say that he’s here to stay in our minds, our society, and our culture.