Santa vs. Daddy

Sorry it's been a while since I last wrote. Been meaning to but just haven't gotten around to it. Anyway, I'm back.

So, this week Soen's school is putting on a holiday show, which of course means a Christmas show. I was dimly aware that this was coming up but imagine my surprise when Soen came home one day singing "Deck the Halls." I almost fell over. I always knew this day was coming but it came faster than I expected.

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I've been on an anti-Santa (anti-Christmas) tear since the day we found out Michaela was pregnant with Soen. I won't go into all the reasons for it, but let's just say that wife and I have decided to celebrate Solstice instead. Aside from that decision, though, we haven't really figured out how to pull this off. We have been celebrating Solstice, I guess, although it has always been conveniently celebrated on Christmas day, since that's the day we have off from work. But as far as having a family tradition... well we haven't really figured anything out yet. Nor have we really put much thought into it, which is a shame, since this year Soen has become very aware of the Christmas tradition--especially where it concerns Santa Claus. His knowledge about Santa is quite stunning since he's never heard a peep about him from us.

(Having said that, my parents took Soen to see Santa when Soen was like a year old. I was a little annoyed about it at the time, but I figured he'd never remember. Then two days ago he recounted the visit in exquisite detail. It's probably the only memory he has from that time. How wonderful.)

Anyway, we've never said anything to him about Santa, but when I was taking him bowling this past Saturday, he saw a Santa figure and proceeded to tell me all about him. I gather he picked it up at school. He knows every detail. And as he was telling me all this I felt like a deer caught in headlights. All I could muster was, "Oh yeah...? Really...? Is that right...? Naughty and nice?" Then he said, "I like Santa. Do you like Santa, Daddy?" I would have rather he asked me where babies came from. So I lied and said I thought he was all right. Only two days before that Soen was telling us about Santa and, to nip the whole thing in the bud, I said, "Yeah, but he's not real, buddy." As soon as I said it, though I felt like I had made a big mistake. Like he was going to run to his schoolmates and tell them the awful truth and that I would be forever known as the asshole who blew Christmas for everyone. Well I didn't have to worry about that. Soen corrected me: "Yes he is, Daddy." End of story.

So, I'm not sure how we're going to handle this. As far as Soen is concerned, Christmas is coming and so is Santa. He even asked if we could put some lights on out outside trees and bushes. One of the reasons I wanted to avoid Santa was because I didn't want to lie to him. But it seems that that has been taken out of my hands.

Ever since I mentioned that I wasn't going to do the whole Santa thing, all of my friends and family scoffed at me. So, I can only imagine that any of you who are reading this are feeling a certain amount of schadenfreude at my predicament. I will keep you all informed how this all goes down, as I can only imagine it will make for some hilarious reading. I know that I'm not going to be a jerk about it, but at the same time I don't want to encourage it. I gotta talk to some Jews to see how they deal with this. After all, we're not going to celebrate Christmas, nor are we going to be putting out cookies for Santa.

At least not this week.

(Oh, this video: Soen has been very into superheroes lately. Wife being the genius she is cashed in on the post-Halloween sales and bought the boy a Spider-man costume, which has reduced his naked time almost by half. Maybe I should tell him Spider-man will come flying in on Solstice Day with a web-full of presents. Hmmm...)