Just yesterday me and my girlfriend were talking about this exactly. You made everything so clear man, I feel like an idiot for not seeing this before. Thanks so much! Happy New Year too!
This is exactly my view on Santa. I almost wrote the same thing a week ago after reading all the "I won't like to my kid, Santa is evil" nonsense. Excellent piece.
When I was parenting my eldest, and a much younger mom, I was more anti-Santa because the commercialism and surveillance state the cultural paradigm put forth (Elf on the Shelf wasn't a thing yet as far as I knew, THAT would have put me into a total tizzy) but I was, and remain, pro magic, myth, shared reality/fantasy. As long as we believe he's real, he's real- not as a lie, but as a piece of magic and spirit. By the time my younger two learned "the truth" they were also old enough to be interested in other traditions and they all went through a bit of an existential whollop, but it was *discussed* with philosophical rigor, not some vapid nihilistic critique of the human spirit but rather an invitation to animism and whatever magic they wanted to conjure and bring into our family traditions.
Learning that everything is "made up" and we get to create our realities is the ultimate anti-consumer move come to find out. Finding the sweet spot between the imposed cynical "real world truth" and holding on to the magic of festivity is where I tend the hearth of our mythos. And there's stockings, and some purchased gifts and way more shared experiences, silliness, sweets, candles and embrace of hunkering down to be, to reflect and to imagine the next turn of the wheel; greasing our gears for spring and beyond.
Thanks for this essay..I needed to know others think along these wavy lines ✨
This is probably the truest thing I've ever heard about Santa Claus.
Just yesterday me and my girlfriend were talking about this exactly. You made everything so clear man, I feel like an idiot for not seeing this before. Thanks so much! Happy New Year too!
This is exactly my view on Santa. I almost wrote the same thing a week ago after reading all the "I won't like to my kid, Santa is evil" nonsense. Excellent piece.
When I was parenting my eldest, and a much younger mom, I was more anti-Santa because the commercialism and surveillance state the cultural paradigm put forth (Elf on the Shelf wasn't a thing yet as far as I knew, THAT would have put me into a total tizzy) but I was, and remain, pro magic, myth, shared reality/fantasy. As long as we believe he's real, he's real- not as a lie, but as a piece of magic and spirit. By the time my younger two learned "the truth" they were also old enough to be interested in other traditions and they all went through a bit of an existential whollop, but it was *discussed* with philosophical rigor, not some vapid nihilistic critique of the human spirit but rather an invitation to animism and whatever magic they wanted to conjure and bring into our family traditions.
Learning that everything is "made up" and we get to create our realities is the ultimate anti-consumer move come to find out. Finding the sweet spot between the imposed cynical "real world truth" and holding on to the magic of festivity is where I tend the hearth of our mythos. And there's stockings, and some purchased gifts and way more shared experiences, silliness, sweets, candles and embrace of hunkering down to be, to reflect and to imagine the next turn of the wheel; greasing our gears for spring and beyond.
Thanks for this essay..I needed to know others think along these wavy lines ✨
https://substack.com/@bnonn/note/c-184326443?r=7gp0g&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web