The Invention of Santa is Asinine

The "Magic" of Christmas ....This is a tough one...

I was raised in a home with a Loving family, that would break their back to make the magic happen. They Loved the Holidays and Christmas was always the one everyone invested the most in. Being the eldest of 5 kids also made it interesting, because once I found out Santa wasn’t real I was basically blackmailed into maintaining the lie so that I didn’t ruin it for the other kids.

Yeah… fun stuff

As a result of this new revelation, I refused to buy presents for people. It became a matter of principle for me… I would only make hand made presents… stuff made with love. Gifts that would be a memory… The gifts may not have been nearly as useful… but if you didn’t want something that was honest and from the heart… we can always talk about Santa… tell me “how much he loves you” *devil smirk*

Yeah… I was willing to play that game… watch Rome fall suckers.

Any ways…

I really hate this big ugly lie that is created around this idea of Santa. Why is there this weird exchange of cookies for gifts? Why do we write him letters? Why on earth would we think it's OK to take willingly from strangers? OR be forced to learn that it is OK to sit on a stranger's knee... but only if it is THAT guy! You get presents', YAY!… BUT only if you had the decency to not be a jerk-face that year?!

The tradition passed itself down through WAY too many generations, until we landed into THIS corporate mess of ‘Good cheer’!

It is like… instead of manipulating kids to not be an a**hole, or be OK with this weird stranger, that is your parents, but isn't… MAYBE we should just be focused on teaching common sense and NORMAL good behaviors…

The Fact that there are Apps out there now that can Photoshop SANTA into your living space in front of your silly decorative dead/fake tree, to dump a mountain of gifts… blows my mind!

Tell your kid that lying is bad, and they shouldn’t do it, then Photoshop a FICTIONAL CHARACTER in your house to “keep the magic alive” and make it feel more real.

SERIOUSLY?!

You think about what that teaches your kid.

Seeing is believing.

You just created a thing, and showed them a picture to back up your claim... So, you have taken away their access to REAL evidence and you chose to augment their reality!

What for? Something you think brings them joy, because you told them that it is a good thing!

It’s literally just like every other part of the problem with our social media, news system, and access to information. We blindly trust the information, whether that source is credible or not. AS THE PARENT you are their first and foremost RELIABLE resource for your kids!

What the heck do you think is going to happen when they reach the inevitable betrayal you set up for them?!

I mean… I get it.

as a parent, making the kids happy, even if it is short lived, is wonderful.

Making memories is wonderful.

Can’t you do all that good stuff without having to create a world that is built up on lies?

What happens when you slack off because you are tired, and Christmas loses its magic, because you ran out of energy for the smoke and mirrors that were required to keep that lie running. *You’re human and that’s fine, so be realistic about it!

I think that you can be honest with your kids, without needing to create a fake person to give them bad-ass presents or tricking them into good behavior… Maybe instead of Santa being this epic magic dude raining presents… maybe mom and dad show up and they happened to be the bomb! It would change the betrayal factor 100%!

And DO NOT get me started with the elf on the shelf nonsense!

You basically told your kid the fantasy version of the NSA is keeping tabs on them at all times, so, “don’t be a bad kid, or we won’t get to have Christmas!”

It’s SO manipulative!

Using a special day like Christmas, to manipulate a child into good behavior is just wrong.

**I watched it all the time working with kids in daycare situations. It was a really awful way to get kids to behave. I actually fought with my supervisor on this one and almost got fired… my thought was, parents can choose that method it at home, but it’s not appropriate for daycare to abuse that system. I felt it was just lazy care-giving…. And I was told to shove it. (I wasn't telling them to get rid of all Christmas... just that stupid elf on the shelf.)

*It just reinforces their idea, that they are inherently evil, and can only be good with incentives and manipulation.

Let’s be real, it’s not like you are going to actually stop Christmas and cancel everything, when your child CONTINUES TO BEHAVE BAD, because YOU still want your magical Christmas too. You already bought the gifts so you aren't actually going to waste the money…The kid learns nothing about positive behavior in ANY WAY with this kind of system! They just learn that “if I put on a good show, I’ll get what I want” … and they find out in the end that was all a big lie.

It tells the kid that it didn’t matter if they were good or bad.

SOOO eventually they let their freak flag fly and you’ve gotta live with an epic jerk-face riding that wave of betrayal to their SUPER FUN preteen years! ;) (gold stars, mom and dad!)

Everything about this whole mess is built up on fakery!

Fake man, with fake helpers, to manipulate this fake reality to build a child’s fake good behavior.

Usually followed by grown-ups who might normally fight, putting on fake smiles, and fake pleasant conversation to not ruin the kid’s fake special day, that could have been a REAL special day if there was a little less lying…

AND THIS DOES EVEN INCLUDE

The dumb S*** Adults get up to trying to get ready for the damn day!

Black Friday, gift-pocalypse. Money, money, money, money, money…and the mass hysteria that is Holiday based consumer insanity.

If kid’s saw the way the ‘grown-ups’ acted, they would be like, “Um excuse me parental units… didn’t you tell me just the other day, I needed to be a nice person to be rewarded with love via colored boxes and candy and s***…?”, any honest kid, would definitely call you out on your B.S. if you let them see the dumb stuff adults do on Christmas…

This doesn’t include the perspective of grown humans with responsibilities being surprisingly willing to pile-drive their financial situation so hard into the ground that by the time they recover they have to start the whole thing all over again…

***Think about how holidays are spaced out in Western Culture... Kind of funny how they are all about a month apart and encourage some kind of additional spending. It is also cleverly disguised as time off (for some) so you’ve lost the day of work, AND you spent enough to lose a few more days of work!

I know that this isn’t the case for everyone…

but I really strongly believe that you can enjoy your family time, and the time provided by the holidays, to enjoy your loved ones, in more appropriate ways. Ways that don’t include lying to your kids about the existence of some dude who just busts in your house to give presents and take cookies… and ways that don’t include some creepy little elf, watching their every move and reporting back to the boss every night to keep tabs on them.

You can enjoy your family time without excessive spending, or fancy anything. It can still be fun building snowmen, eating awesome food, and doing the presents thing, without having to participate in this really weird elaborate hoax.

Nothing about how that is designed is about trust, or honesty… or any of those good things parents want to see their kids do…. As far as I have seen… It is their first introduction to what it feels like to be heartbroken, and betrayed by your parents (at least until you get older and find our where babies REALLY come from)

This is the ultimate conspiracy. Christmas doesn’t need to be like this in order to be fun.

*Please note: I mean no disrespect to anyone who is religious or expresses their faith based on traditions. I respect all faiths, and your right to participate in whatever things in western culture that you choose to embrace. I am merely addressing that, for myself these holidays that have become money making machines don’t seem to be any good, and I do not understand a need for them. I think that it is just a clever experiment in economics, and one of many ways that big money keeps us all in the middle-class status or lower. I strongly disagree with it. You can enjoy everything about your family and your time with them without it!