The year is 2018, and Jr. Addie McNitt anxiously waits by the Christmas tree. Even though she was 10 years old, Christmas’s magic never faded.
The time was 1:00 am. McNitt couldn’t wait for Santa to come down the chimney.
Christmas was her favorite holiday. She loved baking Christmas cookies with her grandma, playing in the snow with her sister until sunset, and sitting in the backseat of her parent’s car as they cruised along the neighborhood looking at the lights on Christmas Eve.
After an hour of waiting in the living room, she heard a sound, the floorboards creaked beneath her feet. ¨IT’S SANTA! She thought. I can’t believe it.¨ She wanted to explode with excitement.
As jolly old Saint Nick approached the top of the staircase, McNitt raced to the light switch. But when she turned it on, she saw her dad carrying the first of many Christmas presents.
There was a minute of pure silence. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she ran to her room sobbing. Christmas was ruined.
When young, kids never had any doubts or questions as to whether Santa Claus was real or not. But as children reach a certain age/point in their lives, people decide to tell them the soul-crushing truth.
¨You know Santa isn’t real right?¨,
¨Oh my gosh, you’re 9 years old and you still believe in Santa Claus?¨
¨It’s just not possible. How can one man, in one night, visit all the children in the world?¨
My experience finding out Santa didn’t exist was very traumatic. I was 11 years old, and it had been a few months since the holidays came to a close. Every year, my parents would tell me that our Elf on the Shelf, Ivy, had to leave on Christmas Eve to return to the North Pole.
I walked into the garage and opened my dad’s toolbox just to find my Elf on the Shelf lying in the back covered with dust. ¨WHAT!¨ I said. ¨You´re supposed to be with Santa right now.¨ I paused….. Oh, if Ivy´is not real, then that means… Santa’s not real either.¨
Some of the staff members at WO shared their stories about how they discovered Santa wasn’t real, and they said…
Instructor Erin Stier said, ¨I was in 5th or 6th grade, and I´ve always been a big believer in things so I had no reason not to believe in Santa. Christmas had already ended and I was going to get pizza with my mom when suddenly she told me that Santa wasn’t real and that it was her. I just remember being so shocked and devastated.¨
“When I was 4 years old I woke up on Christmas morning and I remember seeing the writing on the package, it looked a lot like my mom’s handwriting, and even though I was suspicious about it, I didn´t want to let my parents down and I kept it to myself until I was about 8 years old. I then asked ¨Is Santa real?¨ and my parents said ¨no, it´s your mom and dad.¨ Instructor Jennifer Florip explained.
Instructor Jeremy Hevailin said, ¨I was 5 years old and I got a cool Hot-Wheels playset. I took it to my grandma’s house and I was playing with it in the hallway when my aunt walked by and said. ¨Oh, your playset, do you like it?¨ I said ¨yeah it´s great.¨ and she said, ¨I was with your mom when she bought it.¨ and I said, ¨But it´s from Santa.¨
While some kids are told the truth about Kris Kringle by their parents, others discover the truth another way.
Instructor Kayla Ziegler said, ¨I was seven years old, it was Christmas Eve and I was fast asleep. I woke up and looked out my window to see a bright red light on the roof and I was convinced that it was Rudolph. After telling my parents about it in the morning, they laughed about it and decided to tell me that not only is Rudolph not real, but Santa Claus isn´t real either.¨
Instructor Kelly Lyro said, ¨I found out that Santa was not real at about 9 years old and, I stayed up late convinced that I was going to hear his sleigh land on the roof. Instead, I heard wrapping paper. I climbed out of bed, went down to the house’s first floor, and saw my parents wrapping presents. As they sent me back to bed they told me that Santa needs parents to help out and wrap gifts for him.¨
After taking a deep dive into WO Staff and their Christmas trauma, I decided to ask some students.
Jr. Cj Morales said, ¨I found out Santa wasn´t real when I was 13 years old and I got out of bed at midnight to find my grandpa eating the Christmas cookies and giving some to my dog, and I also found my mom setting the presents under the tree.¨
Jr. Julia Rodriguez stated, ¨When I was little my family had an Elf on the Shelf, and I told my mom and dad that I wanted to film the elf moving around on Christmas Day, and once I told them they turned off the camera and moved it. I also did a lot of snooping when I was little and I always found presents in my parents’ closet.¨
Children are also most likely to believe in Santa if parents leave evidence around the house to support his story.
“I was staying up late to see if Santa Claus would come and put presents under the tree when I saw my mom wearing snowshoes and putting footprints into the carpet and I saw her putting gifts under the tree in the living room.¨ Said Sr. Brennan James.
Jr. Alex Del Angel Ruiz said ¨I woke up at midnight, and I went to go see if there were any gifts under the tree, and then I saw my mom carrying a bunch of presents and she asked, ¨Why are you awake?¨ and I said, ¨because I was waiting for Santa Claus.¨ I then looked over to see that she had also eaten the cookies and drank the milk.¨
Indeed, research suggests that children tend to figure out the truth about Santa on their own around Christmas time, There is no scientific evidence that finding out the truth about Santa causes children any distress or makes them doubt whether their parents are trustworthy.
In some ways, magical thinking never goes away completely.
So while others might think of magical thinking as something characteristic of childhood, it doesn’t necessarily disappear when students grow up.
Whether or not Santa visits the house, everyone, regardless of age, should enjoy the magic of the holiday season.
