Random discussions about Santa and the Easter Bunny.

So, today after church while the kids were playing monopoly and I was setting up a facebook account for my husband (Yes! I finally convinced him! At church today, he ran into a fellow missionary from his mission that informed him there was a group for his mission on facebook, and that even his mission president's wife was in the group. So he raced right home after church and took a nap. But it's okay. I did all the work for him. Now all he has to do is sit down and roll his eyes and then be excited because of all the old friends he can now keep up with. Holy holy long parenthesis...), I overheard Jordan explaining to Sam and Lucy the likelihood that Santa Claus wasn't in fact, real, because no one had ever actually seen him flying through the sky with reindeer and that the entire thing just seemed a little silly and totally impractical. I yanked Jordan by his ear and cornered him in the bedroom where we had a nice little chat about the magic of Christmas.

I asked him if he thought Santa was real. He said, "He could be, but maybe he isn't." I love that maybe. I think every fiber of logic in Jordan's brain is telling him there really isn't a fat man in a red suit sliding down people's chimneys, but his heart isn't quite ready to let go of the whole magically wonderful notion. I didn't tell him one way or the other. I told him that part of the magic of Christmas was believing and that Santa is a great way to remember the importance of giving to others.

Then I told him if he ruined the magic for his younger siblings, who are still perfectly young enough to think that reindeer really can fly without question, Santa will bring him nothing but coal.

Since we're speaking about holidays, I have a question. Where did the Easter Bunny come from? And why is he not frightening to small children? I mean, a giant anything else would be scary, right? A giant racoon, a giant squirrel... we'd all be running the other direction. But put some chocolate in the hands of a giant rabbit, and we want to get our picture taken sitting in his lap. It's weird, and slightly disturbing. We don't ever visit the Easter Bunny when he comes to our local Wal-Mart. You just have no idea what's actually inside that big fuzzy suit.

Do you foster belief in Santa and the Easter Bunny at your house? What about the tooth fairy? And for Mothers of older children, when did they lose the magic? Was it a family home evening - wake up to reality type thing? Or did they just, as Jordan is so close to doing, simply figure it out?