All fake

Last night, as we were eating a by my standards very meager birthday dinner, chicken soup with noodles on the side as per request by the sick birthday girl, suddenly Marcus 8 ½ years old announces:

“I don’t think Santa is real.”

“B b b but why?” I manage to say, very confused as to where this is coming from.

“Nah” he continues “I think it is just mommies and daddies who buy the presents and say they are from Santa.”

“Only the real Santa leaves the presents by the tree when you are sleeping!” Amanda chirps in with her raspy voice with near desperation as an undertone.

“But what about when we have seen Santa”, I continue. “At little Sophia’s and Izzy’s houses and at the train park (a “professional” for-rent Santa, very real-like except for the one party we attended when he carried a jeweled staff and reminded me of Liberace)? And what about when we celebrated Christmas in Sweden and suddenly Santa showed up with all those presents?”

“No” he persists “It’s all fake, they were just people dressing up.”

How am I going to save this, I’m thinking to myself. Their belief in Santa has explained so much at Christmas time; his superhuman ability to be at so many places in such a short amount of time, how he can see and hear everything, how we can use him as a threat AND a motivator for good behavior.

“I don’t know what you are talking about” I carry on “Amanda, you don’t believe what Marcus is saying is true, do you? Don’t you think there is a real Santa?”

“Aauuummm….yeeessss, but I also think there are fake ones, like when Grandpa dressed up when they visited us in America.”

She is clearly confused by now. Not only is she sick on her birthday, her daddy is away un-expectantly and she had to postpone her birthday party now, suddenly, her brother tells her there is no Santa!

“Marcus, why don’t you think there is a Santa?” I say trying to save the situation.

“Haha! I’m just kidding; of course there is the real one!”

Huh? What just happened? Has he figured it out? Did he chicken out at the last second and tried to save the situation or was he just being nice to his sister? I don’t know and I won’t find out until December but I do know that Christmas this year will have to rock. We have to find the most amazing Santa and he will have to come flying through the sky somehow and have a real beard AND a fat belly, the right laugh AND lots of presents. And there will have to be snow. I guess we have no choice; we will have to spend Christmas in Sweden this year where the REAL Santa is from.