Thursday, December 18, 2008

Something to Believe In.

Here is another funny story about my kid...then I promise that I will stop.
My son is about 8 years old and he still believes in Santa Claus. I do not know where he gets this from as we are Jews and really do spend too much time celebrating Christmas. Sure, there is a tree out at his grandmother's house, that much is true. But once when my son asked me where people came from, as in the origin of life, I tried to give him the whole creation spin because I thought it would make an easier story to tell, and he literally shot me down. "What about the monkeys dad?" Obviously we had spent way too much time over at the Museum of Natural History here in NYC, and not enough going to synagogue.

Anyway, my son totally believes in Santa and every year he writes him letters and goes up to Macy's and gives it to him. One time he asked Santa for a robot. A robot! I didn't really take this stuff too seriously, but then one day after that I picked him up from school and he was walking ahead of me with a friend. His friend told my son that "That wasn't the real Santa over at Macy's!" The real one was up at the North Pole or something like that. My son was frozen in disbelief and then he started crying.
It was heart breaking. So I got my son home and dropped him off with his mom, and I ran out and looked all over town for a robot until I luckily stuck my head into a Radio Shack and bought one. It was like a hundred bucks but it was totally worth it.

Hey, I don't really give a shit about Santa Claus. But the way I see it, my son has a whole life time of disappointment to look forward to. Unfortunately that comes with the territory. But I still had it within my power to put all that pain off, at least for a Christmas or two.
DK

7 comments:

Lorrie Veasey said...

Could you adopt me before December 25 and allow me to express my belief in the diamond fairy?

PS
I hope that wasn't my kid that crushed your kid's illusions of the Macy's Santa. We had to let ours know that the ones on 34th st. are "helpers" due to an elf error that allowed Jesse to see the multiples; sorry.

david kramer said...

Just don't tell Martin...Until he's old and cynical
DK

Anonymous said...

Hey, that's what being a parent is all about. Who doesn't want their kids to have a little magic in their lives while they can?

NEGardener said...

What a fine story of real Christmas love. Good for ll ages and religions.
Thanks!

Distributorcap said...

what a great dad

badyoga said...

When I was a kid my parents didn't tell us kids the Santa stuff and we always knew the presents were from mom and dad but I still LOVED Christmas, I loved to gaze at the lights on the tree in the darkened living room.
My grandma would tell me a story about the little girl who was very poor and put her shoes beside the fireplace and her parents all sad because they couldn't afford gifts. BUT then a bird fell from the chimney into the girls shoes and she was so excited to find her present on Christmas morn.
I loved getting up to presents on Christmas morning. My best present was a doll my grandma made me. The doll was about as big as I was.
One of my favorite stories is The Gift of the Magi.
This year a friend made me a dreidel out of wood and it spins so nicely. Its my favorite gift this year.

Liz said...

You are not only a good dad, but a lucky man, AND you seem to get that. That's the greatest gift of all, to get your own luck.