This is for those of you who still have young children or for those who have not yet had children......What do you do when your child asks you if there is really a Santa Claus? Well, I'll tell you what I did and I regret it!!! My children are 8 and 10 years old. My oldest was on the fence this Christmas but still believed....my youngest believed without any doubts. That is until a few days after Christmas (thank God it was after Christmas) when another child told my children that there wasn't a Santa Claus. Without going into the long, traumatic story, I decided to be honest with my oldest but lie to the youngest. My oldest was a little disappointed but not surprised. Well, after a long discussion and a million questions, my youngest wanted to know the truth. So, I ended up telling her. It's hard when they look you in the eye and say, "Mom tell me the truth" So,I did and she burst into tears. She was devastated!! She really didn't want to know the truth. So, my advice when children ask if there is really a Santa Claus is to lie, lie, lie. I believe in honesty but not in this situation. Keep the belief going as long as you can. Of course,we explained about the spirit of Christmas, etc. but she was still devastated.(and so was I)If you don't want to lie , prepare for the questions and prepare how you are going to answer them. BELIEVE!

I agree that sometimes a little lie is the most loving thing when it comes to stuff like Santa. Let me share an amusing outcome of the truth finally getting out. When my oldest (now 17) was 8 he was finally on the fence about Santa, Easter Bunny etc. He lost a tooth and when the tooth fairy (mois) went in to sneak his dollar under the pillow, he caught me. The next morning he said to me, "Mom, are you the tooth fairy?" Knowing that I was caught, I said "Yes honey, I am the tooth fairy." He became indignant and I expected him to rail at me about lies....but what he said was...."well if you're the tooth fairy why did you give my friend Bruce $5.00 and you only gave me $1.00?" It seems Bruce's parents were more generous than I....but my son seemed to think that I was everyone's tooth fairy. That started a whole new explanation that eventually led to Santa and the Easter Bunny. It was a very sad morning!

when each of our children were first born, within their first week of life, my husband looked at them and said "there is no santa, now for the rest of your life when i tell you there is a santa you can never tell me that i ever lied to you because right now i am telling you the truth about it. i agreeed with him so whenever our kids asked we never felt badly about lying then because we actually told them the truth at the start! besides we always told them if they did not believe then santa would no longer come and give them gifts. they still believe. ours are 18, 20, and 21.

Speaking of Santa Claus...I read this in a recent email from a friend:

The Four Stages of Life

You believe in Santa
You don't believe in Santa
You are Santa
You look like Santa

I hope not!