Keeping the Magic of Santa Alive

Do your nieces and nephews still believe in Santa Claus? Or are they getting to that age where they are beginning to question his existence?

At some point, children start hearing talk at school, on the bus, or on the playground, that Santa Claus isn't real. Often they will turn to their parents, or aunties, to find out the truth. Nowadays, kids can easily get online and start Googling for answers.

So what do you do if the little ones in your life come to you asking questions? There are a few ways to handle it.

One of the big questions kids may ask is how does Santa do it all by himself? With Santas at every mall posing for pictures and delivering gifts to children all over the world it couldn't be just one man going to all those places and making all those gifts! Of course Santa doesn't do it alone, he has LOTS of helpers! Those Santa look-a likes in the mall are helping Santa make his list and check it twice. He has Elves who help build the toys and watch over boys and girls to tell if they've been naughty or nice.

If you haven't heard of the Elf on the Shelf, the idea is that Santa sends the elf to watch the children to see whose being naughty or nice. Each night the elf reports back to Santa and reappears the next day in a different spot. I mentioned it in my blog of gift ideas here This is a great concept that gets kids excited about Christmas.

For another thing, how does Santa deliver packages to kids across the globe in a single night? Well, the answer is magic of course! Plus time zones help buy Santa a couple extra hours. On Christmas eve, follow Santa and his sleigh with the NORAD Santa tracker. You can see where in the world Santa and his reindeer are! Seeing his location may make it seem real for Santa skeptics.

For fun, visit NorthPole.com  to take a tour of Santa's village. This website is full of other fun and activities including recipes, games and coloring pages.

I personally like to believe that today's Santa Claus is our modern way of keeping the spirit of the real-life, historic Saint Nicholas alive. Perhaps a history lesson will help the skeptical children in your life understand where Santa came from and why gift giving is a part of our holiday season.


You can share with your nieces and nephews that its our belief in him that keeps him alive and delivering toys!