Hey folks from Christianized nations?

I know you guys don’t come here for this, but I am ONCE AGAIN begging people to consider the implications of the Santa Claus myth.

Santa knows if little children have been “bad” or “good.” He keeps a record of their behavior all year. Then, when December rolls around, Santa delivers presents ONLY to children on the “nice” list.

That’s very fucked up.

Do you know what that means to kids below the poverty line? Kids in abusive homes, with guardians who withhold gifts as punishment? Kids who are homeless, or in foster care? Kids who don’t celebrate fucking Christmas?

If Santa doesn’t bring you a gift, you were “bad.” Right?

If you aren’t a parent, or you aren’t raising your kids in a religiously diverse area, this has probably never occurred to you. But for our family–who don’t celebrate Christmas, who dolive in an area with a mix of religions–this comes up in conversation among the elementary kids. EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.

And my kids? They lie for you. EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.

My non-Christian kids keep your lie alive. They have never outed the Santa Claus myth to anyone. When their friends insist that Santa is real, that Elf-on-the-Shelf is real, my kids play along.

Why do they do it? We told them to keep your secret. Not out of the goodness of our hearts, but because we are afraidof you. We’re afraid you would be angry at our children. We’re afraid you’ll ostracize us for their honesty.

So very fucked up!

In the USA, people who celebrate Christmas aren’t even awareof how much they rely on the rest of us to maintain this charade. How often we’re asked to play along. How many parental lies we ignore. How often we grin and bear it, even as our own major holidays won’t qualify for a day off work. (If it’s even safe to out yourself as a non-Christian at work.)

And we’ll do it again on Easter, too.

I’m just… tired. It’s a stupid lie. It’s exhausting.

The Santa Claus mythology sucks. Lying to your kids for years about who buys their presents is ridiculous. Telling every child in the country that their “niceness” or “naughtiness” will determine how many gifts they receive on December 25th is just… cruel. It’s cruel.

It also, incidentally, has nothing to do with your religious practice. Plenty of non-Christians celebrate secular Christmas, lies about Santa and all! It’s like people think kids can’t enjoy the holiday without believing in Santa Claus which, logically, we all know isn’t true. Nearly everybody stops believing at some point. Does Christmas just suck from then on? I’m just saying…

You don’t have to do it. So why do you?

Anyway. Happy holidays, I guess.

XOXO, Earnest