Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Maybe.

First, here is my disclaimer. This post is not for anyone under 12 years of age. If you are under 12 and reading this, then I am held harmless from any damages caused by his blog. Besides, shouldn't your parents be monitoring what you see on the internet anyway? See, it's always the parents' fault.

So, how old were you when you stopped believing in Santa? My daughter is 8 and she is asking questions. First, she announced to my husband and I that she was not going to write a letter to Santa, create a list or produce any other form of written documentation. She said that she would make a "Christmas wish" that only Santa would receive. My husband and I looked at each other in panic. OK, this was a test. What do we do? Do we bluff or fold? Every moment of parenting (and watching Celebrity Poker Showdown) came down to this. We played it cool. We explained that making a Christmas wish was fine, but then coaxed the information out of her. Maybe we outsmarted her, or maybe she realized that if she didn't actually tell us, there was no way she was getting the blue digital camera she wants (if that is the case, she failed to realize that she gets a few more years of Santa gifts anyway, thanks to her 4-year old sister, who hopefully has some time before reality sets in.)

Then there were other questions. "If nobody has ever really seen Santa, how do people know what he looks like" and the ever-popular and equally annoying "so and so from school says that there is no Santa Claus." In those times, I stick with the canned response, "if you believe in him, then he is real."

We are not the type of parents who create elaborate plans to make it look like Santa is there; no climbing on the roof top making reindeer hoof sounds for us. We leave out cookies and carrots and thankfully remember to take them away (save for a few cookie crumbs) when the girls go to sleep. We do wrap Santa's gifts in different wrapping paper, but my daughter was quick to point out the other night that last year Santa's gift tags were the same ones that daddy used. We are also a bit lazy with our adherence to the correct pronouns. Looking at stocking stuffers is usually peppered with "I-er, he knew you would like that." It's a lot of effort to keep this up when you are both just too tired from staying up the night before wrapping gifts.

I am not proud to admit it. OK, here is goes. I want the credit for the good gifts. There, I said it. No, Santa did not make this in his workshop. Mommy went to Target two months ago to make sure you had this, even though that meant that it left you time to change your mind, which you did, so back to Target, this time two weeks before Christmas, to wait on long lines to make sure that you got the gifts of both Christmas list past and present. Yeah, I know, I have approval issues.

Last night, I was cuddling with my 4-year old. She was so excited because she received reindeer food and could not wait to leave it out. I asked her what would be left behind, expecting her to say "presents!", but instead smiled and said "crumbs". And I remembered why we lie to our children.