My kids are older so we have already faced the questions everyone dreads for a couple of years now:
"Is Santa real? My friends at school say he is not real."
"Are you and dad Santa?"
My first response is incontestable. "Do you think we have the time to shop, wrap, and sneak gifts under the tree?"
Followed up by, "Do you think the whole world could be in on some gigantic ruse with all the movies, songs, books, and even people dressed up as someone who doesn't even exist? That doesn't make any sense."
They think to themselves for a minute. "No that doesn't make any sense, and no, you definitely don't have the time."
Santa has further proven his existence by leaving snowy footprints by the fireplace. He's lost a button with his initials on it by our tree. Early on, we purchased a Northpole Communicator, (on sale after Christmas), to be able to reach Santa or his elves on a daily basis. Now, Santa sends them text messages all month. He sends them selfies, pictures of the reindeer, or even pictures of his dinner. They write their Christmas lists and then magically they shrink in the night and appear as ornaments on the tree for the elves to bring back to Santa.
They know that many people will imitate him, (it is the highest form of flattery), but we always manage to visit with the real Santa each year. He rides the L train, and we've always been lucky enough to find him at least once where there is not a crowd, we can take our time, and I can probably get a chance to sit on Santa's lap first and whisper the things I want for Christmas. When my kids get to speak to him, he knows details about my kids that only we could know, and he remembers them every year. "How's your doll Rady?", he might ask my daughter. A gift she got when she was five.
There's also the fact that he got them phones last year even after we had distinctly forbidden them!
However, the most convincing piece of evidence is the selfie Santa always sends us on Christmas morning. It's from the night before, in our house, in front of our very own tree!
If ever they have doubted the existence of Santa Claus, they have never doubted the magic of the Elves on the Shelf. They each have one. They are not the small wooden elves, these are larger 15 inch plush elves. They arrive on Dec. 1 without fail. Each day they move to a new location, often times completely out of reach. Places we couldn't get to unless we had a secret 12 ft. ladder. One year they fell from their perch and I was caught accidentally picking them up off the floor. My son accused me of being in the middle of placing them on a shelf, but I explained that they fell and I was just helping them. Then he was furious that I caused them to lose their magic, but they still showed up the next day in body casts. Crisis averted.
Our elves aren't the prankster types. Though they did once make the mistake of landing in the bathroom, which prevented anyone with modesty from being able to use it. Luckily, we have two bathrooms, but they never made that blunder again.
They leave messages in mini marshmallows sometimes and they sometimes change outfits. My daughter made them clothes once that did not fit over their heads, but they somehow must have un-stitched the collars and then resewed them for each other once they were in them.
They have also been known to paint the ceilings in the kids rooms using hidden socket projectors. Our little Michael Angelo's amazingly erase their artwork and paint a whole new scene for the next morning.
Now, if we were Santa, or the elves, to pull all this off would take a lot of effort. Obviously, Santa is real. Who in their right mind would continue such a charade for so long? At some point, the existence of Santa Claus becomes the more logical explanation. I mean, if we really had all this time on our hands, we might as well be the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny too!
