The Rural Voice, 2001-12, Page 30THE SANTA
SECRET
Some secrets may need to be kept a little longer
By Jennifer Trewartha
not enough.
On our way home to Ottawa from
a recent visit to Grandma and
Grandpa, near Goderich, David
announced that he was going to write
Santa and ask for a Nintendo 64 game.
My husband said, "That's too
expensive." About an hour or two
and many rolling hills and black and
white cows later, David asked,
"Mummy, is Santa Claus real?" I
pulled out the old standby, "What do
you think?", all the while wiggling
my eyebrows in alarm at my
husband, who apparently doesn't read
To tell or not to tell. That is the
question on many parents'
minds at this time of year.
The other night, IT happened. The
Santa Claus question. Actually, I
thought it had already happened two
Christmas's ago. My son, David, then
seven, had asked the Santa question
(I had just struggled through the other
dreaded question ... you know, the
S.E.X. one), and I had coyly
responded in my best fact -avoiding
manner, "What do you think?" Wink,
wink, smile, smile. Well, apparently
this attempt at Santa education was
eyebrows, as no help was
forthcoming. Chuck kept his eyes on
the road and made no comment,
helpful or otherwise.
My advice? Don't believe your
child when he says, "I really want to
know."
I said, "No," and went on to
explain that Santa was really us and
his grandparents and all the other
people who love him. Of course, I
never dreamed that he didn't already
"know about Santa", or I'd have
never so baldly said "no".
A sniff came from the back seat of
26 THE RURAL VOICE