For the Love of Christmas, There’s Too Much Santa!

Oh it’s the most wonderful time of the year! And with young children, experiencing Christmas through their eyes is one of my most favorite things in the world. But oh my goodness, it’s getting harder and harder to keep the magic alive when it seems we run into Santa Claus everywhere we go!

At age three, my son started asking questions about why Santa looked so different every time we saw him. And I’ll admit, that year I went overboard taking my kids to every holiday activity I could find – I was just so excited! But then his questioning made me pause and realize that too much Santa may be taking the fun out of it. So the next year I made a conscience effort to pick and choose what holiday activities we did hoping to keep the magic of Santa going for as long as I can. I wanted to control when my children saw Santa Claus, or as we like to call them, “his helpers” who share children’s messages with the real Santa in the North Pole. But boy oh boy, I didn’t know how hard that was going to be.

For instance, one Saturday in mid-November I ran into a store to buy cold medicine. Santa Claus greeted me at the door! What?!? It’s not even Thanksgiving and Santa Claus is hanging out in stores? I was grateful my children were not with me but felt so bad for the moms and dads just trying to run errands and now explaining to their toddlers that no it’s not Christmas, in fact there are almost 40 sleeps until there will be presents under the tree!

I didn’t get off that easy though. The weekend after Thanksgiving my kids and I were buying Christmas lights at a different store. As I debated my options, a man in regular clothes with white hair and a long white beard stopped to talk to my kids. He told them that he was Santa Claus! 

“You mean you’re one of Santa’s helpers?” I said to the man.

“Nope, I’m the real Santa!” he told my children as he pulled on his beard and walked away.

“Why would the real Santa be shopping here? my son asked. I know the man meant well, but ugh that was a tough one to explain.

Am I the only one who remembers how big of a deal it was to sit on Santa’s lap after waiting in the line at the mall? From what I recall, that was the only time we saw Santa, and it was special. We didn’t run into him while doing our day-to-day activities. Instead we talked about and dreamed up ideas of what he would bring to our house, always wondering if we’d find coal in our stocking! 

As the holiday displays pop up earlier every year and with no clear line between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m just going to say it’s too much. I want Christmas to be magical for my kids, a moment in time that’s marked with celebration, imagination and wonder. But that moment is turning into more than a month and it’s getting harder and harder to keep the magic alive.

So for love of Christmas, can we stop with so many random Santa sightings?!?!


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Kim Trinchet
Kim is a Wichita transplant who never planned to stay, but 15 years later she’s convinced Wichita is the perfect place to raise a family. She’s a wife to Jorge and a mama to Nico and Lucia. She moved here from the Chicago suburbs and works in the communications world. The rest of her time is focused on seeking out adventures with her little family. She also loves browsing grocery store aisles, reading cookbooks, iced coffee and wine. Kim’s trying to learn Spanish as well, her kiddos are bilingual and already speak better than she does!