Saying Goodbye to Santa

Back when my oldest kid was 2.5 and planning her Halloween costume (a guaranteed-to-terrify "pink monster princess"), she pointed out that "last year, I was the one who was scared, but this year, I'm going to scare both those guys!". I knew that one of the guys had to be our neighbors' friend Pete, who'd unknowingly traumatized her with a rather horrific mask the previous year, but I was stumped about the other. I asked who the "two guys" were, and she replied, "Pete...and SANTA". Her relationship with Santa has thus always been, well, complicated. She's fascinated, and troubled, and yet remains devoted to the idea of Santa. As she nears 7, she oscillates between a deep suspicion that her parents are somehow complicit and a joyful hope that Santa is as real and bountiful as he's always been (with the latter state taking the lead as Christmas morning approaches). ...