Target Killed Santa

As the Christmas season approaches, I'm reminded of a conversation that happened around this time last year. Two years ago, when my son was 8 we knew that he must have figured out the truth about Santa. The truth being that my husband and I were really the ones eating the cookies that we set out every Christmas Eve. Even though we knew that he was onto us, we decided not to say anything until he confronted us.

His eighth Christmas went just as planned, but it would sadly be the last. One night last November, we were sitting down to dinner as a family, a rare occasion as my daughter was 6 weeks old and seemed to have a radar for whenever I was about to take a bite out of anything! Christian was quiet. Too quiet. I knew something was up. So, I did as any parent would do...I began to prod until he agreed to spill it.

Christian sat very still for a moment. With a great deal of composure, he leaned forward and said, "I've been thinking". My thought...uh-oh! "Go on Christian", I said. "I've been thinking about Santa", he continued. "I don't think that he's real...I think you're Santa." I sat for a moment to let it all sink in before I replied. "OK Christian, what makes you say that".

"Well, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I've come up with a few clues that gave me the idea. The first clue is that all my gifts have bar codes on them. Why would elves need to put bar codes on anything at the North Pole? The second clue was when I saw all those crazy parents filling their carts with toys at Target. So, I figured it out. Parents are pretending to be Santa and Target is code for the North Pole!"

Given the presentation, I couldn't deny it. I was so impressed with him for collecting such good case evidence. It was a proud and sad moment all at the same time. So, yes...Target killed Santa!