On Santa and Gift Giving

One of the more interesting things I’ve noticed today is that most people who wrote to me or left a comment about my Santa and deterrence post from this morning were less interested in the deterrence problem I highlighted and more interested in arguing against the whole concept of presents coming from Santa.

There is something to be said for anonymous gift-giving, to be sure, and something enjoyable in simply watching children open presents. But the commenters focused a great deal on the fact that children who think presents magically come down the chimney aren’t as thankful for those presents as children who know that their parents and grandparents worked hard and made sacrifices in order to give those gifts.

We spend a whole year teaching childrent to say “Thank you” whenever someone does something nice for them. And then, in one magical morning, a whole lot of that work is undone. No one really says “Thank you” to Santa when the bounty under the tree is revealed, right? And besides, even if children did thank Santa for the gifts, we all know that their thankfulness is misplaced; Santa didn’t actually bring them those presents.

One more strike against Santa, it seems. But, again, easy for me to say; I never really knew the guy.