Maybe, Flipper, there is a Santa Claus...

Straight from Gone With The Wind is this wonderful quote: "eavesdroppers often hear highly instructive things"-with the unwritten "about themselves" directly following this. And in my house, while the Christmas spirit that has surrounded us, Flipper isn't quite as eager to swallow the whole Santa Claus thing hook, line and sinker like she did last year. This morning, while I was racing about, getting ready to go to work, I heard her ask my mother if "Santa Claus was really real." Blessedly, Smokey deftly deflected this, asking her what she thought, and even though I was out of sight, I could still see the wheels furiously churning in her little brain. I could feel her desire for it to be true, very true, battling it out with the other part of her, the very, very literal-mindedness that will probably make a wonderful, (yet maddening), scientist one day. She will be, I am convinced, EXACTLY like my own father, a true scientist in every sense. This is the man that leaned over during Star Wars to whisper, "Remember girls, there's no sound in space." (OUCH!!)
Anyway, my mom answered her best, "It's a mystery." A non-answer, really, but one that has satisfied her (for now). As much as I want her to hold on to all forms of fantasy and magical beliefs, I have to admit that the whole Santa-thing makes me feel very conflicted. I used to believe, strongly, that parents that did not support a belief in Santa Claus (and fairies, and gnomes and so on) were cruelly, Scrooge-ily robbing their kids of something important.
But then I began to read a few personal essays online, opinions that contradicted my point of view, and I started to see it in a different light. Some people felt that as an adult you were lying directly to your children, and therefore it was not just wrong from an ethical perspective, but that it was potentially trust-destroying, and others felt that their children should, indeed, know that it was their love and hard work that makes piles of presents appear Christmas morning, not some old guy with a beard. So I totally get-and respect-these beliefs, much more than I would have BEFORE I had Flipper. Funny how a world that was once so very black-and-white is now many, many shades of gray. Not that this solves MY dilemma: whether or not to directly answer her questions about Santa, or continue to deflect, distract, deny. A technique that works quite well for almost any touchy parenting situation, as a matter of fact. So we'll see how all of this plays out: I don't think I can lie to her face, but I do know that I can easily (almost TOO easily) cloud and confuse her with half-truths, questions, and non-answers.
I do know this: Christmas in my family is, thankfully, fun. No family fights, no drama, no frantic racing from place to place, no "taking turns" with in-laws, no bad food, no nothing but fun. And THAT is what she will carry from one year to the next, not (I hope) questions about what is real and what is not. Flipper is planning to dictate a thank-you note for Santa this year, thanking him for last year's presents. So I guess he's real enough, after all. And that is enough for me.