He was a Jolly Old Soul

When BN and I had Pete, we talked at great length about Santa Claus. We debated whether to even bother with the ruse, because we didn't want to lie and we worried about Pete, being very intense from day one, having a meltdown when he found out the truth. We went back and forth, and forth and back until Pete's first Christmas. He was 10 months and the Commercialized Christmas Spirit that we both knew and loved overcame us.
We took him to sit on Santa's lap. He was not happy.

Per BN's wishes, all the presents were from "Santa" and not us. Everything had to be wrapped in special Santa paper, etc. etc. From that day forward, Pete has been asking all the right questions. How does he get down the chimney? How does he carry toys for everyone in his sack? Are the elves paid for their work? Are the reindeer girls or boys? Can I go to the North Pole for a visit? And each year we've dodged and hemmed and hawed and the fibs kept mounting.
This year, Pete made his list (the boys sit down with scissors, glue, one sheet of paper and the store ads and cut and paste the pictures on the paper for their list) and I swear if you added everything up, it would have been close to $4000.00. He loves Legos and wants them all. So I said he needed to pick a few he really, really wanted and circle them. He did this but then added that he wasn't worried about the rest because Santa would be sure and get them all since it doesn't cost him anything.
That was when it hit me that we made the wrong decision or at least we went about it the wrong way somehow. We should have put limits on what Santa could bring, or maybe only given 3 presents from Santa and the rest from us (I was overruled on this in the beginning). So I told BN this story and asked him to let Pete down gently. I am very matter of fact about things, but BN has a softness about him when it comes to his boys and he just always says things the right way. I knew Pete would feel less hurt by the lies if BN handled it. And he was.
I think he already had an inkling about the truth anyway, but like the Tooth Fairy, wanted the magic to stay with him a bit longer. It's funny now because he doesn't seem to mind at all and it's even better for us because he knows WE will hold the old "You Better Watch Out" bit over him even if Santa let it slide. We'll be doing things differently with RePete now that he's curious about Santa. He still doesn't have a clue who Santa really is in this charade we call Christmas Spirit, but he's catching on.
~R