We tell our children about how they need to be good or Santa won’t bring them gifts, but the whole thing is a sham. The reality is bad children get gifts just as good children do. If the bad child’s family is wealthier they actually get better gifts. So we have neatly tied something to behavior that is in fact tied to personal wealth. How many children are going around as I did, thinking they are bad children just because their parents could not afford as many gifts? Suddenly being poor is bad and poor children are bad children through no fault of their own. I remember now thinking back to around that time of Santa Kansas City Chiefs Logo Lights Christmas shirt how my mom would always be desperate for money. Even her addictions took second stage to me and my brother. She would cut back on her cigarettes so much that her addiction would drive her to smoking what was left of other people’s cigarette butts just so she could afford something, anything to give to us. My mother loved me and my brother as much as any mother and saved for months to try and get us the best Christmas she could afford. It is likely she actually endured far more sacrifices saving up for Christmas than the other parents. If anything could do it, that showed how good of a child she thought I was and how much she loved me and my brother. Maybe I didn’t understand all of this as well at that age, but I did know Santa Claus was unfair and was a lie. It was evil to tell children they were getting gifts for being good or bad when in reality it didn’t matter, all that mattered was their parents checkbooks. There was only one solution in my young childhood mind…
