During class on Wednesday, I had the opportunity to interview Cylia about her experiences with Santa Claus. I began with a simple question: Did you ever believe in Santa Claus? Cylia's response was: "Yes, and part of me wants to still believe in Santa Claus." We began to talk about childhood experiences of Santa and the importance or potential problem with this belief. Cylia was never able to visit a mall Santa, but did have the unique experience of seeing Santa every Christmas Eve at her grandmother's house. Here someone in her family would portray Santa, pass out toys, and allow the children to sit on his lap. Cylia treasures these experiences- "I love Santa, I love everything about Christmas."
The most surprising element of my interview was Cylia's response to my last question: Do you think this portrayal of a fictional character has a strong impact on a child's life? Though some may take her answer to be borderline sacrilegious, her tone did not indicate this. She equated belief in Santa to belief in God. "[A child's belief in Santa] is like the adult version of atheists and believers. You will always have the kids who believe and don't believe.....belief in Santa allows kids to believe in things or else they won't believe in anything."
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