Due to the many technological advances that have been made in the world since we were kids, I think today’s youth have somewhat of a different perspective on Santa.
First of all, on Christmas Eve, they can track Santa’s travels on the internet. When we were young, it was “get to bed, and if you’re not sleeping by the time Santa gets here, he’s going to skip our house!” And in 2008, you can forget about needing the zip code for the North Pole so that your kids can use the post office to snail-mail their lists to Santa. In today’s world, kids communicate with Santa via email. Also, the lines “He sees you when you’re sleeping; he knows when you’re awake… etc.” have a whole new meaning with the modern-day concept of Big Brother. I reminded my 4-year-old daughter the other day that Santa is always watching her and can see when she’s not behaving. Her reply is what led me to wonder about the perception kids in 2008 have of Santa: “Mom, do you have blue lights on the Christmas tree cuz they have cameras and Santa can see.” So somewhere my daughter had gotten the idea that Santa uses cameras to watch kids, and the cameras are inside the blue Christmas lights! I wonder, if I invest in some blue Christmas lights, will that make her behavior impove any?
I remember the radio’s annual tracking of Santa’s ride that ended at midnight on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve Mass was at 11… so never got to hear his arrival, but we would always crawl up to bed and quietly turn on the radio to listen. A few years, the big guy had already arrived before we got back from church. I’ve warned the young ones a few times this year… none of their responses were as creative as your four year old’s.
I have a Santa cam in my eyeglass frame!!!