Back in October, my 9 yr old DS announced out of the blue that he knew there was no Santa and that I got stuff for him. I neither confirmed nor denied the statement, just told him not to tell other kids at school.

A little background info too - I am not Christian and do not celebrate Christmas. 2 years ago right before Christmas, my DH moved out and we have since divorced. Since it was right before Christmas that we split, we already had stockings up and stuff bought for them. (DH did celebrate Christmas) DS and I did a 'pretend' Christmas on Dec. 24th and then DH picked him up and kept him for the holiday. Since we did it the one year, we then had to continue doing it every year.

Every year we also email Santa and tell him when to come to our house and where DS will be on the real Christmas Eve. We also track Santa on the NoradSanta website. As we got closer to Christmas this year, I could see my DS was really starting to believe again. We saw Polar Express Friday at the Imax which I think reinforced it. I've tried to not make too big of a deal about Santa ever but had to email him yesterday. You should have seen my DS face when we got an email reply BACK from Santa! I did my duty last night and filled both our stockings and laid out a couple of presents. (I spent less than $25 total and got stuff I wanted him to have like a cursive writing practice book, flashlight, underwear, etc.)

I'm feeling very deceptive like I had my opportunity to tell the truth and instead I am just perpetuating a lie that I'm not very comfortable with. My DS has been gushing about how well Santa knows us since he got stuff we really wanted and needed. Now I really want to just go tell him the truth instead of continuing the lie. The main reason my marriage broke up was because of continued lies so I guess the truth is really important to me and I don't want him to find out I was lying to him. I guess I'm really conflicted right now. Anyone have any thoughts???

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.

I don't think you should look at it as lies, which are a pet peeve of mine as well. You are perpetuating magic and creating lasting memories. I still remember getting up and thinking "Wow! Santa really does know what I want!" and that's a special feeling. You're laying the building blocks for what his children will experience too. So I say keep it going as long has he believes.

Life is full of disappointment, why let it start now?

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Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you. ~Oscar Wilde