Magic Maker

http://polaroid41.com/magic-maker/

Monday April 12th, 2021 - 12:02pm.

There is a Christmas themed episode of the radio show ‘This American Life’ in which Adam Mutchler recalls the great lengths his parents went to to make the ‘Christmas magic’ happen. The Mutchler family had their own mythology with its own logic. There wasn't just one Santa, but a network of Santas all working together as Christmas helpers. Each Christmas different incarnations of Santa would appear. He tells the tale of a rough looking Kris Kringle-- a working-man Santa--who offered the kids ancient reindeer bones from his sack when they discovered him hiding near the woods behind their house. These visits were so elaborate, so well-staged, that Adam fiercely believed in Santa well into middle school. He was so convinced that he had fights about it with other kids and a 5th grade teacher had to contact his parents to request that he stop talking about Santa in class. When at age 13 an offhanded comment from an aunt led him to realize his parents had been orchestrating everything, he felt totally betrayed. Years later, on a weekend home from college, he blew up at his parents saying it was their fault that he couldn’t trust anyone enough to have a serious girlfriend.

I first heard this episode years ago, and I remember thinking both: ‘wow, those Christmases sound so magical’ and ‘yikes, remember not to over do it.’

I am aware that there is a fine line between making the magic happen and feeling like you’re lying to your child. A few months back, Elliot kept insisting on knowing if the tooth fairy existed or not. I figured the tooth fairy was a lot less high stakes than Santa Claus, so I tested the waters. He kept asking, “Is it you guys? Is it? Tell me the truth.” I replied, “Well, what do you think?” “I think it’s you guys.” When I confirmed that yes, it was us, his face fell. We stared at each other a moment and he said quietly, “I wish I didn’t know.”

In France the chocolate Easter eggs are delivered by bells, not by the Easter bunny, and normally they arrive on Easter Monday rather than on Sunday. It’s something of a mishmash at our house: bells, bunnies, Sunday, Monday, all of the above… In the last few weeks he was asking me again, “Is it you guys?” But taking my lesson from the tooth fairy experience, I decided to just stay vague. I think by next year he will know the truth, but as he wasn’t sure, I decided to let the magic linger another year (and hoped I wasn’t creating future trust issues). My sister Angie’s girls who are similar in age to Elliot were also asking questions this year, but, to my delight, they wanted to know, “Is it a real bunny or a person in a bunny suit?”

On Saturday night after Elliot was asleep I hid chocolate eggs all around our apartment and terrace, including a small pile of eggs on his nightstand and by his nightlight. Elliot doesn’t usually wake up very early but at 7:30am Sunday when he rolled over to see what time it was, he spotted the eggs. I heard, “MOM! MOM! COME QUICK! THE BELLS CAME! THE BELLS CAME! THERE ARE CHOCOLATE EGGS IN MY ROOM!”

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The complete 'polaroid' (text, minicast and photo) available at: http://polaroid41.com/magic-maker/