In the 10 minutes it took to drive from our house to church for Easter Mass, three childhood heroes were toppled. I always knew that I would not lie when confronted head on with the quest for truth, but I thought it would come from Edward and I thought he might get a few months or a year of being "in on the secret" before Daniel was brought up to speed. At the very least, I thought Edward would be the one to reveal the truth to Daniel, in a conspiratorial big brotherly way.
No.
A friend of Daniel's, whose family does not participate in the myth-making, told him, "It's your parents" and that's all it took. I think she probably told him back around Christmas, because Daniel has tested the theory a bit in the last few months, casually mentioning, "I think maybe you and Dad are Santa Claus." My response, "Oh, really, that's interesting. What makes you think that?" has never drawn him into further conversation.
But this morning there was no dancing around it. Voice from the backseat: "Are you guys the Easter Bunny?" Sideways glance between John and me. "Are you sure you want to know?" YES!
"OK then, here it is. Yes, we got the treats and made the Easter baskets."
What about Santa? Again, "are you sure you want to know?" YES
Another one bites the dust. Here, Edward was skeptical, "But, wait, how do you know what we want from Santa. We only tell him!" Oh, really, you mean you don't spend weeks and weeks of anticipation listing your hearts' desires? "Oh, yeah, I guess so." There's still the magic of the snowglobe, which Edward knows he only told Santa and Mrs. Smith. Maybe there's still a kernel of mystery there.
That 10-minute drive seemed endless, and then, getting out of the car Daniel said, "What about the tooth fairy?" Are you sure you want to know? NO...wait, yes?
I'm sad for him that the myth is busted even before he loses his first tooth (which just started wiggling this week.) I guess he won't care too much as long as he gets his dollar when it falls out.
We made a point to let them know they should NOT spoil the secret for other kids. I've revisited that point separately with each boy today. We talked about how even though there isn't a real guy in a red suit who travels all over the world in a single night, there is a special feeling of excitement and a spirit of giving that helps us celebrate Christmas. And we agreed that holidays are special family time with or without the colorful characters. And we proved it by spending a lovely day together riding bikes (with new baskets from the "bunny") to the park, playing backyard wiffle-ball, grilling out and eating our first porch dinner of the season, and then another bike ride--for ice cream dessert.
