Santa Claus Disillusion

It was a cold, wintry December afternoon when a little 7-year-old girl went to visit Santa. Every year the city park would be home to Santa and his Workshop. And, every year the little girl would look forward to seeing the elves making toys. This one year in particular, she was excited about telling Santa what she wanted for Christmas. She was not the only one anxious to see Santa, though. There were a lot of other kids there, too. Seeing that there was a long line of young 'ums waiting to see Santa, Santa's helper passed out suckers to keep all the kids happy. It was working pretty well. None of the kids or parents were getting impatient or unruly. It was a happy atmosphere.

The little girl stood in line for about 15 minutes, enjoying both her sucker and talking with other kids. There was a little bit of her sucker left when she noticed that she was next in line to see Santa. Then, it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap. Her excitement was growing while Santa's Helper assisted the little girl onto Santa's lap.

"What do you want for Christmas, little girl?" asked Santa. The little girl was nervous and did not know what to say. So, she removed her sucker for a bit, and turned to look at her mom. While turning to look at her mom, the sucker went from her mouth to another object. It was stuck in something. The little girl tugged a bit to get her sucker back. Then, she turned back toward Santa and tried to get her sucker back. It was stuck in Santa's beard. The little girl pulled to get her sucker back. Suddenly, Santa's beard moved away from his face. "What?!?!" the little girl thought. Santa put his hand on his beard to keep the beard from falling off. Just as quickly, the little girl said, "You're not Santa!" The little girl was both mad and sad. She unknowingly said this statement loud enough so Santa's Helper and the other kids could hear. Santa was struggling with his beard and was not quite sure what to say. Santa's Helper was trying to calm the other children down. The little girl hopped off Santa's lap, held her moms hand, and was never the same. She had never been disillusioned before. The little girl remembers nothing else from this emotionally traumatic and disillusioning experience.

The little girl does remember that ever since that episode, she was convinced that Santa Claus was a farce. Every time she would see a Santa, she'd give him the evil eye. She still received gifts marked 'From Santa', though. How could that be?

Yes, this is a true story. I know the little girl in the story personally.