Oh my word, Hil. That's the best story!

msbelle, if it isn't something that is important to Mac in any way, I wouldn't, either.

I agree, except it might interest you to know that, despite my parents not doing the whole Santa thing, when very young I still sort of believed in him--even though my presents were always from Mom, Dad, or other family members. The cultural force of it is that strong.

Interesting.

I do recall arguements on the playground between kids who believed and those who didn't, and whichever side happened to outnumber the other at the time teasing them.

I got $10.

Wow. Guess there's something to be said for making a good arguement, even with mythical creatures.

I don't seem to recall my parents ever doing the Tooth Fairy thing. Probably because they didn't want to go through the hassle of sneaking into our room in the middle of the night, finding a tooth under the pillow without waking us and then replacing it with money. They always just gave us a nickle or dime directly when we handed them a tooth.

ETA: My parents, particularly my mother, were big on Santa Clause, though, I remembering me asking and her answering and unending stream of questions about him over the years.

To this day my parents will still give each of us kids a gift from "Santa" even though we're all grown and moved out of the house and long since disillusioned.

I don't think I ever believed in the tooth fairy either. I did believe that I should get something of value for my tooth--but I never got money. The first time I did it I got a puzzle book. A really cool puzzle book. Then my parents explained you couldn't get stuff twice for the same bed. When I changed beds, they said they'd meant the same house. We changed houses and they told me to just leave them alone.

I don't really recall believing in Santa or the Toothfairy. I mean, I may have at some point, but the transition was such that it wasn't a big deal. I do recall family lore as Santa coming through the garbage disposal, since we had no chimney, but that may have been more idle musing (my family can be warped) than a response to an earnest question.

I don't get earworms much, but when I do....why must they be so strange?!

 
All I wanna do is to thank you
Even though I don't know who you are
You let me change lanes
While I was driving in my car. . .
 

I don't think I ever believed in the tooth fairy either. I did believe that I should get something of value for my tooth--but I never got money. The first time I did it I got a puzzle book. A really cool puzzle book. Then my parents explained you couldn't get stuff twice for the same bed. When I changed beds, they said they'd meant the same house. We changed houses and they told me to just leave them alone.

That's just mean. Hilarious, but mean.

I believed in the tooth fairy forever. And when I asked for a raise, I got 35 cents instead of a quarter. Seriously??

I definitely did believe, but was a cynical enough child not to be particularly upset when disabused of the notion. (My mom slipped up and a gift for my (much older, no longer believes in santa) sister's stocking was a bookmark she'd bought when I was with her.) I remember mostly feeling like, "Well, why didn't you tell me he didn't exist? I could have handled it." So I think that's probably the way I'd handle it with my own (putative) children. Tell about Santa, tell that people believe, but not ever insist on belief.

I think I believed pretty strongly in the tooth fairy at one time. I lost my first tooth via getting smacked in the mouth with an iron rebar, and my big worry was that since I swallowed it the tooth fairy wouldn't come that night.

my big worry was that since I swallowed it the tooth fairy wouldn't come that night

My big worry would have been that the tooth fairy would show up to get that tooth, not that she wouldn't.

I don't think of Santa Clause as lying so much as mythmaking. I always liked stories and so I believed in Santa and the Tooth Fairy and also elves and fairies and Borrowers and other magic partly because I liked the stories that went with them.