I am still angry at my parents for lying to me. My parents were quite the authoritarians so aside from other things, it was instilled in me that lying was bad and yet they committed the ultimate lie against kids by perpetrating the Santa myth. Years later when I asked them why they gave the usual excuses are let kids be kids and have magic in their life but then that is encouraging delusion. Oh and of course there is the 'but its tradition' excuse. Well just because its tradition doesn't mean its right. A long time ago the god king would have sex with the priestess and then be sacrificed for the benefit of the crops. This was a tradition, should we bring this back? I know that some of you will read this and think oh she is just a bitter old bag but for me it was extremely sad to not realise that there was no magic in the world. At an early age I had already been subjected to harsh parenting and this magic was my escape and also my hope that there was perhaps a better life out there. I feel that if you want to help create a better world for your kids to live in then don't feed them delusion and don't lie to them.
I had to laugh about people eating the roast dinner. I live in NSW, Australia and we emigrated from England in the mid 80's. Oh the cultural cringe! Yep there would be Mum sweating in the kitchen with the turkey and all it trimmings and usually complaining.