I think it says something about me that I never believed in Santa as a child. My parents relate to me a story of when I was about four and some adult was asking me if I was excited about Santa coming and afterward I whispered to them incredulously, "I think they really believe." I've always been both skeptical and credulous... that is, it basically never occurs to me that someone might be lying to me, but at the same time I'm quick to believe that they might be lying to themselves (or just wrong).

As a child Santa was just another imagination game. I played a lot of imagination games but I didn't have any trouble telling them apart from reality. (I had a very vivid imagination as a child and could place almost anything I wanted directly into my experience... something that's a lot harder for me to do as an adult. I think it takes practice, really, and it isn't something we practice when we stop playing in the way children play. To the parents out there: When you play with your kids, is this something you relearn, or is what you do but a poor imitation of what your children do?)