Santa

When you get screwed over by someone in your life, mainly talking about when a man decides he wants to be a lying cheater, it tends to taint your view on men, or really love in general.
I was thinking about this tonight and trying to find a way to explain that I am not bitter towards men, nor do I think love is a lie.... So the best way for me to explain it is the following analogy:

Finding out you have been cheated on by someone you love dearly is heartbreaking, it takes the breath out of you, makes you second guess every step you ever made.... It doesn't make the love you have in your heart un-true, it simply makes the giver of that love you believe in to be true not so authentic.

Now, Santa is one of those awesome traditions that has been in the heart of
Children since the beginning of Western civilization... The excitement you have as a kid knowing Santa comes and brings amazing things every year, opening toys and random gifts you wanted since December 26 of the previous year with such overflowing joy...
All of it, so beautifully rehearsed by adults, so well played when asked cute questions of Santa's where abouts on Christmas eve, stories of where he lives and how he knows the things he does----
Then one day, the breath gets knocked out of your 7 year old body and someone let's it slip that your parents are Santa and Santa doesn't exist.
The moment of utter confusion...
The concern of how delusional you must have been to think there were actually reindeer on my roof every year, much more importantly how could You not have caught that reindeer cannot fly?!
The questioning---
The confusion--
The anger at the person who revealed it all making you feel such a fool---

.... But yet, the gifts Santa brought every year are still there for you to touch and feel.
And even better still, Christmas and the holiday tradition of giving gifts doesn't end when you find out Santa doesn't exist, it keeps going on.
Maybe Christmas morning isn't so exciting as it was back when you were innocent to the ways of the world, much like life is more exciting when you believe all people to be good, but maybe now it gives you a deeper appreciation for the gifts you receive because they aren't from a made up fat man, but they are from true living people.
And maybe your heart will never be the same after you've been cheated on, but it doesn't mean that love doesn't exist anymore.

I know that probably sounds like a crazy analogy, but it is what it is. Enjoy.