I ask because as a kid who remembers his mother's reaction when JFK was assassinated (I was two at the time), I figured out Santa could not, based on the laws of physics, deliver everything that fast.

I was in first grade when I presented the law of physics and speed to my mom. Imagine that conversation at the break room of skunk works. Lol. My mom explained that was the reason he had so many helpers, and to this day I accept that reason.

Does anyone else have to explain the Santa tracker to the kids?

Santa truthers are idiots.

My son is in second grade and has never believed in Santa but he gets into watching the Santa tracker and loves looking all over the map, exploring it and looking at the different places. We suspend disbelief for the evening and just enjoy the moment, it was a lot of fun.

What do you mean “believed”? Are there people who think he’s not real?

-Rob

My father used to go to Midnight Mass and I remember how excited I was one year, when he told us that on the way back, he had seen Santa and his reindeer passing overhead. In retrospect, I wonder how someone could go to Mass and communion, then come home and tell such a bold-faced lie to a child.

Precisely, because it wasn't

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Link to original video: https://youtu.be/dCoOcBv01aA [/FLASH_VIDEO]

I remember, years ago, I was working on a software development contract, about a two or three hour flight from home.

Christmas Eve, and the project was a bit behind schedule. The other members of the team were all Christians, and had families with kids, who were looking forward to Christmas. I was the sole Jew on the project, so Christmas really didn't mean much to me, so I told the other team members to get home to their families; I was perfectly capable of dealing with the final pieces of the project and getting the system on the air, so we could all take the last week of the year off.

Called my wife, told her I would be late getting back, and went to work. It was after midnight when I had everything done, I wrapped it up, headed for the airport, fired up the V-Tail and headed home.

I always liked flying at night, especially in good weather. The heat-induced daytime turbulence is gone, the ride is smooth, there's a lot less traffic, the radio chatter is much quieter, I always got a feeling of peace and quiet. Even more so, at 2:00 am on this Christmas morning.

Headed south approaching the Florida area, Air Traffic Control gave me a frequency change, handing me off to Jacksonville Center:

Me: "Good morning Jax Center. 8 8 2 4 Mike level at 9,000."

Center: "Good morning, 2 4 Mike. You have traffic at your eleven o'clock, altitude unknown, slow moving. Looks like a sleigh and eight reindeer."

For the last time... Physics don't apply to Santa. He has flying reindeer, a flying sleigh, and a fat ass that can fit down any chimney. He operates on PFM

we where tracking santa all day yesterday.

We'd leave a sandwich and beer out on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning the sandwich was gone, the beer empty and presents under the tree= A Miracle.

Yeah, haha, I think I was actually sorta old when I found out he was real...I was around 12 I think lol.

My 5yo and I tracked Santa last night, it gave me a chance to explain to him and his Soviet born mother what NORAD was......as to be expected after 30 seconds it was requested that papa get back to tracking Santa

As a child, my parents told me that Santa Claus was the embodiment of the spirit of giving, so he has always been "real" to me. It matters not what human vessel is used to convey that spirit.

flashguy

There are strong evolutionary pressures for children to believe what their elders tell them.

As recently as an eyeblink of human development time, if a kid was too smart, precocious, and willing to push back against what he was told about eating certain berries or mushrooms or avoiding certain insects or snakes or other animals, the consequences were often catastrophic and resulted in instant removal of certain genes from the pool.

When I was growing up in France, one of the things our parents told us was to not touch the unexploded ordnance we might find while playing outside. Ignoring that direction could result in significant corporal punishment—or could result in an empty seat in the classroom come Monday morning. Doubt and skepticism have never been highly valued in human societies throughout most of our history, and therefore most of us still firmly hold to certain fantastic beliefs mostly because our elders told us to believe them.

That is, however, changing. In extremely recent times in terms of human history, and in a few highly-privileged societies, children have been able to ignore many of their elders’ traditional strictures and claims without having to worry about the consequences. Not only have technology and common practice child-proofed our society to an unprecedented degree, children are permitted to challenge and defy their parents (not to mention other adults) in ways that were literally unknown just a few generations ago. I imagine that a lot of old beliefs will fade with time in Western societies.

Santa Deniers!

My 3 year old doesn't care about no dang physics! Santa made it by our house, that's what matters to her!

A childhood without imagination would be a terrible place.

"Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world."