In December, the crescendo of crazy characters reaches its climax. There are tiny elves, talking toys, flying reindeer, sexless singing angels, and Santa Claus, who a well-known San Francisco Atheist calls God with training wheels. After a full years parade of foolishness, it's no wonder the tired old man is so eager to turn the whole mess over to an unsuspecting kid. Dishonest adults even encourage the foolishness in the name of fun. We owe our children honesty, but we give them characters, all year long, at a dizzying speed.
Young minds struggle to sort fakes from realities.
Many grow to adulthood without ever figuring it out. Most adults still believe in Calendar Characters to some degree. Believers even rank their beliefs in a kind of Hierarchy of Credibility that increases with the calendar. As evidence for this scale of beliefs, consider how we treat those who believe in the different Calendar Critters. Someone who occasionally talks to fairies will be confined to a hospital.