How to make visits with Santa Claus feel special again |
Skiers dressed as Santa Claus at Sunday River ski resort in Newry, Me., earlier this month. The rarity that once made an outing to see Santa meaningful has quietly faded.LAUREN OWENS LAMBERT/AFP/Getty Images
Rana Pishva is an Ottawa-based clinical psychologist, consultant and author.
Visiting Santa Claus wasn’t part of my own childhood Christmas traditions, but I know how meaningful the experience is for many families. Planning a Santa visit used to be a major event that involved parents aligning schedules with a limited run of appearances, mapping out mall routes, and mentally preparing for the long, restless lines of families waiting for their turn with the man in red. A child’s tentative or eager approach, an earnest ask for a specific gift, a photo keepsake for the holiday-card mailout – these were the precious moments that memories are made of.
Today, Santa is everywhere. He shows up at the mall, tree-lighting ceremonies, breakfasts, pop-up studios, and even virtual events. Santa is optimized for the digital age, too, with visits now bookable ahead of time for maximum efficiency.
The surge in Santa is part of the frenzy of the modern holiday season, where we rush around for as many engagements with family, friends and colleagues as we can. But in doing so, we may have unintentionally diluted the very holiday........