For a man who is supposed to be as elusive as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Santa seems to be making an awful lot of public appearances this year. He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere – well, at least he is according to the latest edition of Primary Times which came home in my son’s school bag recently.

For a man who is supposed to be holed up in a grotto in the North Pole (or is it Lapland – I’m never quite sure), he seems to be spending an awful lot of time hanging around in shopping centres in Ireland. It’s a whistle-stop tour which makes Jedward’s PR campaign look quite calm.

And with Santa popping up around almost every corner, I’m never quite sure how to play the whole ‘is that really Santa’ thing. My children are, thankfully, still young enough to have not even considered that Santa might not be real, but one, at least, is getting to the point where he can tell the difference between one Santa and another. ‘Of course it’s the real Santa,’ is the only reasonable response to the question at the moment, or possibly, ‘It’s one of Santa’s special helpers darling.’ I’m not sure he’s convinced – and neither am I.

There’s definitely a part of me which would prefer to keep Santa as mysterious as I’m sure he’d prefer to be, and tell my children that only the very luckiest girls and boys might get a peep at Santa on Christmas Eve, or hear the sleigh bells if they listen really carefully. Is that better than having a chat with the ‘real’ deal, assuming you have the patience to queue up for an hour or so, or assuming your parents had the foresight to book a place for you last August to see Santa this month?

In any event, as with everything in life, it comes down to personal preference and choice. Don’t forget to check out the Christmas section for listings of Christmas events where Santa might be present along with the NORAD Santa Tracker which allows you to follow the big man’s progress on Christmas Eve.
Ho! Ho! Ho!

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