How to Play the Santa Game

Make-believing is always the beginning of a game. Rather than a game of scorekeeping, of winners and losers—make-believing is a game of activity and participation, a game of experience. Children love stories because they evolve so naturally into make-believing games.

When we played Santa for our children, we reserved all the magic-making for the adults. The Santa Story Revisited encourages adults to keep all their playful moves—with one big difference. Our children get to be magic-makers too.

No chimney in your house? . . .

Then in your story Santa can . . . (Let your child find their own solution).

No snow on the roof for landing the sleigh? . . .

Then in your story the reindeers can. . . (Remember that it’s fun for a child to personalize their own story by using their imagination.)

Anxious about someone coming into the house late at night? . . .

Then in your story Santa can . . . (A child can soothe his own anxieties when he learns to rewrite the story.)

Your Favorite Traditions are Part of the Game

We get to keep all of our favorite traditions about Santa; they simply become a part of the new Santa game. Both child and adult can personalize, fantasize, and elaborate on those traditions in any way they want. By simply stepping into the story, a child can become an elf and make presents, a reindeer who teams up with his pals to deliver surprises, or Santa himself with his jolly demeanor and signature “ho-ho-ho.” The tree, the cookies, the surprises, the songs, the letter writing, the scheming, the guessing, toys, snowmen, the secret giving—all roles and all ideas express easily within the Santa game.

Arita Provides Easy Ways to Segue

Arita Trahan’s book, The Santa Story Revisited, provides sample scripts that will help readers easily segue into this new, expanded Santa. Some are for very young children who are first being told the Santa story; others are for older children. These scripts are simply a jumping-off point; once you get the idea, you’ll be able to carry forth with your own variations on the theme that are uniquely yours.

It's Easy for Parents

Parents are so used to being responsible for the entire Santa experience that it might be awkward at first to let the child in and make him part of the story. But as you go along, you’ll find how easy it is for your child and how rewarding it is for both of you.

Children have never needed something to be “real” for it to be engaging. A child can make-believe any idea into an authentic experience. Santa is more fun—and less scary—as an imagined hero in a story.

When Santa begins as a story, the games are
endless and more magical!