New book, "The Santa Story Revisited," Inspires Parents to Tell an "Expanded" Santa Story
October 23, 2009

"The Santa Story Revisited: How to Give Your Children a Santa They Will Never Outgrow" offers an expanded Santa, with all of the magic and none of the pretense. In the book, which is both memoir and how-to, author Arita Trahan presents Santa as a game—a timeless game that everyone is already playing.

Arita’s expanded Santa is also the hero of anonymous giving. This is a Santa we can emulate as well as enjoy. Children are invited to play both roles—giving secretly as Santa as well receiving from Santa. This perspective segues the child into appreciating both sides of the Santa experience and eliminates any expiration date on their enjoyment.

This is a Santa experience that works for everyone. Parents continue being anonymous givers; children learn to play Santa by secretly giving gifts and acts of kindness to family and community—adding to the gifting concept of the season. Generosity becomes more of a game than an obligation as children experience the joy that’s inherent in giving without conditions.

Arita says, “I suspect that the reason parents get so invested in playing Santa is that giving anonymously (without getting any credit) is the closest demonstration we have to unconditional love. It is deeply satisfying and lots of fun. We want our children to keep ‘believing’ so we can keep playing. The good news is that by simply including our children in the game, it never has to end.”

A companion song, "I'm Being Santa" celebrates the pay-it-forward nature of anonymous giving that Trahan presents in her book. A music video of the song is on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbh45srDylc.

Here’s what "The Santa Story Revisited" does:

• It acknowledges Santa as the hero of anonymous giving and a mentor for acts of generosity.
• It presents a Santa that does not have a shelf-life, without the need for any awkward adjustments.
• It liberates all of us to celebrate Santa without the limitations that reality can impinge on our hero.
• It invites adults to participate in the expanded playfulness of the new Santa experience.
• It empowers parents as storytellers to inform and inspire their children.
• It assures parents that any other idea of Santa may co-exist alongside this expanded version.
• It helps parents guide their children through any challenging segue from the believing-in stage.
• It assists adults in valuing the Santa experience they had as children, no matter what it was.
• It presents the parent/child experience of Santa as an archetype and an important rite of passage.
• It creates a model for celebrating Santa that is less like a religion of believing and more like a game for playing.
• It encourages parents to freely create and recreate new family traditions for themselves.

WHO ARE THE AUTHORS?

Arita Trahan is mother/grandmother, actress, acting coach, and personal communication coach. She lives in Los Angeles.

Norma Eckroate has coauthored numerous books for humans and animals and has also worked extensively in television and theatre. She is a licensed practitioner at the Agape International Spiritual Center and has a Masters in Metaphysical Sciences.

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