You’re never too old to believe in Santa Claus. That is a truth that many people, especially children, need to get their head around.

You see, now that the silliness of Halloween is over the world of children especially begins to focus on Santa.

I sometimes call this the “bullying season”, especially for kids between the ages of about 8 and 11. That is the time of life when non-believers of Santa Claus ridicule other children for believing in Santa and it peaks every year between Halloween and Christmas.

Why must people think it is ever okay to be critical of what someone else believes?

I’ll never understand it. But what I do understand is that you’re never too old to believe in Santa.

That is important to understand because in my experience people go through kind of a process when it comes to believing in Santa.

They believe in him, then they don’t believe in him. Then the believe in him again. (Then they look like him.)

That is the pattern — and it is completely unnecessary.

I have learned to never challenge someone who says they do not believe in Santa Claus any more. That is a simple and normal thing.

But that is not the same thing as someone walking around like a bully saying things like “Santa isn’t real” or “Santa is a fake” or, the worst: “Santa is just your parents pretending to be Santa!”

What do you say to this nonsense?

I’ll tell you what you say: you say absolutely nothing.

It is okay for believing what you believe. Never base what you believe on what someone else says. Always follow your heart instead. If Santa exists in your heart, he exists.

Now, that is pretty easy for an old elf like me to say.

And yes, I agree with you: it has been many, many years since I was 8 or 9 or 10 years old. That is a hard time. I realize what it means to be those ages these days.

But what was true when I was those ages is true now: Santa was real then. He’s real now.

Don’t worry about people who fight what you believe.

The truth is, that battle doesn’t end when your 9 years old and believe in Santa Claus.

It never ends.

People will be challenging you about what you believe in lots of things. They will challenge your belief in the best tasting chocolate or who the best basketball player is or even what your favorite color is. They may challenge everything you believe.

Who is anyone to tell you what your favorite color is? That’s silly. So who is anyone to tell you Santa is not real?

You see, you don’t have to change your beliefs for anyone.

Over time, your beliefs about a lot of things are going to change. And that’s okay. You’re a person — an actual thinking, breathing, living and important soul.

You learn, you grow, you change. You will find that some things change over time for you. And you will find that some things never change.

Only you can decide all of that.

Now, if you come here and ask me, or anyone else, we’re going to tell you Santa Claus is real. We’re elves. That’s what we do.

But like you we had to decide that.

We respect your right to believe and choose as you wish. That is true for every single one of us.

To be honest, we get a lot of people who come to SantaUpdate.com and they don’t believe in Santa. Or, at least they say they do. But they come because they really aren’t sure. Maybe someone has said unkind things to them. Maybe the stopped believing because other things distracted them from Santa and Christmas. Who cares why they come here? All I know is that we have many non-believers here.

I say “welcome, friends”. We’re not going to criticize you because you don’t believe in Santa. We know you’re here to get answers to your questions in your time and in your way. We also know that some of you want to believe in Santa but are afraid to say so. The Internet makes it so easy to find information about things you question.

All that is okay. You are our friends.

It is fine that you don’t believe in Santa and that we do. We can get along. We can share. We can answer questions for each other. We don’t think bad about you just because your experience has taught you not to believe in Santa.

We also know, from our own experience, that if you watch Santa long enough you will develop a belief again. It happens to many, many people.

I do not know where this thing about being a certain age and believing in Santa comes from. What does age really have to do with anything.

But it is true. You might reach an age where people will say “you’re too old to believe in Santa”.

You go ahead and let them think that.

Someone who says that is really just admitting they have a narrow mind — a mind that quite frankly isn’t too bright. There is no such thing as “too old” for anything.

For years I didn’t believe in asparagus. In fact, I hated it. But now, I rather like it. My belief changed.

Of course, there is no comparing Santa Claus to asparagus. I get that.

I received a sweet letter from an 86-year-old woman once who asked me if it was okay for her to believe in Santa again.

She stopped believing in Santa when she was 9 and then after reading something I wrote she changed her mind, and she wanted to believe in Santa again. She wanted to know if that was okay. She wanted to know if Santa was mad at her for not believing in him for so long.

Of course not. Santa is not that way. He understands when people stop believing. He also understands when people start believing again.

My answer then, as now, is the same: you’re never too old to believe in Santa.

What is the best thing to do when you feel your belief in Santa is waning or has gone away entirely?

Maybe you could start acting like Santa instead of just believing in him outright.

Consider that.

What does Santa do? Think about that and then do what Santa does.

Know what will happen? You will start to believe in Santa again.

And why?

Because is not exactly about belief. It is about doing. It is about giving. It is about kindness. It is about thinking of others.

Who can’t believe in that?