Other than the 1st year, it has been so traumatic on both of us that I just needed a break. He's 9 (a very YOUNG 9) and soon the window of actually liking Santa will be gone. Once they started setting up the Santa display at the mall, he said he didn't want to see him and just send a letter. I told him that I wouldn't take him to Santa unless he wanted to. We had taken him to a Sensitive Santa at a small mall as well as at his therapy provider, but this year I explained that unless he wanted to see Santa, we weren't going.
He was happy with that, but a little on edge that I'd still try to make him go...but I didn't. He quickly decided what he wanted in early November and we sent out his letter to seal the deal. He doesn't understand why the kids all line up to see him when they could just send a letter...not only do they wait in a boring line, but they also have to sit with Santa.
I did get him to watch his arrival for a few of his photo shifts at any mall we were at. He even requested to watch him arrive a couple of times. He is excited to see him come but is so scared that Santa will catch his eye and/or wave/talk to him.
What I noticed is that he IS excited, he DOES have the thrill seeing Santa, he does believe, he does have positive memories of Christmas and Santa...just in his own way and its taken a lot of years, but I'm OK with that.
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