As a young lad, the spirit of Christmas coursing through my veins, nothing could make me sad during this time of year. I remember watching the Polar Express and eating Christmas cookies throughout the school day. 

Then came art class a blizzard had just come through and it looked like a winter wonderland outside.My friends and I were drawing and talking about how excited we were for the break. We were especially excited for Santa to come. Everyone was saying how they were going to leave out cookies and milk and some carrots for the reindeer. Then from another table over we hear “ you know he isn’t real Right?”, “It's just your parents.”

My heart sank for a moment, but then everyone completely denied it and although it seemed like it might have been him just trying to mess with us. I still felt a little skeptical, like a shadow slowly creeping over christmas.

Next Christmas the kid says the same thing again and I think maybe he's not just messing with us. 

The only thing different this time was that my friends were agreeing with him. I was sort of shocked. It's kind of like I had known it all along but now that everyone was saying it, it just kind of hit me. It sort of took the magic out of Christmas. The holidays haven’t been the same since.