How can we make adults believe in Santa?

[watchamadoodle]

There will even be a place for historians and textual criticism in Santaism. We can argue about who wrote the books of the Santa Bible, the apparent mythical and pagan origins of Santa, was the Night Before Christmas loosely based on historical events, is it all a moot point, etc.

"A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas" and " '​Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously in 1823, and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore, who acknowledged authorship in 1837.
...
Moore's connection with the poem has been questioned by Professor Donald Foster, who used textual content analysis and external evidence to argue that Moore could not have been the author. Foster believes that Major Henry Livingston, Jr., a New Yorker with Dutch and Scottish roots, should be considered the chief candidate for authorship, a view long espoused by the Livingston family. Livingston was distantly related to Moore's wife.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Visit_from_St._Nicholas

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If you believe in Santa, you get presents. if you don't, you get coal.

Although the coal thing always confused me. Assuming you have a wood stove, or something else that burns things other than gas, getting coal when winter is setting in would be great. I can imagine some people being really bad just so they get a lot of coal. Children like being warm too, you know. As soon as they find out you can burn coal, the threat is gone.

Maybe it made more sense when Jesus' birthday was in the warmer months.

The coal is meant to be understood allegorically. Those whose hearts are warmed by the Spirit of Christmas have no need for coal.