Kerre Woodham: Airwaves run hot with Santa tales

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It's the time of year when talkback callers stop ringing about the Gummint and the parlous state of the economy and turn to Christmas conversations - the traditions within their families; memories of Christmases past, that sort of thing.

What struck me this year was how strongly people felt, and still feel, about finding out the truth about Santa.

Women and men well into their 80s could remember exactly where they were, how they found out and the intense sense of betrayal at realising they'd been conned for years.

For one woman, though, it was a relief. Every year she and her siblings were good little children - helping out with household chores, diligently doing their homework, never answering back to their parents - yet every year, Father Christmas gave them fewer and far less-fabulous presents than their badly behaved and rambunctious, albeit much wealthier, cousins.

They couldn't work out where they were going wrong until the truth was revealed and it all became clear.

Others with younger brothers and sisters saw an ideal blackmail opportunity - Santa must continue to visit them for their silence on the matter to be maintained.

One woman had a lovely way of explaining the truth about where the presents came from - once you knew the truth about Father Christmas it was up to you to take over the role, being kind and thoughtful and generous.

And another mum had a genius idea for drawing out the present-opening aspect of Christmas Day - instead of there being a 20-minute frenzy of tearing at paper and immediate casting aside of a gift in favour of opening another, she makes a Santa trail.

There's a present for each child under the tree but on the hour the children are able to open a card from Santa that gives them clues about where they'll find the next present.

That means the children enjoy the first gift for an hour before heading off on a treasure hunt to find the next present - she can spin it out for six hours, she said. Brilliant.

Establishing family traditions is a big part of what makes this festival so special and memorable for generations to come.