As 2024 wanes and we anticipate 2025, we wanted to look back to last week’s festivities and ask, “Do you believe in Santa Claus?"

If, like me, you grew up in one of the many cultures where Santa (or Father Christmas or Père Noël) is an important part of the holiday season, there’s a good chance your answer to this question depends on who’s asking. If anyone under ten is in earshot, it’s likely a straight yes. But even among other adults, many of us will bend over backwards to avoid saying no.

“Of course,” we say with a grin.

Or “I believe in the spirit of Santa.”

If you didn’t grow up in one of these cultures, this behaviour probably seems weird as hell. But I’m sure you can understand what’s going on here.

When we are young and have been reassured time and again of Santa’s existence by those we trust, there’s very little reason to doubt the story. As we grow a little older, we begin to notice cracks in the Santa myth—(Wait, how many houses is he visiting in one night? How does he fit down the chimney? Do we even have a chimney?)—and that moment of dawning realization is, for many, one of the earliest and strongest memories of critical thinking. But, especially for those of us with younger siblings and cousins, the sense of betrayal that might be expected is quickly tempered by the joy of being let into an important conspiracy. Now that we know, it’s our solemn responsibility to keep the magic alive for those who don’t.

What’s most interesting of all is how far we’ve collectively agreed to take it. If you send Santa a letter in the post, he will write you back. If you Google “Is Santa Real?” the search engine will reassure you that he is. On Christmas Eve, an authority no less than the North American Aerospace Defense Command shows radar telemetry of Santa’s progress across the sky. No one has any difficulty navigating this ubiquitous wink-and-grin custom. We were recruited into it young, and we’re all on the inside.

So, here’s the puzzle I want to present. Let’s posit for a minute that Santa Claus is literally real (yes, yes, I know, he is). There is literally an immortal fat man, resplendent in red coat with fur trim living in a workshop at the North Pole with his wife, staff of elves, and flying reindeer. He literally circles the globe in one night every year, descending chimneys and leaving gifts.

What would you be willing to accept as evidence of Santa’s literal existence, given that we’ve made the falsification of evidence for his existence into a game? How would you go about navigating the difference between genuine information and collective make-believe?

And how much harder would it be to go back to a once-held belief you’ve long since moved on from? Can you even conceive of a body of evidence that would convince you? If not, is this a problem from a critical thinking perspective?

It may seem a silly question at first. But if you give it time to brew, you may find that it connects all the way down to the foundations of critical thought. Take a minute to sit with it in the waning hours of 2024 or the first hours of 2025. Let us know where your considerations lead you; then, raise your glass to more critical thinking in 2025!