This year, quite a few people have told me that their kids, who are in 5th and 6th grades, still believe in Santa. I don't know if that is happening all over the US, but it seems to be rather common here. I'm not sure why. Maybe it is because Texans tend to get very festive. There are quite a few homes here that rival Clark W. Griswold's. Perhaps it has something to do with technology advances. With online orders and overnight shipping, it doesn't seem that far fetched. Kids can even track Santa's progress on a website. Movies have also gotten better, even though they all still raise questions and doubts when trying to convince the audience to believe.
I tend to fall in the middle of extremes on many things. When it comes to Santa, I just say we do not know all the details. I tell the kids that people try to figure out the mystery all the time, but we wake up on Christmas morning and there are presents waiting for us. It allows me a little room to be wishy washy. I think this approach gives them room to believe and have a healthy amount of doubt. Santa isn't all about the kids though. It turns out, that I get to enjoy the element of fantasy that Santa brings to Christmas.