How long are you supposed to lie to your children that there really is a big fat and old man, dressed in a red coat, whom you call Santa Claus and who comes every December 25th loaded with gifts and descends down the horn? Many parents and psychologists nowadays think that it’s better to preserve this tradition until the child reaches puberty.

The story of Santa Claus is part of the childhood fairy tales and part of the imagination on which the children depend on until they reach the age of 12 to 14 years old. In addition, Santa Claus is the spirit of the Christmas holidays and no matter whether he exists or not, he will always be present in everyone’s house at Christmas time.

Children and also adults feel the need to believe in something and just like Lissa Phoenix of San Jose, 45, mother of four children, said, "childhood doesn't have to be logical — it's heartfelt. For God's sake, what's wrong with a little fantasy?"

Yet, Santa Claus has been the subject of many marketing projects which take place around Christmas. But that isn’t the real Santa, because his real story lives inside every each of us. The figure of Santa Claus became popular in the United States in the 19th century when political cartoonist Thomas Nast had a great influence on Santa’s image.

Many traditions connected to Santa Claus began to spread through the whole world. In England, for example, he is commonly called Father Christmas, and he lives in Lapland. In the United States, it is believed that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. Many other tales connected to him and his possible family have spread all around the world and made the subject of every Christmas Day’s discussion.