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Kade and Tanner learned about Santa from their friends. She said they aren't spoiling the fun for their younger brother, Seth.

"Since they found out so early, they kind of live vicariously through him," Kaaz said.

"He loves it," Tanner added. "We're waiting until he gets older old enough to understand."

Other kids seem to require more protection from themselves, than from other kids. For analytical kids, it often is the curious logistics of a night-time trip around the world that tips them off. How do parents answer probing questions from suspicious kiddies? They fib, of course.

"He doesn't understand how (Santa) can go to every kids' house in one night," Kelsey McCarver said about his 5-year-old son, Preston. "He asks about the reindeer and about where Santa lives."

McCarver's said he's learned that the safest answer simply is to nod, and let Preston draw his own conclusions.

"He has it figured out," McCarver said. "He thinks Santa has helpers all over the world. That's how he explains the Santa at the (River Hills) mall."

Karen Simpson, a mother of two, said she more or less plays by the same rules.

She said Thursday that her 8-year-old daughter, Rachel, has been asking for years whether Santa is real, never getting a straight answer from her mother.

"I tell her that some people believe in him, and some don't," Simpson said.

Most of the parents who encourage belief said they hope to be the ones to eventually break the news, even though most admit it will be a difficult conversation.

"Someday," was the only answer Simpson had to when she finally would break the news.

"But it won't be this Christmas," she said smiling.

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