[ WP ] You are Santa Clause going over your list . Names are not moving from nice to naughty or vice versa , they are disappearing .

The most depressing part about the end of the Christmas season is not after all the presents are opened and all the smiling and laughing over new toys stops. It's not the now silent workshops temporarily empty and idle as the elves take a well-earned break. It's not when I see everyone box up the decorations. It's January. Alone in the North I spent January in reverent silence. I watch as names disappear from the lists. 
 
 You see the lists are not static. Names move between Naughty and Nice all year long. New names are added here and there as children are born throughout the year. And names do disappear when children die. And really, eventually every name leaves the lists. Well almost every name. Because you can only be on the lists if you believe. 
 
 In January the children go back to school and talk about how it was their parents who got them all the gifts. How Mom and Dad are actually Santa. They found their gifts before Christmas. They always seem to overlook the gifts I bring. The older non-believers convert the younger children. I guess it ’ s one of the many steps toward adulthood and the loss of magic. 
 
 Each January thousands, even hundreds of thousands of names disappear. They never return. It happens so fast I think the lists actually get lighter for a while. 
 
 I ca n't wait for Summer. Birth rates always go up and new names appear on the lists 

