12/17/2025
Leaving out milk and cookies for Santa is literally just making an offering to a deity and we all collectively agreed not to talk about it and just let the Christians claim it.
We decorate the house.
We light things.
We sing ritual songs.
We leave food out overnight for a powerful being who judges us and may reward us accordingly.
That’s literally folk magic.
And before anyone clutches their pearls, let’s remember:
Christmas didn’t start as a Hallmark movie or in a church.
It’s a mashup of pagan winter festivals like Yule (celebrating the return of the sun), Saturnalia (feasting, gifts, chaos), and old European traditions where people left offerings for spirits, gods, or visitors passing through the dark of winter.
So yeah.
Milk and cookies for Santa?
Offerings.
The tree? Sacred symbolism.
The lights? Literally “please come back, sun.”
Congrats to all of us for accidentally teaching our kids ritual work, seasonal magic, and how to appease higher powers before bedtime.