Santa
Tonight, Emily was telling me about a story they read in school today about giving gifts vs receiving them, and Santa was involved in the story as well. Then out of the blue, she asks, “Is Santa someone dressed up, or a real person?” Stunned, I said, “What do you mean?” and she said, “I don’t know if Santa is really a real person, or if it is a person dressed up like Halloween.” I looked at Dan, giving me a priceless look right back, and said, “Well, sometimes the Santa we see is dressed up.” She said, “Yeah.” and ran off to her room. And that was the end of it. We are not really sure if she just stopped believing in Santa, or what exactly. I am guessing that she is going to be like I was, where you just realize over time that Santa is not real but the fun of believing it still outweighs logic. I have fond memories of my brother waking me early Christmas morning, us stumbling down to see what Santa brought us, and then going back to bed. When we finally got up again, we would go straight to the kitchen, where Mom & Dad would be cooking Christmas dinner, and we would thank “Mr and Mrs Santa”. In fact, my first year without a Santa present was in 2004 – the first year I celebrated Christmas away from my parents! For us, Santa is a fun little tradition, but we spend lots more time discussing the real meaning of Christmas. Emily has even gone on record this year of saying “We have too many presents. We really only need one or two. And even if we didn’t have any, it’s ok, because Jesus is the best present.” Amen to that!
