I used to believe in Santa Claus.
I used to believe there really was a man who lived in the North Pole, who was married to Mrs. Claus, and who wore a red suit all the time. He ate cookies and milk, had a workshop full of elves, and kept reindeer as pets.
Every Christmas, Santa Claus would pile toys for everyone into his sleigh. He’d fly all over the world, giving kids everywhere the things they wanted, the things they dreamed of. He was sneaky, he was magical; no one ever saw him, but come Christmas morning, you knew he had been there.
I used to believe in Santa Claus.
Then one day, I started questioning it. How does Santa know just what everyone wants? How does Santa get to everyone’s house in one night? Why does Santa leave my presents unwrapped, but wrap my friends presents? And why, after I asked my mother about this, did he start wrapping my presents too?
I stopped believing in Santa Claus.
This lasted for years.
And then I realized. Just because he’s not a jolly good fellow in a red suit who lives in the North Pole with Mrs. Claus and eats your cookies and milk once a year, doesn’t mean he’s not real.
I started believing in Santa Claus again.
Santa Claus is real, I swear. Just think about it.
Santa is the stranger who does good deeds for others without expectation. He’s the one who paid $20 for you to gift wrap a small parcel- or maybe the one giving his time to wrap those parcels in the first place. She’s the one who helped you clean up the coffee you spilled all over the floor at Starbucks. They’re the one who let you have Tickle-Me-Elmo when there was only one left on the shelf. The one who volunteered to work on Christmas Eve so that you could spend more time with your family.
Santa is the person who is able to bring families back together (for better or for worse). He can bring a smile to a child’s face with ease. She’s the one who knows just what you want, and is able to deliver. They can make just a regular day feel special.
Are you going to tell me that isn’t real?
The magic isn’t in hard-working elves, flying reindeer, or a time-travelling sleigh. It’s in all of us. We just need to choose to see it, to use it.
Santa Claus is real, I swear.
Just not the way we tell the tiny children.
