I woke up promptly at 6 a.m. At 4 years old, I couldn’t wait to get out of bed on most days, least of all on this day – Christmas morning. I quickly scampered into my brother’s room so we could run downstairs. With a pitter-patter down to the bottom of the stairs and a sharp right turn toward the living room, our eyes fell on the most glorious Christmas present ever: Rainbow City. The plastic, multi-colored play set had been built in our living room overnight by the one, the only Santa Claus.
Looking back, it was just a plastic play set with four walls in different colors and a slide, but there was something so incredible about it being in our living room. My dad still refers to that Christmas as “the magical Christmas” because of our unyielding belief in Santa. In talking to my dad about this particular Christmas, he reminded me how stunned I was that Santa maneuvered the entire Rainbow City into our little home.
In our house, there was an entire process that went into preparing for Santa’s arrival. My mom would have us all make Christmas cookies for Santa’s platter, including chocolate chip cookies, truffle balls, ginger bread cookies, sweet nothings, peanut butter brittle, rum balls and sugar cookies. The four of us kids each picked two and added it to Santa’s plate. After his plate was made and the glass of milk was poured, we sat by the tree and read “The Night Before Christmas.” These are some of my fondest childhood memories.
As I grew older and was told Santa wasn’t real, I was, of course, upset. I discovered the man I had grown up believing brought me presents and listened to my wish list atop his knee no longer existed. Despite my disappointment, my parents always instilled this in me: Just because there isn’t a jolly man who dresses in a red suit and delivers presents to good boys and girls doesn’t mean the spirit of Santa doesn’t exist.
Hopefully, some day I will be able to share with my own family the wonders and joys Santa brings into a home. Santa Claus represents love, giving, generosity, kindness and care for others, which are all qualities parents should readily show their children. Believing in Santa also provides children with a magical essence in life, something they will never be able to experience again.
I hold with me the spirit of Santa Claus during the holiday season because it is one of life’s few treasures. To believe in someone so good and so righteous fills my heart with love for those close to me, and it directs my thoughts and prayers toward others in need.
A young girl named Virginia wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Sun in 1897 asking if there was a Santa Claus. Francis Pharcellus Church responded to this letter in an editorial that summed it up better than I ever could. “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy — He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”