It has only been a couple years ago that I decided to not celebrate Christmas in any traditional way. Ba-humbugged I had become. Despite all my nice Christmas ornaments, my beautiful pre-lit 7 ft. Christmas tree and all my decorations, I knew that this year I was going to do away with all that and stick to the true meaning of Christmas and that was it. I even informed the school that my kids were not to partake in any tree decorating, Santa lap sitting or any “foolishness” of that nature. Boy, was this a dumb move.
Christmas morning I felt aweful… no tree, no nothing but a couple little gifts and of course a nativity scene. I never felt so horrible in my life. That year as I was doing away with Christmas, special people were trying to keep that spirit alive in me, including my kids. The next year would be different, I thought to myself, and it was. Last year, I finally allowed my kids to decorate the tree how they wanted, whether I thought it was color coordinated or not. However, Santa was still a myth and my kids knew he wasn’t real.
Wanting to purge a little (not in a bad way, just to rid some “unecessary things”) I decided to get rid of all three huge boxes of Christmas stuff I had. Oh and of course the tree. This was after Christmas last year. I wanted to start over with Christmas things and it kinda felt good in a way. I kept the kid’s first stockings and some ornaments with their names on them and that was it. Leaving my family with virtually no Christmas decorations at all.
This year with a little-less-then-Charlie Brown-Christmas-tree, a Nativity scene from the Dollar Store and Christmas cards hanging on the wall from family and friends, I can truly say not only is this the best Christmas ever, but Santa is alive in the hearts of my kids. This Christmas has been the most humbling ever and has taught me so much about my kids, really the true meaning of giving and receiving, then of course love which is the greatest gift of all.
Although, I couldn’t spend it with all the people I wanted to, sitting home eating an untraditional Christmas dinner with just my kids and I was one of the best Christmas experiences ever. This was after some Santas came to visit. I want to start from the beginning, so hold that thought for a minute.
About a month ago my daughter and I were talking. I tend to be kind of open with her about certain things. She is very smart and she is open with me as well. I want to keep it that way so that she knows she can come to me with anything, now and when she is older. Well, I explained to her that I wouldn’t be able to buy them any Christmas this year. Money was very tight, but I would make it up to them when I could. She was okay with it, as always. We kept talking and the subject of Santa was brought up. I told her that it was a good thing you guys don’t believe in Santa, you would think that you were bad kids this year. She just laughed and agreed with me.
Boy was I wrong though, because Santa is real and here is how he is real again in the lives of my kids…
Everyone around us knew that they wouldn’t have a Christmas I guess because they know of my hardship. The kids got to write Santa letters of things that they wanted and one of my kids even visited two Santas this year. Well three, including the one after our Christmas program at the school. Anyway, I decided that it was time to fess up and tell my kids the truth…
“Santa is really real”.
I sat them all down and told them that Santa is real. The only thing is that there are many Santas. Santas are people that love kids and they are all over the world. Sometimes they like to dress up and sometimes they are anonymous. They all share the same quality though… they love to give and they love kids. I explained that I believe in Santa, because I beleive that just because our world is full of mean and hateful people, there are a few that love kids and those are the Santas. Watching their little faces light up with that explanation was priceless. I explained this to them after I found out that many “Santas” wanted to give them a Christmas.
After opening gifts from many Santas (one was from another state and she just knew of our situation and wanted to help), there was more to come. The kids knew nothing of it. They just knew that they would see some familiar faces on Christmas night. When this couple brought them each a brand new bike, helmets and knee and elbow pads, I knew right then that Santa is real. He touches the hearts of kids because of the love of Christ and the gift of giving.
I have to admit that this was indeed the best Christmas ever, because the spirit of giving keeps the Santas around the world alive in the hearts of children.
