Taking It On Faith

I'm sure the day will come in the life of my nephews Billy and Sammy when some mean neighbor kid, mouthy older sibling or thoughtless adult tells him that there is no Santa Claus. I want to be there for that day. I want to be the one to sit down and tell them the real truth, I want to be the one that says, "Of course there's a Santa Claus, dude! Don't be ridiculous! What kind of pinheaded schmuck told you that there wasn't?"

Where's the benefit in children not believing in Santa Claus? What would be the upside to taking a major figurehead representing a lot of good away from our culture. Let's face it, in this day and age, our culture can't suffer any more major losses, especially one as big as losing such a source of goodness like Santa Claus. I've read articles saying that believing in Santa should be discouraged from an early age, for the most mean and specious reasons imaginable. For some, Santa represents a threat to their religion. I'm not really sure I buy this one. One of the main origins of the present day Santa Claus comes from believing in Saint Nickolas, patron saint of children.

Christmas is all about the birth of Christ, thus the name, from Old English Cristes mæsse, meaning literally, Christ's mass. Our tradition of decorating evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Do these same people that rail against Santa Claus feel that the celebration of Christ's birthday is threatened by a decorated tree, an appointed wreath or a string of garland? Probably not. Kids can be taught that Jesus' birth and Santa can co-exist with one another, rather than believing that the one takes away the importance of the other. In a world where the son of a carpenter becomes the king of the Jews, anything is possible.

There are others that think that kids will be ridiculed by other kids if they believe in Santa Claus. Growing up as a chubby kid who wore glasses and braces, I can personally attest that the kids that want to ridicule and bully other kids will find reasons to do so, whether the kids believe in Santa or not. That reason just doesn't hold any water either.

Still others say that Santa, and his Christmas Eve ride is a logistic impossibility. That there's no way one man could deliver toys to all the good little boys and girls of the world. Also, how does he know who has been good and who has been bad. And that reindeer flying and pulling a sleigh is just not possible! These people just make me want to shake my head in despair. I want to look at them and say, "Tell me, I'm sure you've noticed our national deficit it's somewhere around a trillion dollars or so. Have you ever seen a trillion dollars?"

99.999% of these people would look and me and say, "Of course not." Well, then, how do you know that much money even exists if you've never seen it? Some things in life, like Santa Claus, the SAT tests, the national debt and the intellectual acumen of our current Commander-in-Chief just have to be taken on faith. Just because you've never seen something doesn't mean it can't be real.

Those same people that argue that there's no Santa Claus are the very same people who get angry and red in the face when their logic is turned around on them to say that perhaps Jesus or other ancient historical figures weren't real either. No real accurate history books have been kept, aside from bible text, which could be made-up, mistakenly translated or judiciously altered to meet the writers ends at that time(ie. King James.) History is written by the winners in most cases. For all we know, the guy that died on the cross for our sins might have been named Biff or Jaime, and some jewish cleric or prophet or disciple hated the name and decided that Jesus sounded better.

We take a lot of what we believe to be true and right in our world on faith. Why raise a stink and make a big push to shut down one of the most benevolent figures of our culture? Where's the benefit in that?

Lastly, it can be argued that belief in Santa Claus represents, in part, a belief in the finer qualities of Christmastime itself. The selfless act giving presents to loved ones or alms to the poor, the gathering together with family and friends to celebrate the season, the love and joy and humanity that the holiday season brings out in each of us every year. Santa Claus then, may be less a physical person, and more an embodiment of that festive spirit that enters into the hearts of each and every one of us at Christmastime, making us all, at least for that short while, into Santa Claus ourselves.

So yeah. I want to be there when that kid, adult, parent, or sibling tells my nephews that there's no Santa Claus. I want to lean down and tell them the truth. I want to be there to see my nephew go back to that pinheaded person and tell them, "Santa Claus does too exist! He's alive inside my heart and inside the hearts of everyone else that believes in him! Oh yeah, by the way, my uncle wanted me to tell you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year... you schmuck!"

End

Since my nephews won't be up for the Christmas Eve Slovak visiting tradition for a few years and I won't be making it out to visit til after the holidays, I say to you the traditional Christmas Eve greeting given by visiting males (yeah, sexist, but it's tradition!) on Christmas Eve morning for good luck and long life:

"Vesele Vianoce a Stastlivy Novy Rok" -(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year)

"On this glorious feast of the birthday of Christ our Lord,
I wish you from God, good health, happiness and abundant blessings.
May it be yours to enjoy comfort from your children,
salvation for your soul, the kingdom of heaven after death,
and for the family's welfare, may you have whatever you ask of God."

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