Santa can be found in all gift givers (12/19/05)

I saw Santa at the company Christmas party last week. He was dressed in ordinary clothes but I recognized him by his white beard. He obligingly gave me a hearty “Ho, ho, ho,” and his belly really did shake like a bowl full of jelly. His eyes sparkled when he talked about all the children who still believed in him.

What? You don’t believe in Santa Claus? You think he is a myth? You think he obscures the real reason for the season? Which, by the way, is the birth of a baby, not just some generic shopping orgy. To all those who are required to say, “Happy holidays, “ instead of “Merry Christmas,” I say “Bah, humbug.” To those who refuse to believe in the fat man I hope you know what to do with that lump of coal you find in your stocking.

Santa often wears many different disguises. This year alone Santa was disguised as a flight attendant who kept me laughing from Dayton all the way to Houston at Thanksgiving. Santa was a friend who sent a letter that arrived on a very bad day. Santa is the husband who fixed the leaky faucet and the cat who helped him. Santa is the lady at the grocery store who sings softly along with the carols playing in the background. Santa is all the frenzied people looking for just the right present for that one special someone. And Santa was the doctor who told another friend that her daughter’s baby was going to be fine.

We choose what we believe in. If we choose not to believe in Santa or anything else then that is OK, too. We respect others’ beliefs by accepting them as being as valid as our own, not by pretending that ours or theirs don’t exist.

Santa may not be a man in a red suit who lives at the north pole but he is as real as we need him to be. He exists in the shapes and forms of all of us who give gifts to others. Sometimes we give gifts because it is expected or because we want something in return. I suspect that most of the time we give because it makes us feel good to make others happy.

We derive great pleasure from the shrieks of little children as they discover that the oversized box is more fun than the present that used to be inside. We get a warm feeling when our spouse plays with the grown-up toy that he or she would never splurge on for themselves. We smile inside when our families like the things we have chosen for them. Who but Santa can give us an excuse to indulge those we love whether we can afford it or not?

The presents we choose and wrap so carefully are symbols of the affection we feel for our family and friends. It has been said that you can’t buy love. What can be bought are the things that make people smile with the knowledge that someone understands them. Having someone understand us and like us anyway is one definition of love.

Christmas is the season of love. It is also the season of fruitcake but that is best avoided except by those souls who actually like the weird-looking stuff. Christmas is the time we give tokens of the affection and gratitude we feel the rest of the year.

Sometime those tokens cause us to wonder if the other person secretly hates us and sometimes they make us cry because we realize that they have given us a part of themselves. Even if you can’t figure out why they thought you would like a (insert hideous present here) you should appreciate that they at least thought of you. Sometimes you get the strange and unidentifiable gift because they didn’t want you to feel left out. That in itself should be worth something. You can always take it back or recycle it next year.

Santa Claus exists. He is many men, women and children. He is what is good, and pure, and unselfish in us. He doesn’t always choose the perfect present but he always cares.

We choose what to believe. I choose to believe in Santa Claus. I also choose to say, “Merry Christmas,” in a time when that phrase has become a symbol of defiance.

Merry Christmas to all of you and may all your presents be good ones and all of your families be safe.[[In-content Ad]]