Of Course There’s a Santa.

Around this time of year, parents everywhere deal with the same thing. Can they make it last one more year? Or will some kid from school finally take it away? And if it does happen, how will they deal with the child whose sense of wonder, of magic, is now dimmed.

I’m talking about belief, of course. Not just in Santa, though of course that’s on my mind today. I’m also talking about belief in the impossible. A belief that it is quite possible, and highly likely, to deliver presents to every kid in the world in one night. That there are fairies flying all around us even though we can’t see them, and if we take the time to decorate their houses (a tree), then they may just leave us presents. And that there is a kingdom, somewhere, where unicorns fly around in the sky.

Some people feel that it’s wrong to foster a belief in the man in the red suit or any other thing like that and believe in teaching “the truth” early. And maybe they’re right. Maybe it is a bad thing. Or maybe we should take a moment to consider how much of our life we spend searching for that belief we once had. That there is more to life than what we see with our eyes. We try to find this meaning, or magic, in our everyday life, taking the most innocuous moment and hoping, wishing, that it meant something more. How we wish for that belief we had when we were young.  When the impossible didn’t exist because magic did. And I personally think that allowing a child to keep that belief, to hold on to it for as long possible, if not forever (in one form or another), is vital to a successful and happy life on a planet that is full of too many people have lost that sense of wonder that they used to hold so dear.

The real world will strike soon, and once it does, its hold will forever remain. Reminding us of things that we would rather not believe to be true. Things that as kids weren’t true. Because we believed then. In the impossible. The magic. Sometimes I wonder if the truth is not that our eyes are opened as we get older. Maybe it’s that they become closed.

So to me, there will always be a Santa, in some form or another, as there will always be hope for something unseen. And every year I will do my best to make sure my girls keep believing the same thing. 

Merry Christmas everyone!