Your Best Life Today
Click Here To Follow Me
  • Home
  • The Mind Body Connection
  • Just a Thought
  • Books for Sale
  • Contact Me

Yes Children, There is a Santa Claus

12/23/2014

0 Comments

 
I remember the year I discovered that my parents were indeed Santa Claus. I was about eight, and awoke in the middle of the night to noise in the living room. I crept down the hallway of our trailer to see my bleary-eyed father assembling a dollhouse.

Quietly I snuck back to bed, excitedly anticipating the morning when I could play with my new toy.

Imagine my surprise on Christmas morning, running to the Christmas tree only to see the tag on the dollhouse: “To Mary (my little sister), Love Santa.”

For a moment I was utterly confused. The tag was supposed to say: “To Debbie, Love Dad.”

At first I thought maybe Santa brought my sister a similar dollhouse, so she wouldn’t feel sad. Imagine my dismay as I realized there was no dollhouse for me from my dad. My confusion gave way to understanding as I slowly realized that my dad might actually be Santa. Although the evidence was right before my eyes, I could hardly believe that to be the truth.

Years later, after my dad moved on, I recognized my mom’s handwriting on the tags from Santa and in my teen-aged rebellion I began calling her Sandra-Claus (since her name is Sandra.) She admonished me to keep the secret safe for my little brother, who was still young enough to believe in such things as Christmas magic. But in my jealousy, I told him that our mom was Santa. With the steadfast belief of the young and naïve, he argued until I made him cry.

Years later, as a parent of eight children, I have had similar conversations with my own kids.

One year, when we were dirt poor and had no presents for Christmas, the kids were quite disappointed. I worked as a waitress then, so during the course of the week following Christmas, I saved all my tip money and hit the post-Christmas sales. With only a couple hundred dollars, I was able to fill a box with presents for my kids. On New Years Eve I placed the giant box, loaded with toys, clothes and presents under the tree with a note.

It read: “Dear kids, this box of presents fell off of Santa’s sleigh. It took us a week to find it. Sorry to ruin your Christmas, Love Santa’s Elves.”

When my son discovered the box the next morning he came running into my bedroom yelling, “Mom, Santa Claus is real.”

Their delight and amazement helped me feel better about being a week late with the presents.

Years later, when I was a single mom with six children still in the house, the women in my book club decided to give my kids a Christmas like none they had ever experienced. Little did they know that they would also give me a Christmas like none I had ever experienced.

The ten of them gathered presents for my family throughout the month of December. On Christmas Eve, after my kids had gone to bed, my book club friends and their husbands delivered three car loads of gifts to our home. It filled the tiny living room knee-deep in presents.

When my kids had gone to bed, our tree had a pitiful pile of presents under it. I bought them gifts, just in case the book club thing didn’t work out, and two of the teenagers had jobs, so they had purchased gifts for their younger siblings.

When the children awoke on Christmas morning, the living room was filled with presents.

The little kids were convinced that Santa is real, and as my daughter handed gifts to everyone, I too, believed in the magic of Christmas.

Christmas magic isn’t about large piles of presents. It is the kindness and generosity of people around us,that is truly magical.

We can each keep the magic of Christmas alive in our own lives by sharing love, kindness and forgiveness with those around us. We can offer someone an unexpected gift. We can go back and make things right.

Yes, children, there is a Santa Claus and he lives on in each one of us as we share our lives and love with those around us.

Namaste, friends

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Deborah Demander: Writer,
     Speaker, Motivator,
    Healer,
    Lover of Life 

    Archives

    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    4-h
    911
    Acceptance
    Acres Of Diamonds
    Aesop
    Aging Gracefully
    Alzheimers
    Band
    Being Happy
    Beth Rosen
    Breathing Exercises
    Cancer
    Carrots
    Change
    Changing The World
    Charles Darwin
    Choices
    Christmas
    Common Sense
    Compassion
    Compromise
    Contentment
    County Fair
    Create Life
    Dali Lama
    Death
    Destiny
    Elections
    Endure To The End
    Extremism
    Facebook
    Friendship
    Fun
    Giving Thanks
    God
    Go With The Flow
    Go With The Flow
    Gratitude
    Greatest Commandment
    Greatness
    Happiness
    Health
    Hoarding
    Holiday's
    Home School
    Hope
    Humor
    Improving Your Life
    Intentions
    Jo Dee Messina
    Joy
    Kids
    Kindness
    Last Day Of School
    Life Changes
    Life Choices
    Life Purpose
    Love
    Love God
    Love God
    Making A Difference
    Meaning Of Christmas
    Meaning Of Life
    Meister Eckhart
    Mother Teresa
    Negotiation
    New Life
    New Year
    Nicknames
    Overcoming Fear
    Overcoming Obstacles
    Passion
    Patience
    Peace
    Persevere
    Perspective
    Pigs
    Politicians
    Politics
    Purging
    Purpose
    Quiet Desperation
    Raison D'etre
    Resistance
    Resolutions
    Santa Claus
    Siri
    Song
    Speaking
    Speaking Kindly
    Speaking Well
    Spider Pig
    Spring
    Talking
    Tao
    Thanksgiving
    The Meaning Of Christmas
    Unkind Words
    Voting
    Wisdom
    Worry
    Written Word

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.