My daughter Beth walked grandson Leo over to a small neighborhood
park this holiday season just before Christmas.
He was excited about the adventure.
The North Carolina weather was accommodating with warm breezes and
sunshine. He immediately broke into
gales of laughter as he conquered every activity of climbing, sliding and
swinging on all the activity features.
Of course, he was most excited about the advent of Santa’s annual arrival on
Christmas morning, as he had selected a couple of toys from a Holiday catalogue
and he knew Santa wouldn’t disappoint.
When they arrived back at the house, Leo was visibly upset
which was out of character, especially compared to when he had left home. When I inquired, she mentioned that a young
teenager had driven past the playground and shouted “Santa isn’t real!” within
earshot of Leo. He already has times of developing maturity, but that can obscure the fact that he is still a very young child.
I remembered having the same dilemma years ago when school
children were spreading the same rumor. Fortunately, we had prepared for the moment
and explained that Santa is all about the spirit of giving. And he has many helpers that are on his team,
like the Santa in parades or the one at the department store where we get our
picture taken. We give presents to one
another including strangers because we too like the good feeling of Christmas when
we give to others.
Leo understood that reasoning and immediately wandered off
to play with a couple of toys that were still present from Christmas’
past. All was forgotten on Christmas
morning when Leo excitedly opened that one present from Santa which he had
requested from the catalogue.
And we too were uplifted by revisiting the spirit of
giving and celebrating the greatest Christmas gift of all.
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