You have to decide where you stand with Santa Claus!
What follows is an article I wrote last year, just as I began blogging on the internet. It is a little bit of a flight of fancy, but it is also about being able to choose whatever state you want to live in. Our imaginations are such an underused power because often we don’t know how to use this great gift to make our lives happier and more fulfilling. Times are changing however, and with the advances in quantum science, which has already proven that how we look at matter can actually change the composition of it, new possibilities are available to us all.
What I have come to know is happiness is a choice, and I am in the process of consciously choosing happiness whenever I can. (I don’t always achieve it, ingrained habits are hard to shift). Some people may think it’s unrealistic, but when you genuinely see things from a new paradigm, and a changed perspective, it can seem unrealistic to unnecessarily be in pain and sad at times too.
So as we enter into the holiday season, I hope this week’s blog will bring you a little seasonal cheer on the lead up to Christmas, I hope it makes you smile.
Santa Claus is real
With Christmas fast approaching, small children across the world will be waiting with excitement and anticipation for the visit from the white bearded legend. The man in the big red suit fills his sack: Swings it brimming with presents up onto the sleigh: Revs up the reindeer and travels all around the world delivering presents in the late hours of Christmas Eve/early hours of Christmas Day.
I remember being a small child looking out of my bedroom window on Christmas Eve. Watching the stars twinkling, wondering which one was the star of Bethlehem. I waited with anticipation, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa. I watched intently to see the silhouette of the reindeer and the sleigh whizzing through the sky. I never did see them, although I distinctly remember hearing the bells jingling. Such is the power of imagination.
Fast forward about two or three years; my school mates would declare, “There is no Santa”, backing up their claims, with the information that their parents had told them so. I didn’t believe them. I loved Santa. I loved Christmas.
I remained committed to my belief until one Christmas Eve when the terrible truth dawned. I heard my parents rustling paper, wrapping presents and talking in hushed tones about where the presents should be placed under the tree. In a flash, my Christmas world was never to be the same. I realised the truth. Santa did not fly through the sky delivering presents.
Young as I was, I didn’t feel mad at my parents. I just felt disillusioned. I forgot all about the magic of Santa and saw the man in the big red suit as a symbol. I dismissed Santa as a fairy tale for little children who didn’t know any better. As I got older, I increasingly saw Santa as a symbol of the commercialism of Christmas
That was of course until my children were born. I didn’t want to lie to them. Equally, I didn’t want to deprive them that magic of “I believe”. I pondered upon how I should play the whole Santa business. Then I realised the real truth. Santa Claus is real..
I told them Santa would deliver the presents. I even signed some of the presents from Santa Claus. I went the whole hog and told them about the Naughty and Nice list! They bought it all. They had magical Christmases where they got so excited and happy, I could have cried at the sheer joy and pleasure it gave them.
When they were old enough to understand, I explained to them that although Santa was not a physical man in a big red suit, squeezing himself down chimneys or somehow breaking in (our house didn’t even have a chimney), he was alive and well, in spirit.
I told them about St Nicholas, and how Santa got his name. I told them about the kindheartedness of St Nicholas about how he wanted, secretly, to give gifts to children and that to this day, it is this spirit that is still alive. Parents around the world adopt the spirit of Santa Claus and love giving to their children.
The spirit of Santa Claus is loved around the world.
That is because it is a time when:
If we are lucky we
- Connect with people we love and focus on them
- Think about what pleasure we can bring to people by giving
- Wish goodwill to all men
- Party!
A few years ago, I read a biography about Nigella Lawson. “The Domestic Goddess”. The author knew Nigella well and often visited her house. I can’t remember much detail about her life story, but one thing that resonated vividly was when the author observed “in Nigella’s house, it was like Christmas every day”.
I remember thinking that I would love that to be my epitaph. Yet it isn’t impossible, difficult yes, although to remain in such a state can be learned. When it gets down to it, whether you believe in Santa or not, it’s all a state of mind. I choose to believe. What about you?
I wish more people would write blogs like this that are really fun to read. With all the fluff floating around on the net, it is rare to read a blog like this instead.