I believe…

I believe in Father Christmas.

A few years ago, I realized that if a man is lucky he will go through the three stages of Santa Claus.  I have been fortunate in my life, I have hit each stage and am a better man for it.

For those of you that don’t know what those three stages are, I will explain.

Stage 1.  I believe in Santa. As a child, the belief in Santa is absolute, we know that there is a Santa, and we thrive in the wonder and spirit of Christmas.

Stage 2. I don’t believe in Santa. I remember when I found out there was no Santa, it changed my life, innocence lost.  For a while I still wanted to believe. Then I pretended it did not matter. Later, I became jaded and scoffed at the whole idea, how could I have been so foolish? Later was the acceptance, Christmas had lost its magic, it was all about the gifts I could get.

Stage 3. I am Santa Claus, I have been Santa for almost 30 years, and with the birth of my first son I inherited the title. Christmas had its magic again, I saw the wonder of it all again, through the eyes of my children. I have loved every second of it.

I can remember one or two Christmases as a child, I remember every one as an adult. Those are the most special. Any parent who has ever watched A Christmas Story and remembers the dad saying “What’s that over there?” will understand that it’s about bringing joy to the kids. I have held many titles in my life, but the one I liked the most was Santa. One Christmas as an adult stands out in my mind, we had five kids under the age of twelve, the oldest two knew the deal with Santa but they were under orders not to ruin it for the younger ones. Over a period of days we had manages to smuggle five bikes and other things into the house and hid them in every possible location.  Christmas Eve: getting everything out was a logistical work of art.  

I admit I am at a bit of a loss this year, my kids are all grown and getting on with their own lives.  I have a beautiful granddaughter, but she lives on the other side of the country, facetime and skype are nice but its not the same as being there. So I guess I need to add another Stage.  I used to be Santa.

For those of you with young kids, please remember to buy batteries for all the toys, and I promise in the years to come you will look back on putting toys together, and then not getting any sleep fondly. I can honestly say that in my days as Santa I enjoyed getting up on Christmas morning to see the kids open their gift more than any gift I ever received.  I admit I pretend to be a bit of a Grinch at Christmas, but it’s just a front I use to hide my real identity as one of the millions of retired Santas in the world.

Merry Christmas to you, my TAH friends and “God bless you every one.” 

Category: Holidays, Who knows