Father Christmas is REAL!

Whether you sit on the splintered commercialism fence or throw yourself fully into the spirit of the Christmas season, if you have children one thing is for sure… there will come a time when they will approach you and want to know the truth.

“Is Father Christmas*   (*Santa Claus / Pere Noel / Babbo Natale / Daidí na Nollag / Moş Crăciun / Christmas Baba / Christmas Thaathaa / Weihnachtsmann / Dun Che Lao Ren / Papai Noel / Viejo Pascuero / Kanakaloka / Swiety Mikolaj / cha Giáng sinh)   real?”

(Hopefully) many years of your child’s life will have passed with them enjoying the wonders of Christmas before asking you that question, but how can it be answered in the most appropriate way?

I’ve been a dad for nearly a dozen years now, but it still doesn’t give me any right or interest in telling a fellow parent how to parent their child – but I recall how my own dad helped me to discover the mystery behind Father Christmas.

I was 13 years old (yes 13…I was a shy and sheltered young lad!), and decided to broach the subject in the kitchen one evening. So I listened intently, hoping for a decent explanation, following years of teasing from friends who insisted I was bonkers to still believe in a story about a man in a red cloak that carried a bag containing billions of presents.

He looked me in the eye – as he always did (and still does!) and started talking about the spirit of Christmas.

So did I buy his explanation? 

Well fast forward through several years full of experiences and life altering highs and lows, and I find myself now rapidly approaching 40 years old, around the same age my dad was when we spoke.

And I STILL believe in Father Christmas.

I found that the event of Christmas became less special as I moved from being a teenager into a man, though I strived to keep the spirit alive.

And then my own children were born, and their enjoyment of Christmas for me is like living through Christmas as a child all over again.

One cannot script this life. But if at all possible, including elements borrowed with pride from what my own dad told me on that winters day, in a deep and dark December in 1988, I tried to convey the below to my children when their time arrived…

“Until this time came, and until you asked this question, I couldn’t reveal the answer. But I believe Father Christmas is about 3 things:

· Belief

· Love

· …and Spirit

Belief

The existence of Father Christmas is not really a lie – it’s a secret kept to help children believe in things they cannot hold or see.

Throughout your life, you will often need the capacity to believe in yourself, in your friends and your family, even when it’s incredibly hard to do so.

Love

Christmas is the symbol of the greatest power you

will ever know: Love.

Love will light your life from the inside out, even

during its darkest hours when you are sad.

Love will never burn out as somebody somewhere

will always love YOU.

Spirit

But the best reason to forever believe is because

spirit is real and enduring.

Father Christmas is an embodiment of magical spirit that lives inside of everyone who believes in him. He is real for as long as you believe he is real, and not for one moment longer.

When your friends tell you that he’s not real, they are correct… he isn’t real for them anymore.

If you believe he is real, like I do, then you can keep Father Christmas alive in your heart for as long as you want to do so (even when you’re as old as I am!) for Christmas lasts even longer for those who choose to believe.

All the times you do kind things for people throughout the year expecting nothing in return, well THAT is also the spirit of Christmas”

Have Belief

Have Love

Have Spirit

…and have yourself a merry little Christmas forever   XxX