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
