Santa Claus:
"fv jp1' "
"The patron saint of children; dispenser of gifts
on Christmas Eve; also, the spirit of Christmas."
ing the hearts of people and why they couldn't
seem to carry it beyond the family into relations
with all men.
Since that Christmas morning, we've all made a
special effort to become good receivers. Giving
isn't a one-way street; it requires both a giver and
a receiver. We often consider it gracious to decline
a gift that we know cost too much or came at too
great a sacrifice. Yet sometimes not always this
is a decidedly selfish attitude to take.
We should think carefully before we deprive the
giver of the great satisfaction of giving by being a
poor receiver. And especially is this true at Christ
mas, when hearts are full of the spirit of sharing.
A nd, finally, we learned about Santa Claus from
our children the real Santa Claus, that is.
Like millions of other families with young chil-
i t, aren, we went through the Santa Claus phase with
VfL our youngsters. We took them to see him nt the.
, if department stores, and we tried to answer their
' o, questions about why there were so many counter-
Darts of Santa Plane
v vi jr oucct turner. ne
questions grew more pointed and the incredulity
more pronounced.
Then one Christmas Eve as must happen to all
parents we had to eliminate Santa Claus or im
mortalize him. We had just finished decorating the
tree a job St. Nick always did on Christmas Eve
in our home and arranging the presents beneath.
We were starting upstairs for bed when we saw
David, then seven years old, standing forlornly on
the stairway, watching us. His brow was furrowed
with disappointment and disillusionment.
"You've been fooling me about Santa Claus," he
said accusingly, "There really isn't any Santa
Claus. You're the ones who decorate the tree and
buy the presents and put them under the tree
after we go to bed."
We invited him to come downstairs and talk
with us. He came reluctantly. We didn't ask him
what aroused his suspicions or try to gloss over an
obvious fact. Instead, I asked him: "When we
want to find the meaning of a word, where do we
go to look it up?"
"The dictionary," he answered suspiciously.
"All right," I said, "let's see what the dictionary
has to say about Santa Claus."
We read the definition aloud together: "The
patron saint of children; dispenser of gifts on
Christmas Eve. Also, the spirit of Christmas."
"Now," I said, "what would you say the spirit of
Christmas is? Would it be the spirit of giving,
of sharing, of joy, of peace and happiness?"
David thought it over a few minutes.
"Yes," he admitted, "I suppose it would be all
of them."
"Do you feel we have a fair measure of those
things in our home?"
"Sure most of the time, anyway. And always
at Christmas."
"Well, then," I told him, "we have Santa Claus,
too because that's what Santa Claus means to us;
the spirit of Christmas. The fat man in the red suit
and the long beard is just a symbol of that spirit.
But it's the spirit itself that's important, and as
long as we express that spirit at Christmastime,
then we most certainly do believe in Santa Claus.
At least 1 do, and your mother does. If you want
to quit believing in him, I can't stop you. But if
that's what you decide, please don't destroy Santa
Claus for your sisters or for anyone else."
He went back upstairs then, pondering this new
intelligence. And it seemed to me that the next
morning was the most joyous Christmas we'd ever
known because all of us had a new sense and
awareness of Santa Claus. We've believed in Santa
Claus in our home ever since. The girls have never
questioned this, perhaps because whenever the
subject of Santa Claus came up we always referred
to him as the "spirit of Christmas" and they
always accepted him that way.
I'm sure that somewhere along the line they've
been told by some omniscient friend that there
really isn't any Santa Claus, but they've never
made an issue of it at home. They seem glad to
accept our definition of Santa Claus, and we've
been courting him regularly for 15 years.
I think that all of us in our family have a feeling
and not a sacrilegious one at all that if Jesus
were to express Himself on the subject of Santa
Claus, He would approve heartily of the old gen
tleman. Not, of course, in the commercial sense,
which has been so badly exploited, but in the
original meaning of St. Nick, who stands solidly
for many of the same things that Jesus taught:
unselfishness, good cheer, good health, strength,
congeniality, joy, happiness, and an overwhelming
love for His fellow man. Thus, we feel we do no
discredit to the spiritual significance of Jesus'
birthday and even enhance it by continuing to
welcome Santa Claus into our home.
These, then, are the Christmas lessons our chil
dren have taught us: we've learned that there are
many gifts we can give which don't have to be
bought in a store; that it's every bit as important
to be a good receiver as a good giver; and that
Santa Claus as the glorious spirit of Christmas
is a very real and a very present force.
We haven't stopped learning or growing! Rather,
we're looking forward to all the Christmases to
come and the additional enlightenment they can
bring. Meanwhile, well be hoping, along with
peaceful people all over the world, that the spirit
of Christmas will eventually open the hearts of
all men to receive a real and lasting "peace on
earth, good will toward men."
Family Weekly, December 21, 1951 5