It just doesn’t seem like it should be time but when you read this column it will only be a week until the Jolly Old Fellow visits us again. This will be the last week-end column I write before Santa and his reindeers swoops down on our communities with all the toys and goodies for young and old alike.
It only took a demeaning remark by someone a few days ago to provide me with the subject for today’s column. With a scornful tone, someone asked, “You surely aren’t going to argue that Santa Claus case again this year.”
The answer is yes. I think the story needs to be kept alive in all its innocence, simplicity and awe.
Moreover, I am going to be more direct and without any hedging at all I am going to tell why I know there is a Santa Claus.
Let me borrow one of the segments from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and make my first points from his “Christmases Past.”
I know there is a Santa Claus because of the excitement and joy he instilled in my heart and the heart of my sisters in our very young years down on the farm. We lived in a time that people referred to as “hard times.” Our family, as neighboring families, toiled and labored to eke out the bare necessities from the soil. Clothing was simple and basic, with no frills at all. Toys and playthings were what you could improvise from scraps and junk on the farm. There were no extras and any food you had was always from the table at one of the three family meals.
The anticipation of Santa’s coming and leaving toys thrilled the heart of us little fellows. The joy and excitement of getting up and seeing the goodies on Christmas morning provided moments of excitement and happiness not true of any other time.
You have to remember, I have ridden with Santa. It began several years ago when he came to my house by mistake looking for my nephew Clay West. He let me ride with him that night to Clay’s house and to my grandchildren’s house. The tradition of my riding with him continues to this day. One challenging year, it was all Santa and I could do together to get the Coca Cola Machine in Jordon Poole’s house.
The faces change, but I get to see little tots sleeping when we leave the toys. I know how they are going to feel the next morning.
I know there is a Santa Claus because of what he continues to provide for kids today. Even in my younger years, I remember parents saying during all times of the year, “Our kids have so much it is Christmas every day to them.” I realize we did have much more than our parents before us even though it wasn’t much.
In modern days, don’t we on a daily basis indulge our kids with the luxuries and extravagant things of life? Maybe this robs Santa and his visit of providing the same joy as years gone by. Still, Santa simply reaches down deeper and with great sacrifice provides our youngsters that which is special in life. These items are often valued by our children by their cost, their size, their quality and their quantity.
Yes, I know there is a Santa Claus because I see the joy and happiness in the faces of the young of this world. I also know there are great inequities in the degree to which families get to enjoy Santa. I know there is a Santa Claus because of the spirit of sharing, the spirit of giving, the spirit or forgiving and the spirit of warmth permeating this season of the year.
I know there is a Santa Claus because it was proved in a United States courtroom as told in the movie Miracle on 34th Street. And the concept was reinforced in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. These movies are ageless and it is hoped here that kids and adults alike will make them a part of their lives.
To close this column and rest my case, I use the scene and words of the judge in Miracle on 34th Street when he said, “since the United States Government declares this man to be Santa Claus, this court will not dispute it. Case dismissed.”
Merry Christmas! And with Tiny Tim, let me say, “God bless us, everyone.”
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