Is Santa Claus Real?

Our 8-year old son came really close to asking the question last year before Christmas, but he dare not ask since he had heard the phrase "When you stop believing, you stop receiving". This week, he started dancing around the question ... trying to ask it indirectly ... "Mom, why doesn't Santa at least let the kids that REALLY believe in him see him?"

Last night we had the Santa talk. I asked him if there was a question he wanted to ask me - a Christmas question. He thought for a minute and then very reluctantly said "Dad, is Santa real?". One thing I never want to do is to lie to my children. Sure, we have played along, and when questions come up that we think they might not really want answered we typically say "what do you think?". This was not one of those times. He REALLY wanted to know, and I really wanted to tell him that he didn't have to boldly proclaim (as he had with his friends prior to this discussion) that something was true which was not.

So I told him. "No, just like the Easter Bunny, Santa is a fun concept, but he is not real." His response was "Dad, that stinks!", and yet I think he was relieved, and also excited about being able to play the game with us until his little brother asks the same question in a few years.

No, Santa is not real ... at least not the chimney hopping, North-Pole living, sleigh driving Santa that he has envisioned. In truth, he has many different, but REAL Santas: parents, grandparents, family, and close friends, who love him deeply, shower him with gifts, and understand the blessing that comes with giving. Perhaps this new understanding will allow him to become a Santa as well.

Do you see it?

This weekend, I traveled to a missions conference near Oklahoma City. Things have been hectic at work, and the timing was a challenge, but the meeting was refreshing. While I was between sessions, I called home to talk with my family. My four year old started telling me all about some of the things he had been doing and then went into an elaborate description of a picture that he had drawn. After he finished telling me about it, he said "Do you see it, Daddy?" and held the picture up to the phone.

Needless to say, I couldn't see it, but I could easily picture him holding his picture up to the phone with excitement. Sometimes I scan the kids pictures and place them as the background on my computer desktop. No doubt, he thought this one was "desktop material". One day, he will understand that you can't see through the telephone (or maybe one day you WILL be able to see through one), but in the mean time, maybe, on second thought, I do see it ... and it looks GREAT!