IS SANTA STEALING THE LIMELIGHT?

The history of Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas dates all the way back to possibly 280 A.D.  If you were good ("Christ-like", angelic) you received a gift from Saint Nicholas, while the bad little kids had to face Krampus and the possibility of being taken in a sack to the black forest.  That was the story I grew up with.  When we moved to the States, Krampus had thankfully dissipated.  I think he was held at the border by homeland security.

The real Saint Nicholas, a benevolent person who helped children and went around giving selflessly and generously to the poor and needy is a far cry from the man we know today as Santa Claus.




The man in the red suit with a big tummy and a white beard pasted on, that hangs out mostly in the malls and has little kids sitting in his lap gets all the credit.  Little people called elves make the gifts we find under the tree on Christmas day (the ones retailers hope we will buy lots of).  


It all started this year as my family began a conversation about the time each of us discovered Santa was not “real”. The magic was gone and reality had set in.  We are actually supposed to buy the gifts and they cost money.   Oh and by the way, the kids who are getting them, oops, maybe not so angelic!!  Yet, is the true magic about the gifts, the sleigh with the reindeer and the man in the red suit?  I say the magic was us all along.  


Today's real elves are the people who deliver for Amazon Prime, their "sleigh", the van with the smiley arrow.  They delivered our packages minutes before we opened them under the tree and we were able to track them.  The real magic is the grandma that asked her young granddaughter what she wanted from Santa and the girl told her to tell Santa not to forget her mom.  The parents staying up after a long day working two jobs so they can wrap that gift and hide it under the tree.  The librarians writing back to the kids who wrote letters to Santa.  The little girl who told me this year she is leaving Santa a healthy granola bar instead of cookies, since she is worried about his health because he is a bit over weight. I bet there are so many more such stories out there.  Yet the true magic often gets lost on us.  Why not teach our kids the real meaning of magic. This way when they grow up and find out the "truth" about Santa Claus, they will have lost nothing.  They will have gained the knowledge of the true gift and its magic - what it means to give;  Give your time, your effort, your help, your understanding and compassion, your friendship, yourself.  When we think about what a really great gift is, it probably is not something Santa carries in his bag.



Happy Holidays and make some magic 

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