I Believe

I'll make this brief.  I wasn't going to post at all today, but today of all day's this needs to be said.

This is the first year our youngest son entered the holiday season conflicted.  Everywhere he turned, his schoolmates, the media, even his own innate intelligence was telling him that Santa Claus wasn't real.  But you could tell that deep down he didn't want it to be true.  He didn't want to face the fact that his parents had in fact been lying to him all these years, playing an elaborate shell game designed to pull the wool over his eyes.  I could tell he preferred to think that there was indeed magic in the world.

Things came to a head last week when we were discussing his present list and made mention that Santa might possibly bring him a couple of them.  His face turned all serious, he set his jaw, and then he said, "There's no such thing as Santa Claus.  Why don't you just admit you're Santa?"

My wife looked at me and I could tell she was psychically asking me, "Do you want to handle this one?"

I didn't miss a beat.  I looked him squarely in the eye and said, "Son, I think its time you learned something.  This world is filled with people who believe different things.  There are people who believe in ghosts...a lot who don't...and those who just don't know.  There are people who believe in little green men from outer space....those who don't...and those who aren't sure.  There are even people who believe in God....those who don't...and many who aren't sure what to believe.  You have to make up your own mind about what you believe in, and that includes Santa Claus.  And those beliefs are yours and yours alone, and you don't need to justify them to anybody.  I can only tell you two things...one, that I believe 100% in the spirit of Santa Claus...and two, that people who believe in Santa get more presents than those who don't.  Time to make up your own mind."

He went away satisfied, and more at ease.

What about you?  Do you believe?

Merry Christmas!