To Believe or Not to Believe...

Thanksgiving & Christmas are my favorite time of the year. It brings families together, as well as bringing out the best in each of us. We, like many, enjoy the spirit of Christmas. I thrill to the magic of all that is Christmas. We do, however, teach our children the true meaning of Christmas over & above the whole Jolly Ole Santa Clause story. Each of our 4 kids has enjoyed that part of Christmas as a historically based, fun make-believe part of the holidays. We never scoffed or forbade the mention of Santa, just stressed the true meaning of Christ's birth instead. We had fun with a fun tradition.

Well, interestingly enough, my daughter has been caught up in a friend's Elf on a Shelf drama from a prank at school. Whatever the details, she has come to the conclusion that Santa must be real & we have been wrong all this time. She believes this so strongly, that she drew me aside privately and held an intervention on my behalf. While riding home from school, she asked if I could meet in the dining room when we got home, saying she wanted to have a meeting with just me. Of course, wanting to be there for her, I said, "yes." Let's just say she was well prepared with a case to present. She took me aside & closed all the doors, then she seated me at the dining room table. She looked into my eyes and began to plead her case. "Mommy, I know you don't really believe in Santa, & I know that Christmas is really about Jesus' birth and all, but I just need you to listen. Mom, you've heard of the naughty list, right? Well, if you don't believe, Santa will have to put you on the naughty list! Mommy, I don't want you to be on the naughty list!" she pleaded. "I know what you think, but, wait...I'll prove it!"

With that she darted out of the room & returned with a talking teddy bear. I do love this teddy bear! It wears a fur trimmed red coat, and holds a very special book, "Twas the Night Before Christmas." When you press his paw, he sweetly animates the telling of the entire story. Well, she made me sit & listen to the whole story, as told by her sweet little bear. If I interrupted, she started the telling over again & begged me to listen & believe. Trust me, keeping a straight face was most challenging. She was so serious. When the bear had finish reciting the story, she turned to me and said, "See? This proves it!" Gotta love her proof text! There I sat, not quite sure what to say. So as she so often did, she kept talking. "I know! Here's what you can do. Just Don't put anything in our stockings this year, Mom. And just BELIEVE with all your heart, & then wait and see! A few days later, we asked her siblings if they too wished for their stockings to remain empty in hopes of a more jolly stocking stuffer to handle the task. They all agreed to stick with our current family tradtion. I asked again when she went to bed if that was really what she wanted. She nodded, but added, "Mom, can you come down early in the morning and check to see if it is still empty? Then, if it is, you can fill it up for me." So, sadly her empty stocking hung empty as I went to bed.

The scene the next morning? Pretty much what you'd expect. Her stocking didn't remain empty for long. Just couldn't do that to the dear child. Later when we discussed my early morning findings, she seemed to be fine with it. I asked her what she had learned from her experiment. "Nothing, really. We forgot to put out cookies for Santa, so that's why he didn't come. So, we don't really know. Maybe we'll find out next year." And that was that. All the drama...for what? So, I guess we'll all have to find out next year. Story to be continued. And I heard her exclaim, er she ran off to play, "Merry Christmas, mom. We'll leave cookies next year!" Fortunately, we don't have to wait till next year to learn the truth... Luke2:8-12... "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”