Santa Claus was a true test of my faith in my family and friends. I was the youngest of three girls and there was a five-year span between my sister Sandy and me. I was also gullible and trusting so I believed everything my sister and my parents told me.
One Christmas Eve, my Grandma Meister was sleeping in the room with Sandy and me. She jumped out of bed and said “Judy, did you see that?” I asked what she was talking about. She told me that she had seen Santa and his sleigh being drawn by the reindeer flying by in the distance. I looked out the window and could swear that I saw Rudolph’s red nose up in the sky.
Everyone in my family worked hard to keep the belief in Santa strong in my mind. Every little doubt that I had was always countered with a reasonable explanation. In third and fourth grade, my friends started to suspect that this little story might not be totally true. When they asked me if I believed in Santa Claus, I always said yes. Don’t you?
I think in my heart of hearts, down deep, I wasn’t 100% sure that there was a Santa Claus. I knew that he couldn’t come down our chimney because we didn’t have a fireplace for him to exit. I knew that Santa had many helpers and none of them really looked very much alike. I think, in reality, I knew that Santa was an impossible folk tale. All the same, I enjoyed receiving gifts from Santa and from my family, too.
I remember walking home from elementary school one afternoon with a bunch of friends. They were quizzing me about my beliefs. I think I was the oldest in the class to still believe. When I came home that night, I asked Mom “Is there a Santa? She replied “What do you think?” I didn’t reply. Instead I asked if there was a tooth fairy? Again the same answer “What do you think?”. I repeated the question with the Easter Bunny. Mom just smiled and asked again, “What do you think?” By this time I was getting the hint and I replied that I didn’t think they were real.
Mom went on to explain that those figures like Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were actually an idea and not a real person or animal. I had to think about that. I felt a bit deflated with all of my childhood fantasies being revealed at once. My suspicions had been strong and I wanted so much to believe. Instead it sort of felt good to be in on the “secret”. I honestly think I felt a bit more grown up that day. Mom went on to explain that it was important to help the kids that still believed to continue. I thought that was a fun idea and enjoyed keeping up the pretending. It also made sense of all of the things my family did to keep me believing. They always got a bit strange around holiday time. Now I knew why.
I enjoy sharing some of the words written in the New York Sun on September 21, 1897 by their editor. He was answering a letter from Virginia O’Hanlon written in 1897 about the existence of a Santa Claus.
He answered in part:
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias…The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
So there you have it. If nothing else, this belief gives us practice in believing and having faith in other things we can not see or explain. How about electricity, or love or a Supreme Being?
Wayne Dyer wrote a book years back called “You’ll see it when you believe it”. I think he had the right idea.
I still set out the cookies and milk just in case. Somehow, they are always gone in the morning. Believing is a wonderful thing.
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