Michael
Elite member
Yesterday, on Christmas Eve, my 7 year-old daughter had one of her friends from the neighbourhood over to play. I asked her friend if she had figured out how Santa gets into houses here in Singapore because there are no fireplaces hence no chimneys. Sarah?s friend then announced that ?Santa Claus is dead.?
Most parents go through a stage where their kids figure out that there is no Santa Claus. I felt a lump in my throat as I realized that I may have to discuss it with my daughter on Christmas Eve.
My daughter turned to her friends and said, ?Wait, I need to go get a book?. She scurried upstairs and then came down a few minutes later with a book of Christmas stories and poems. She flipped through the book and read the ?Is there a Santa Claus? letter to the editor of the New York Sun in 1897.
(If you have never read it, it can be found here: Yes, Virginia )
When she finished reading it, she closed the book and told her friend, ?Santa Claus is about love. Not giving gifts, but love. As long as people love each other, which will be forever, there always will be a Santa Claus. He?ll never die.?
I had never had a conversation with Sarah along that lines. I checked with my wife. Sarah and she had read that editorial together for the last 2 years around Christmas time, but she had never discussed that connection with her.
Every day we read in the news about some outbreak of hate and war. Most of us already have children or will have children. Each of us has the ability to make the world a better place by leaving better people than us to take over. With a little luck, Sarah won?t forget the lessons she learned while a child and she?ll do a better job than her mother and me.
My best Holiday Wishes to each and every poster here.
Michael
Most parents go through a stage where their kids figure out that there is no Santa Claus. I felt a lump in my throat as I realized that I may have to discuss it with my daughter on Christmas Eve.
My daughter turned to her friends and said, ?Wait, I need to go get a book?. She scurried upstairs and then came down a few minutes later with a book of Christmas stories and poems. She flipped through the book and read the ?Is there a Santa Claus? letter to the editor of the New York Sun in 1897.
(If you have never read it, it can be found here: Yes, Virginia )
When she finished reading it, she closed the book and told her friend, ?Santa Claus is about love. Not giving gifts, but love. As long as people love each other, which will be forever, there always will be a Santa Claus. He?ll never die.?
I had never had a conversation with Sarah along that lines. I checked with my wife. Sarah and she had read that editorial together for the last 2 years around Christmas time, but she had never discussed that connection with her.
Every day we read in the news about some outbreak of hate and war. Most of us already have children or will have children. Each of us has the ability to make the world a better place by leaving better people than us to take over. With a little luck, Sarah won?t forget the lessons she learned while a child and she?ll do a better job than her mother and me.
My best Holiday Wishes to each and every poster here.
Michael
