How are you?
This Christmas I had a very magical time I have to tell you! I was walking home, when a very old man, with tears in his eyes, came and asked me: “Is it true, Santa is a lie?”
I found it funny, because he was so old, and still believing in Santa Claus? I was going to laugh, when that day, when we were together and saw a cadent star crossing the sky came up in my mind. Because we knew it so clear that it was Santa, we believed in it so hard. So, I realized the beauty of his faith and said: “No, its not true Santa is a lie!!!” I replied. “Come on! Do you believe in magic?”
“Yes,” - he said.
“Dreams, do you have one?”
“A Bunch,” - he smiled.
“And… Have you already asked yourself, this December, if you have really been a nice guy?”
“Oh nooooo…”
It was funny, because he acted like a child; he seemed to be younger than me. I really enjoyed his company! So, as we were walking, he started to ask the meaning of all the Christmas' signs and I saw myself answering questions I had never asked or even though about!
“Why the name ‘Christmas’ is ‘Christmas’?” - He asked, very confusingly.
“Because it comes from the Latin: ‘Cristes Maesse’, in English, “Christ's Mass.”
“Buuut, why Christ's Mass?”
Fair question, I thought, and then I said:
“Because it is the birth of Jesus Christ, and those who believe in Him celebrate it with love and respect.”
“Ok, good!” - He said. But, if it is His birth, why everybody receive presents?”
I was thinking, thinking, and even asking myself: “yes, why?”
So, I remembered our classes of religion, and it became easy to explain to him...
“This is a tradition started when the Wise men gave Jesus presents, as He was born. Keeping this tradition, we symbolize the fraternity, the sharing, the giving and the receiving, values that God taught us through His son… Jesus.”
“But, if it is His birth, why Santa gives presents to all of us?”
“Because we are also sons of the same Father. We are all God's sons too.”
“And where is Santa now?”
“In the North Pole!”
I could perceive he was having faith again in the Christmas, not in the Christmas/Santa that gives us presents, but in the Christmas/Santa that has a beautiful smile, a lovely look and an incredible memory. And we continued walking as he was talking about the houses that Santa has to visit every year, all the friends he has around the world, the travels, the letters he receives, always so full of hope. He even had a scientific explanation for the way he penetrates every kid’s dreams to explain if a present cannot be found! He was having fun talking about all the languages Santa needs to speak in order to attend so many people. He even made an account. He said:
“Look, if Santa has 31 hours to deliver the presents to everybody and has 75 and a half millions of miles to travel, then, it means that he travels at 823 miles/sec!!!”
At that point, he was even considering creating Santa an email address, just to make it easier, ‘this way Santa would travel only once, to deliver the presents, not twice, to pick up the orders and to deliver the presents later,’ he said. Funny boy, I smiled. Actually, it was fabulous to see the Christmas in his eyes, and I started to think were my faith in Santa disappeared, when in time I stopped to put a letter in a big stock addressing:
“To Father Noel, urgent!! (Please...)”
And I asked myself who first told me that he was a myth, a commercial symbol and a sale promotion? Who had the courage to tell me such lie? And so, I heard that same laugh, I felt that same smell, the music... and when I looked around, to tell the man, "hey, Santa is here somewhere!" - he was not there anymore.
So, that magic day when we saw a cadent star crossing the sky came up in my mind again… That day, we were together and we saw the sign. And we knew it so clear, we believed in it so hard. How couldn't they perceive that it was Santa? I mean, it was the 25th of a December on the… Do you remember the year?
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