merry christmas to all

Not For Kids of Any Age

and so were you naughty or nice and should santa mark that with an n or n ?

     Thinking of Christmas when I was a kid and one story keeps coming to mind when my cousin found out there was no Santa.

     Well to put the whole story into context I need to start at the beginning remembering the best I can as I was probably was only 5  when this all happened . Christmas was coming and my brothers told me about how Santa wasn’t really real as we sat around and discussed Christmas coming.

     The next chance I had to discuss this with my cousin, he flatly refused to discuss the idea that Santa wasn’t really real and that he had been to the North Pole and had visited Santa Claus and that they had pictures to prove it. Being only a year younger than myself, he seemed to have irrefutable proof that Santa did exist and he was getting quite irritated by my talk. Not believing me and what I had to say he confronted my brothers who basically told him the same thing that I had just told them and the fight was on.

      He screamed it wasn’t true and that we were liars, he had proof there was a Santa clause and that he was going to get his dad to prove it. He told me uncle, his dad and soon my uncle was visiting mom and was soon advising her on what her kids were up to, saying things like there was no Santa and that the story was made up.

      Fortunately the fight ended there as mom advised my uncle that if that was the worse they did then maybe it wasn’t all bad. Considering the fact that if he was willing to believe in the Santa Claus story then he really better watch him when he became older and went to school as there was a lot worse things kids would tell him in the future .

      My uncle trying to get my cousin to continue believing in the magic of Christmas treated us all to a slide show of my cousins visiting Santa Claus in the North Pole. Apparently they had visited a place where they called the North Pole and had a Santa Claus you could visit in the summer when he wasn’t so busy and had time to sit around and talk to kids as his elves were busy preparing for the next Christmas. It looked convincing seeing they had pictures with him and all, but still the seed was already planted and slowly we lost the magic of Christmas a little bit more each year as the magic was soon transferred to our parents, who found it more a hassle to make everyone happy as we grew older and to give us what we wanted.

    Some years our parents would  hit it right and gave us lasting toys like the Tonka trucks with lead paint you could stand on, or your sisters full size baby doll you could rip the head off when she became a brat and wouldn’t leave you alone. These toys were replaced by more practical gifts such as clothes and radios as we grew older into our teens. The only magic that was left was wondering where they stored the gifts we were going to get as it seemed they were nowhere to be found but would suddenly appear Christmas morning and under the tree was always full.

     Years later mom and I had the discussion of where they kept the gifts as we always looked to see if we could find them searching everywhere including in the attic where I have never been since or care to, as it wasn’t easy to access in the first place. Anyhow the last secret was finally revealed and that was that mom would buy a little here and there and knowing we had prying eyes would leave them at my aunt’s, then dad and her would visit them when we thought they were Christmas shopping and would pick them up and bring them home on Christmas eve leaving them in the car till all was asleep then they would place under the tree.

       And magically we would get up in the morning and they would be there, and much to our relief as we surely felt that Santa had finally giving up on us, if there had been one. Not having found any gifts and as we grew older we figured mom and dad were tired of being hassled by the thought of making everyone happy and had finally gave up on giving anyone anything.

       Thankfully this wasn’t the case and still gives us something if nothing, and that was memories to cherish forever such as those I have related to you today. I am sure you have your own good or bad, but still you can hardly think of Christmas without thinking how special one or all of them might have been to you or someone you gave something to, and it made your Christmas unforgettable. Cling to that thought that is the magic of Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year -kev