Being Santa

"Where's the real Santa?"

"You're not the real Santa."

"Erm, no. Santa couldn't be here so he asked me to take his place."

"Where's the real Santa? I want to talk to the real Santa!"

Mother, mouths 'I'm sorry'. "Come on, Leslie. Come now, let the other children have their turn with Santa."

Leslie won't have it. "No! I want to talk to Santa, not him! Let me talk to the real Santa." Her insolence at the world turns into tears.

"Oh darling, there's no need for tears? Tell me what you want this Christmas and I'll tell Santa myself when I see him."

Still crying, she putts between sobs. "I want my Daddy back. Make Santa bring my Daddy back to life."

Banksy - Girl with Balloon

The strained cheerful mask has dropped from her mother's face. She too looks off in my direction with the same plaintive sorrow as her valiant daughter.

The young widow knows I can do nothing to help, but round her tears forms a tragic hope that maybe God, maybe some miracle from her Lord would come at that very instant and take away her loss.

I kneel on one knee and look into the young child's eyes. "I'm sorry for your loss, sweet pea, I wish I could tell Santa and give you what you want, but Santa doesn't have the power to bring people back to life."

"Ms. Mariotta at Sunday school says Jesus died for our sins, and God brought him back to life."

"I'm sorry, dear, but we can't ask God to bring our loved ones back to life. God has a plan for each of us. We can't always understand why God lets our loved ones go, even though we love them and miss them very much."

"But my Daddy was a good man."

"He was a good man. Sad to say, unfortunate events happen to all of us, whether we are good or bad."

"What's the point of being good if my Daddy's dead and God won't bring him back?"

"Aww, honey... we do good things in life but not to be rewarded. It's not to protect ourselves from harm that we ought to be good.

Your Daddy was good to you and Mommy because he loved you very much. He wanted to make your lives happier. That's why he wanted to be a good man.

So you'll always remember him and feel his love, no matter where he is, and his love will always watch over you, even when he is gone."

The mother wipes away a tear and reaches out her arm.

'Thank you.' She hugs me while she holds her daughter's hand.

Maybe I set an example for this young woman, gave her some strength to console her daughter while struggling through her own grief.

Leslie puts her hand on my leg and says, "I'm sorry, Santa, I yelled at you."
The young girl need not say more.

She called me Santa.

Pass Down Gratitude

'Thanks, Dad.'
It was kind of cool to be out here after all. This place had a different feel than back home, where Tommy would call him over and they'd waste the afternoon laughing at Adult Swim cartoons that weren't even funny. Adam kind of liked it here.

Those simple words meant more to Rick than Adam could anticipate. Adam didn't know why his father acted in a way he'd never seen before. It was no different a mandatory response than when Rick dropped him off at school, or gave him lunch money to spend on Pokemon cards. But it was different this time.

Even though Adam said the words the same, it was strange to hear them in this context. After all, his Dad dragged him out to the middle of nowhere and made him live a day of the stupid, boring life these village folk led. But Adam said thanks because he actually meant it. It was strange to Adam.

All those times Rick gave him things he wanted: presents, tickets to shows, spending money... Adam didn't really mean it. It was just something you said when a person gives you what you want. Adam was so focused on the things he wanted, he never thought much about the person giving him those things.

This time it meant a lot to Rick to hear those words. For some reason, this 'thank you' meant a lot more than the countless other 'thank you's. Adam paused to recount that his father received them with just as much indifference as Adam gave them. But this time, Rick gave something Adam didn't want, so Adam had no obligation to thank Rick. But he said it of his own volition. Maybe it was the first genuine expression of gratitude in Adam's life, because just then Adam began to understand what gratitude really meant.

It's appreciating the tough, unpleasant challenges set before you by someone who cares about you, to make you stronger, happier, and a better person in the end.

Adam was not grateful for the toys and fun exciting entertaining things his father gave him, and his father knew that. Rick was even okay with that, because how could Adam? He got those things with no effort and those things made no lasting benefit to him.

But this trip, Adam realized, was something that Rick was grateful to have experienced as a young man. Rick went through all this trouble to share it with his boy Adam, so too was Rick was grateful that Adam received his sharing.

"Did your Dad take you out like this too, when you were a boy, Rick?"

Rick's voice went a little dry. "... No." A wet bead formed around his eye and he looked away.

Then Adam understood why this 'thank you' meant so much more than all the other 'thank you's. They walked back to the car silently the rest of the way.