A Child's Wonder

I posted this poem last year and wanted to share it with you again. It is especially meaningful for those with children, like mine, who are questioning the existence of Santa Claus.

"Daddy", she said, her eyes full of tears,

will you talk to me and quiet my fears?

Those bad boys at school are spreading a lie

'bout the impossibility of reindeer that fly.

There's no Santa Claus, they say with a grin,

there's not one now and there never has been.

How can one man take all those toys

to thousands of little girls and boys?

But I told them, Daddy, that they

were not right and that I would

come home and find out tonight.

Mommy said wait until you come home.

Please tell me now that I was not wrong."

Her Daddy looked at her questioning face,

and puffed his pipe while his frantic mind raced.

He had put this off as long as he could,

he had to think fast and it better be good.

Whispering a prayer, he began with a smile,

"Well, climb on my lap, dear, let's talk for a while.

Remember at church how we learned to pray,

asking God to take care of us each day?

And you know how we say grace before each meal?

To this same God whom we know to be real.

Though we never see him, we know he is there,

watching over his children with such loving care.

God started Christmas a long time ago,

when he gave us his Son to love and to know.

A spirit of giving came with that birth,

and God's generosity filled the whole earth.

Man had to name this spirit of giving,

just as he names all things that are living.

The name Santa Claus came to someone's mind,

probably the best name of any to find.

There is, you can see, and I think quite clear,

truly a Santa who visits each year.

A spirit like God, who we never see,

he enters the hearts of your mother and me.

Each year at Christmas for one special night,

we become him and make everything right.

But the REAL Spirit of Christmas is in you and me,

and I hope you are old enough now to see,

that as you believe and continue to give,

our friend Santa Claus will continue to live."