A Child's Wonder

I came across this poem many years ago when my kids were younger and I like to refer to it every Christmas, as it defines the spirit of Christmas. I shared it with my girls a few years ago when they questioned the existence of Santa Claus. Now that they are teens, the excitement of Christmas morning has never been the same.

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 never has been. 

How can one man take all those toys? 

To thousands of girls and boys? 

But I told them daddy, that they were not right, 

That I would come home and find out tonight. 

Mama said wait until you get 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 thing 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 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 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 it quite clear, 

Truly a Santa who visits each year. 

Spirits like God, whom 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 in me, 

And I hope you are old enough now to see 

That as we believe and continue to give, 

Our friend Santa Claus will continue to live." 

Author unknown