Santa Claus and Me

.....I was going to play the "Here Comes Santa Claus" midi, but, since Santa is not coming to my house, that would be an untruth. I wanted something with bells, so this is it.
.....Santa and I have not been on good terms since I was just a little sprout. Although I just plain hate the blameism that pervades this nation today, I have to lay the blame for this unhealthy relationship right at the eighty-one year old feet of my eldest sister Betty. But, now she says she dosn't remember.
.....Now the King house, that was our home. was just a four-room Jenny Lynn structure with just two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a livingroom. Notice, I didn't include a bathroom. In the wintertime, that was a chamber pot at the foot of the bed. This meant that there was precious little space for the siblings personal things.

.....In the kid's bedroom, the three of us, a large closet was built into one corner of the room. The closet had a shelf at the top and a curtin door that my mother had rigged. High on that shelf, my sister Betty kept her few precious treasures. With a boy brat running around just learning to climb, Betty feared for the safety of her treasures. So one day, she told me, "Santa Claus lives up on the shelf of that closet. If you try to get up there, he will get you!"
.....Now that speech burned right down deep into my memory. From then on I figured that. "If Santa was going to get me," he wasn't anyone that I wanted to have anything to do with. Not too long after that, my Dad's brother Walt dressed up to play Santa Claus. When I was told, "Santa is coming," I went and sat on the edge of my parents bed in their bedroom which served as a sitting room in the wintertime. I was ready for Santa. I had found my sisters compass with the sharp end and I was going to get Santa if he got too close. I was determind that I was going to get him before he got me. Dad saw my weapon and was going to take it away me. But, I took a swipe at him. Now, I was just a little fart, so folks were shocked at my actions. But, they didn't know that I was fighting for my life.

.....That night set the tone for me and Santa. At an early age I learned that Santa fell into the same catagory with the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. And, that was a relief.

.....As, I got older, there were some good things I began to remember about Christmas. I remember the Christmas plays at church. I remember especially the time that, when I was a teen, I was part of a Christmas play that we performed for the children at the polio hospital at Milton. I remember as an older teenage all of the family sitting around the living room on Christmas morning. My mother would hand out the presents one by one. I remmber putting tools together for my children when they were small. I would remmeber my grandchildren's Christmases better if they were not such a rat race with the emphasis on presents when we really can't afford them...just because they expect them. I quit talking about presents for myself at home when I was about 14. But, I saved up my lawnmowing money through the year to buy them for others.
.....Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are now a essential part of our econmey...to the merchants and TV folks. There's only one person that prevents my complete and emphatic, "Bah Humbug!!!" That person of course is Jesus Christ.
.....In the scripture God tells us to, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all you might." And then, we are told, "Love our nighbor as we love ourselves." If Santa was real, then he would be my nightbor. Though I am not in love with the character of Santa Claus, I am free to love my neighbor. As Christ is our greatest gift, the greatest gift I can give to my neighbor is to pray for them. I can pray that they can be the best Christian that they can be. Or I can pray that their heart will be opened to the Gospel and that they will accept Christ as their personal savior. I can also pray that they come together as neighbors and as families all year long and love one another.

I will not wish you a Happy Holliday, but I will say, "Have a Merry Christmas."
God bless you. Untitled