abby was talking to the kids yesterday about st. nicholas vs. santa claus and apparently charlie's little brain made the connection between st. nicholas and st. mary (my church) because he asked abby if santa claus goes to my church.
and after i stopped laughing, i thought about it for a minute. and i realized that, just as little virginia was told by the new york sun that yes, there is a santa claus, so, too, does santa attend my church.
what is santa claus, really, except for the embodiment of everything that a good church teaches.......love. i personally have never liked those nativity scenes which show santa claus kneeling at the crib of the baby Jesus. but, on one hand........it does make some sense. in a way, santa is Jesus. other than over-indulge in food, what does santa do that Christ wouldn't want him to do?
santa spends the whole year focused on somebody else. well, and not just somebody else......everybody else! and then, on Christmas eve, when the rest of us are sipping hot cocoa by the fire and sharing the love, what's he doing???? he's flyin' around like a crazy man in the cold and the dark (and the heat and the jungle and the mountains and the valleys and the tiniest places that none of us - except he - except He - has ever heard of).......just so everyone will be happy.
just so everyone will be happy.
so yes, virginia, there is a santa claus.
and yes, charlie, he does go to my church.
and to your church, too.
:)
