The magic of Christmas

Last night, I watched the movie It's a Wonderful Life for the very first time. And all I can say about it is, IT'S A WONDERFUL MOVIE!! I loved it. If only we could all go back to those times. Sigh. I cried at the end. It was so touching. It made me think about my own life, too. Not money-wise, mind you. But where I'm at now and the people who are in my life. I am fortunate to have good people in my life where I am living now. It's always a blessing to have your family and good friends with you. I know there are friends here who would give me the shirt off their back. It's taking me a long time to get used to Eugene but there are good people here and I am happy about that. It's not how much money you have or where you live that's important; it's the people in your life that matter the most.

Anyway, enough wishy-washy talk. Haha. That's not what this blog post is about. I want to talk for a minute about the magic of Christmas. I don't mean the miracle of the Virgin birth. Though that IS a very important part of Christmas. I'm talking about the Santa Claus aspect of Christmas. I know "Jesus is the reason for the season" and that Christmas was created in the very beginning to celebrate the birth of Christ and honor our Lord with repeating that special day in offering gifts and enjoying togetherness. But I really want to talk about Santa for just a mo.

See, when we're kids, it's easy to believe in Santa Claus, because as a child, it's easy to believe in magic. And that's what the idea behind Santa is all about, really. He's about magic. The surprise of something wonderful happening. I don't think we lie to our kids in telling them there's a Santa Claus, because WE can be the Santa Claus. Or a representation of Santa, anyway.

But the idea of Santa and magic is a great thing for kids to enjoy. Every year, it's something for them to look forward to. Being visited by this magical creation they don't get to see. And in a way, that's a lot like Jesus, isn't it? I mean, think about it. We don't see Jesus, but we know He exists. We have that childlike innocence in our hearts assuring us Jesus is THERE and that He is real. So in a way, the adults are reminded of a special kind of magic on Christmas, too.

But I have to think, you know, it's really a gift to be able to believe in that magic. When you're a child, you don't have people telling you "magic isn't real." "You can't believe in make-believe." As a child, it's okay to play pretend. It's okay to BELIEVE. And that belief can be so strong, it can act as a security blanket that the world isn't all that scary or unsafe as long as magic is there. (As long as Jesus is there.)

Last night, I really got to thinking about this. I was thinking about it because Jennifer got out of bed after the movie was over and told me she was too excited about Santa coming, and she couldn't sleep. So I gave her warm milk and crackers as she sat on the couch with me, watching the 11:00 news. And on the news, they had this episode where they were tracking Santa by radar, and they showed him driving his sleigh through the night sky. "Santa's on his way, Jennifer!" I gasped.

She sat up. "Oh, no. I better get into bed!" With that, she hurried off to bed, only turning to give her daddy a kiss on the way. And, wouldn't you know it, she actually went to sleep!

I really had to ponder over this. First I laughed, of course. It was TOO CUTE! But then, I sat there thinking about how she must've been feeling. What went through her young mind. And I knew, she BELIEVES in that magical aspect of Christmas. It's okay that magic comes from Santa Claus. Really, it is. Because I think that believing in magic is something we all need to have in our lives once in a while. Whether you are a 7-year-old child or a 34-year-old adult. Or even a 100-year-old adult! We all need a little bit of magic every once in a while.

Call it magic. Call it miracles. It's the same thing. And they give us all the same special gift of believing that wonderful things can happen. And not just on every Christmas morning.

Merry Christmas, everyone!