Let's put Santa Claus back in Christmas

Let me start off saying that I do not want to offend anyone.  I am a Christian and know the real meaning of Christmas and agree we need to keep Christ in Christmas (after all without Him it would must be “mas” and nobody would get that excited about “mas” – maybe if it was "muchomas".)

Having said that, I think we also need to put Santa Claus back in Christmas.

Let’s take a look at this St Nick guy.  Every year he goes around the world giving cheer and gifts to everyone.  He knows the name of every girl and boy.  He has them on a list and even knows if they are naughty or nice.  He sees them when they are sleeping.  He encourages everyone to be good for goodness sake.

It has been rumored that he leaves a lump of coal for children who were naughty but that has not been my experience.  Growing up there were several years where I would have to classify myself as naughty – but every Christmas morning, Santa had left me nice gifts.

In the military I was Santa Claus for the squadron Christmas parties for several years (probably because I fit the costume.)  I learned a lot about being Santa Claus.  My brother and my Father-in-law have also been Santa Claus.  My Father-in-law did it for several years professionally.  Talking to them about Santa made me realize they had many of the same experiences I had.  Putting on the suit gives you a responsibility.  You can feel it.  Suddenly you are not your self, you are this great person who loves all unconditionally.  You bring happiness to children of all ages.  My brother said he often went to rest homes where he would visit with the patrons passing out little gifts and just spending time with them.  Often tears would be shed on both sides.  Truly Santa Claus gives to children of all ages.

So why am I posting this in my knitting blog?  I got to thinking as I was out buying a gift card for a gift.  Santa doesn’t give out gift cards – he has a team of elves that work all year making toys for each individual.  He knows each child (the list again) and picks out something special for them.  I’m not knocking gift cards – often we give them to our adult children now and ask them to use them for their family’s Christmas – but we also give gifts. 

I have a spreadsheet with every child, their spouse, every grandchild and anyone else for whom I want to make a gift.  During the year I keep an eye out for that perfect gift for each of them.  Then I start knitting.  This is normally a year long project.  It seems about this time of year I vow to not start so much for next year – but I know I will.

Every person on my list will get a hand-knitted gift made especially for them.  It might just be a scrubby dishcloth or a warm hat – but they know hours were spent creating this gift for just them.

We are knitters.  With a couple sticks and some string we create joy.  We are Santa Claus.  We have lists of people who need our knitting.  We search patterns all year looking for that perfect thing for each person on the list (even if they were naughty.)

So, let’s do our part to put Santa Claus back in Christmas.