It’s surprising that not everyone’s childhood recollection of Santa Claus is that of a jovial plump elf. Apparently some remember the patron saint of Christmas to be an old curmudgeonly prig who teased the children with bags of stockpiled goodies. If a child reached for a bagful of the sweet temptations, Santa would sting the eager young hand with his switch. That impression of Santa Claus would likely leave children frightened to thoughts of poisoning the milk and cookies or keeping the fireplace roaring all night in an effort to “off” the chubby fellow during his visit on Christmas Eve.
I remember the annual tradition of waiting for Santa to arrive by train (apparently it was safer than flying) into the pivotal Christmas hub of Mandan. Once the “Polar Express” braked to a halt, he jumped off the caboose, shook hands with hundreds of freezing children and then summoned his red-and-green-clad army of helpers to methodically dispense the traditional brown sandwich bag of goodies. My memory of Santa was far more favorable but I’m afraid his paper sack offering on Christmas Eve morning did nothing to improve my attitude toward unsalted, unshelled peanuts, candy canes, bruised, mealy apples or ribbon hard candy.
We’ve heard the saying a trillion times and we know what it means, but the emphasis today seems to be more about receiving – not giving. For the past several years we’ve really tried to stress the importance of giving at Christmas-time to our boys. There are so many that have far less than we do and it would take very little to improve their Christmas. Every year they help buy gifts for children they don’t know, and I know they try really hard to get the lesson but sometimes I think witnessing the actual transaction would make more of a difference for them. I like Mr. Kurt Warner’s (Cardinal’s QB) idea – whenever he dines out with his family, he chooses one family and anonymously pays their tab. I think being able to witness an act of abundant generosity and the feeling that accompanies it would be a powerful lesson in giving.