Mama, Is there a Santa Claus?

A couple of days ago my son Skyler asked me if Santa Claus is real. Now, he's ten, and it's after Christmas, and I'd heard that some of his classmates knew the truth and felt all proud and mature. So I told Skyler that Santa is the Spirit of Christmas, and I went along these lines until he point blank said, but is he real, physical, can you touch him? No, I said. And you know what the little bugger did? He cried, hard. So much for feeling proud and all grown up. So I clumsily tried to cover my tracks. Shit. Somehow the subject got changed and neither of us cared to explore it any further. The next day, Skyler came to me teary-eyed and said, I thought Santa Claus was the spirit of Jesus Christ, and that's how he got his magic to visit all the houses and make all the toys for every child in the world. And the reason he did it was so that on his birthday, all those kids' happiness and their happy faces would be his birthday present.

Sigh.

Through a child's pure view of magic and love, Skyler decided the greatest gift was to give and bring others' happiness. Perhaps that is what Santa Claus is. (Christ, Buddha, Light) Consciousness living in each of us, reaching out to each other for the one desire of seeing joy in the world.