Tonight I have a guest contributor on the blog. My son, Jack, age 9 (who has asked to make sure that I add a comma between the words son and Jack) presented to me a topic that he thinks I should write about here. As he describes, it's a topic that can only be covered at this time of the year.
Distracted and unloading the dishwasher, I said, "Hmmm? What's that?"
"Is Santa real?" he explained. "You should write about that."
Bracing myself for a big talk, I put aside everything else that I was doing and asked what he meant. He continued that I should use this blog to explain to others some reasons to believe because a.) he wants to get on the nice list, b.) it's fun to believe and c.) he wants to make sure there's enough Christmas spirit because if no one cares then Santa might just call the whole thing off.
So here, in Jack's words, are the top reasons why Santa is real.
It's never too late to believe, so read this list if you're wondering...
1. On the Christmas of 2012, when I woke up and looked out the window, there were chewed-up carrots on the roof! I'm guessing that they were probably from Santa's reindeer because it's not a normal thing to have carrots on our roof.
2. We can usually tell when Santa has visited the night before because we find red fuzzies from his suit near our fireplace. One time I even found one of those fuzzies in the summertime and I knew where it came from right away even though I think we just didn't see it until then.
3. I'm pretty sure there were five sightings of Santa which I learned from a movie on TV. They said it was in 1972 or sometime pretty long ago like that.
5. There is a Santa app where you can track Santa on his flight around the world on Christmas Eve. It's called NORAD and is usually a radar thing, but one day they saw his sleigh and have been tracking him ever since.
6. Santa has an actual email address and we usually get a message telling us if we're on the naughty or nice list. I'm always so stressed on that day!
7. During Advent we have these elves that are dressed in red and look like dolls, but they aren't. We have an Advent box with empty windows counting down the days until Christmas. But every day a new one is filled up. It must be the elves.
8. Speaking of the elves, every day the elves are in a different place because they fly to the North Pole and tell Santa if we've been good or bad, then deliver stuff in the Advent box and find a new spot.
9. You know how there are a lot of Santa's helpers dressed up like him at the mall and stuff? Well my mom says that she thinks that at least once in everyone's lifetime they will see the real Santa. You never know when you're talking to the real one for sure, but one way to know is if you feel the magic. She says she has only felt the magic once and maybe twice... ever! Well, one time we saw Santa in London. We were on vacation, we don't live there. Well we went to see our friend. But anyway, for starters Santa talked like he was British, which was unexpected. But then he said he didn't quite recognize us yet and asked us to close our eyes. And when we did close our eyes, he said, "ahh... now, I remember you, Jack. That's just how you looked last year when I came to your house in Chicago and you were asleep on Christmas Eve." All the way in London, he knew my name and the Chicago thing. Yeah, I felt the magic then!
10. And last year we had breakfast with Santa and I kind of felt the magic then so maybe I've gotten to see the real Santa twice so far. Pretty lucky, I guess.
11. This year it was three days into December at Thanksgiving break and when we came back the elves were already at our house! My parents could not have moved them because they were in Florida with us. I am 100 percent sure they did not fly all the way back, switch them and then fly down to Florida again. If they did that would be very weird because it would be expensive to take all those flights.
12. Lego created a Santa mini-figure after all.
13. When I shake a Christmas bell, I hear a very beautiful ring and the bell rings for everyone who believes. The bells make such a nice sound that I think everyone can hear them ring if they would only let themselves try.
14. Some people would think that the parents do the presents, but I don't see how the parents know when the kids are asleep because my parents are always so tired that they can't stay up that late.
15. The cookies. The parents would be hyper if they ate all of the cookies we leave out for Santa. You know, because of the sugar and everything. Anyway, my parents are way too tired to be hyper.
I hope this blog post will remind people that they should believe. The wonder is fun and it feels like a happy mystery. In fact, Christmas is like a hot cup of joy.
In closing, Jack began to tell me in elaborate detail about how the Navy could take ships to break through the ice to the North Pole and find his workshop.
I smiled and said that while curiosity is a wonderful thing, not everything is always meant to be figured out. Sometimes it's best to sit back and just enjoy.
He and I may revisit this topic sometime over the summer when things aren't quite so heightened. But for right now, we're going to spend the next few days believing in something that can't be seen, touched or proven. It's something that you can only feel in your heart. Because above all else, we believe in the gift of the Christmas miracle and all of its joy, hope and promise. And that's something that we've all known all along.
This post originally appeared on Carissa's blog, www.carissak.com. You can see more from Carissa by following her on Tumblr, carissakwriter.tumblr.com, Facebook at www.facebook.com/carissaKwriter, Twitter @CarissaK or Instagram, www.instagram.com/carissakwriter. Thanks for reading.