Two Santas and a King
About the beginning of December every year, I fondly begin recalling Christmases past, and some of those recollections are joyful to recall, and others, such as Mom’s frantic rush to get everything done, leading to tension and worry galore, were and are still somewhat sad.
One of my happier memories from age four or five and for a few years afterwards involved the annual visit of Santa Claus to our house on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. As I learned later, La Grange had several gentlemen [I know now of three: Aubrey “Red” Voelkel, Harry Vogt, and Milton “Fatty” von Minden] who owned Santa Claus outfits (boots, red-and-white suits, caps, fake beards, etc.), and every year one of them would appear on our porch at the house on Franklin Street about 4 or 5 o’clock, after we had opened our packages (which we did mid-afternoon, as soon as Mom and Dad got home from work a few hours early on Dec. 24.)
Santa would pound his foot on the floor of the wooden porch and call out “Ho, Ho, HO: anybody home here at the Citzlers?” Of course he was ushered in and much was made of what we had gotten for Christmas, since he was there to be sure we were happy with “what he had left us earlier.” He never stayed long, saying he had lots more places to stop, and off he’d go.
The funny part one year was the mix-up when we had TWO (one too many) Santas! I guess now that one of them had earlier talked to Mom and the other to Dad, and both parents had said we would love to have a visit, so (there being no cell phones in those days to cancel one of them) we had TWO SANTAS visiting the Citzler House that year! I fear that Mom and Dad thought that was a problem, but we kids loved it, and now I believe that there can NEVER be too many Santas!
Santa is all about giving, and while for children, receiving gifts is all about excitement and anticipation and joy (or disappointment when things are NOT received as requested), for adults it becomes (or should become) all about giving. “Tis better to give than to receive” comes straight from the Bible (Acts 20:35), and the earlier in life we learn that lesson, the happier and more joyful lives we will have.
And giving is NOT just about material things, despite how many toys or jewels or cars or houses we put on our list for Christmas. Instead, true giving is giving of oneself: love, time, a smile, a kind word—those things cost little in the way of money, but they can carry the greatest meaning to the recipient, and they will make the most difference in the life of the giver as well. More and more of the research that is being done by psychologists and economists on the subject of human happiness shows that actually HAVING material things usually matters less to us than the anticipation of the ownership of the thing. Similarly, the process of planning a vacation generates more happiness than the traveling and vacationing itself. MOST pleasure per dollar is reported for the money one gives away, rather than what one spends on oneself. And surely giving sacrificially, as God gives us his Son as a baby in a manger, is the greatest gift of all!
Merry Christmas! May there always be too many Santas in your life, and mayYOU be the most generous giver of them all!