Prayers For Melissa

To the little girl who I made cry in third grade during the first semester of my public school experience? I am deeply sorry that I told you that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. But hey, my Momma said so…

To be fair, my grandma told Momma when she was very young that Santa Claus wasn’t real and that she didn’t approve of the claim that he was responsible for any presents under the Christmas tree. And to my knowledge, Santa Claus wasn’t a big deal in the Philippines, so my dad never really grew up with that sentiment either.

Grandma’s choices for raising her children were passed down to Momma. All of the gifts under my Christmas tree were labeled with To-From tags from my sisters, parents, and other relatives. None of my gifts have ever had the words: “From Santa” in its inscription (except for that one time I got sequined converse high tops from “Santa Claus,” Christina Espiritu Barnett 😉).

There are probably a large number of people reading this who, at one point or another, believed in Santa Claus. Oooooor maybe you still do…Honestly, sometimes I can’t tell if y’all are joking or if you just want to keep the magic alive, or if you actually, truly believe that to some degree, Santa Claus exists. I do, however, believe that there might be some people out there who follow in the footsteps of Saint Nicolas, and who, in their own right, are Santa Claus’s. But no, I have never believed that a man in a red suit who lives in the North Pole with elvish slaves and a reindeer sleigh somehow visits every home on Christmas Eve Night.

Anyway, this is turning into a heated debate about the existence of Santa Claus rather than a reflection about Momma haha. The reason this memory came to mind was that as I was performing songs about Santa on my clarinet at my band concert, I thought of Momma and smiled. Whatever my mother’s reasoning for not instilling in me the love of Santa, all I know is that she never had to go through the trouble and trauma of trying to explain to six young girls that Santa Claus doesn’t exist. And honestly, who could blame her? Through it all, though, she kept Jesus at the center of all the holiday festivities. So, whatever your Christmas traditions, whether they include Santa Claus and other secular elements or not, remember that Jesus should always be the reason for the season 🙂

Happy Holidays!

Sara Joy

P.S. Shout out to my boyfriend, Tyler, for making me believe for thirty straight minutes that he actually still believes in the whole North-Pole-reindeer-sleigh-one-night-Santa- Claus Shabang. It took ALL my willpower to not judge him. He’s never gonna let me live that one down 😂

~ by Sara Espiritu on December 10, 2019.

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