A Child's Wonder

"Daddy", he said, his eyes full of tears,
"Will you talk to me and quiet my fears?
Those bad boys at school are spreading a lie
'bout the impossibility of reindeer that fly.

There's no Santa Claus, they say with a grin
there's not one now, and there never has been.
How can one man take all of those toys
to thousands of girls and boys?

But I told them Daddy, that they were not right,
that I would come home and find out tonight.
Mamma said wait until you come home.
Please tell me now that I was not wrong."

His Daddy looked at his questioning face
and puffed his pipe while his frantic mind raced.
He had put this off as long as he could,
he had to think fast and it better be good.

Whispering a prayer, he began with a smile,
"Well climb on my lap, dear, let's talk awhile.
Remember at church how we learned to pray,
asking God to take care of us each day?

And you know how we say grace before each meal?
To this same God whom we know to be real.
Though we never see him, we know he is there
watching his children with such loving care.

God started Christmas a long time ago
when he gave us His son to love and to know.
A spirit of giving came with that birth,
and God's generosity filled the whole earth.

Man had to name this spirit of giving
just as he names all things that are living.
The name Santa Claus came to someone's mind
probably the best name of any to find.

There is, you can see, and I think quite clear
Truly a Santa who visits each year.
A spirit like God, whom we never see,
he enters the hearts of your mother and me.

Each year at Christmas for one special night
we become him and make everything right.
But the real spirit of Christmas is in you and in me
and I hope you are old enough now to see
that as we believe and continue to give,
our friend Santa Claus will continue to live."

Author Unknown