When kids reach the second or third grade, there are daunting whispers that Santa Claus is, in fact, a myth.  Supposedly, it’s really just Mom and Dad who place the presents under the tree and drink the milk and eat the cookies. To this day, however, I believe that Santa Claus is as real as you and me.

When I was younger, I would spend hours crafting the perfect letter to jolly old Santa Claus. Each and every year, I received an official reply from Santa Claus himself.  He would handwrite a personal letter and then deliver it through a federal organization: the post office. That is enough evidence to prove his existance to me.

But if that doesn’t convince you: Santa once stopped by my house one Christmas Eve. He may have looked a little like my uncle and smelled like my uncle’s cologne, but that beard was way too real.  Without a doubt, he was Santa.

However,  I can understand if there are people who have some doubts about Santa’s existence.  There are approximately 1,806,820,520 kids on this earth.  Having to deliver to all those kids worldwide certainly sounds like an impossible responsibility for one jolly guy.

When you break Chrismas down based on time zones, Santa’s got about 26 hours to deliver all the presents to the good little girls and boys. But Santa’s a pretty special guy so can defy laws of gravity and physics and literally move at the speed of light.  So, when you think of it this way, it is clear that Santa has  more than enough time to deliver all the presents.

But really, we choose whether to believe or not. It’s like the holiday story, “The Polar Express”:  one day, the bell stops ringing in the ears of those who choose not to believe and then the spirit of Christmas vanishes.

How can a person deny the facts of Santa’s spirit when you can hear the laughter of children and see the acts of kindness shown to strangers?

The spirit of Santa is not about the number of gifts left under the tree nor, is it the Christmas cookies devoured , or the Christmas lists written 10-pages-long. But the spirit of Santa is a reminder that it’s better to give than recieve. It reminds us to cherish our loved ones and to remember that what mattersmost is to love and by loved by others.

Believing in Santa makes Christmas special because he lets us see and feel the magic. Believing isn’t seeing; it’s knowing that the spirit of Christmas is alive in all of us, and I believe that’s what the holiday season is all about.