What Does Christmas Mean to You?

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Ho! Ho! Ho! Everyone.

Today I thought I would ask you all a question. I would appreciate your answers.

What does Christmas mean to you? What is it that gives that special feeling that we all get each year at the Festive Season? Why is it even called the Festive Season in the first place?

I'll tell you what Christmas means to me!! I guess not many people have ever thought of what Christmas is all about from Santa's perspective so I thought I would share my thoughts and feelings.

Christmas to me is many things. It is the rush and hurry of packing the toys and gifts into sacks after they have been carefully wrapped and prettied. It is the exhilaration of the joy that will be shared with the whole world. I know many of you know the feeling you sometimes get when you give someone you love that special gift that you have hunted far and wide for. You sit on the edge of your seat with the joyful anticipation... watching their face as they slowly unwrap what you have so lovingly bought for them. You wait for the reaction in their eyes and the feeling of giving and joy and happiness overwhelmes you.... maybe even to a tear in your eye.

Santa's night is spent whizzing backwards and forwards to the North Pole to restock. The elves jumping and cheering and whooping and hollering with each new load that disappears from their sight. The reindeer tossing back their heads and snorting steam as they rise into the sky on their way to another drop off. I pull at the reins to keep the team going as they leap and tug, racing faster and faster as daylight approaches.

Mrs Claus waits at the door eagerly watching with the elves and the other reindeer that didn't get to do the trip this year. They all stand in the cold as they clutch their coats around them in the anticipation of my return. Mrs Claus keeps making hot cocoa to keep everyone warm.

With each load everything seems to go faster and faster. The loads are packed so quickly by the elves as the reindeer leap and pound their hooves wanting to be let free to leap to the sky. What a night it is!!!! What a feeling!!!!

To me Christmas is all about others. No one can deny that Christmas time produces many emotions in most of us. We have feelings that are so easily put away in the closet for another year until Christmas arrives again the next year. Why can't we hold on to those feelings all year? Why is it that at Christmas we can talk to that stranger and wish them happiness when for the rest of the year they are hardly noticed? Why do we have good cheer when for the rest of the year we can put those feelings aside? Why can't every day be Christmas??

I suppose most of us are creatures of habit and everything must be assigned to a specific time of the year or else it just isn't right. Does Santa have the right to be out and about for the rest of the year?

Well I'm here and I'm staying. To spead the joy and peace and happiness that is available to all those who want it.

Please let me know what Christmas means to you or comment on what I have had to say. I would like to know.

As always,

Santa

It's Better to Give than to Receive

We all know that Christmas is a time of giving, through actions as well as gifts. But did you know that friendly Christmas deeds could actually reduce your risk of dying in the next 5 years by up to 60 per cent? A US study has found that older people who do not help others are more than twice as likely to die than people who give some help, reinforcing the notion that it really is better to give than receive.

'Making a contribution to the lives of other people may help extend our own lives,' said University of Michigan psychologist and lead author Stephanie Brown, whose work will appear in the journal Psychological Science.

'In other words ... it isn't what we get from relationships that makes contact with others so beneficial; it's what we give.'

The 5-year study involved 423 older couples, each of whom was asked about the type of practical support they provided for friends or relatives, if they could count on help from others when needed, and about the emotional support they gave each other.

A total of 134 people died over the 5 years. After adjusting for a variety of factors — including age, gender and physical and emotional health — the researchers found an association between reduced risk of dying and giving help. But there was no association between receiving help and reduced death risk.

Reproduced with kind permission from Medical Observer Weekly

The proof to all of this is that Santa is now over 500 years old and I'm still growing.

Mrs Claus!! Not just my belly!!

Every Day Should be Christmas

Ho! Ho! Ho! Everyone.

Can you hear the sleigh bells ringing? Do you feel the snow fall as the cold bites icily at your fingertips and nose? Can anyone hear Santa passing by in the night on Christmas Eve as I swoosh and sweep about the rooftops merrily delivering gifts to the children of the world?

Santa, why are you here now? I hear this dozens of times a day. You aren't supposed to be here. You don't belong! Can I have lots of presents? Can I.. Can I.. Can I?

Why doesn't Santa belong at this time of year? Many people in Blog world have embraced me with open arms and happy hearts and can feel the spirit of Christmas lingering over them now. Does it have to be December only? Can you feel the happiness around you?

I ask all of these questions because it stirs in me a feeling that Joy and Happiness and the feelings of goodwill towards others belongs for only a short time in the hearts and minds of many people. Once the festive season is over we pause and sigh and get back to the daily grind of life as it slowly and painfully trudges towards another season of happiness and goodwill. What happens in between? Do we have an off switch or a closet where we can hang those things and dust them off once a year?

Why do many people think that the feelings of Christmas only belong AT Christmas?

Maybe if we sat silently in a comfy quiet place for a while with our feet up and our eyes closed we could concentrate on what it feels like at Christmas. Regain the spirit!

I can assure you that I am staying and I will continue to spead the cheer and joy and happiness of Christmas all of the year. As we get closer to Christmas, of course the imposters will arrive for whatever reason to talk about and play Santa. Do they have an on switch too where they can only be that happy and joyful for such a short amount of time? Besides, Christmas isn't just about Santa. It is more about what we are and have inside that makes it such a wonderful thing. Of course many people who don't have the spirit within them still feel what is being sent out be those that do. A bit like passive Ho! Ho! Ho! except it's not addictive!

Let's stop and think and start each day as if it were Christmas. Let's have the joy and peace and happiness and goodwill to all men that surrounds the earth for a short time each year.

Or.... is Christmas just about what we receive? Those who truly know and have the spirit of Christmas already know that true happiness is in the giving!!

Let's make everyday just like Christmas.

As always,

Santa ô¿ô

Christmas Spirit

The Christmas Spirit

I enter the home of poverty,
causing pale-faced children to open their
eyes wide in pleased wonder.

I cause the miser's clutched hand to relax,
and thus paint a bright spot on his soul.

I cause the aged to renew their youth
and to laugh in the glad old way.

I keep romance alive in the heart of childhood,
and brighten sleep with dreams woven of magic.

I cause eager feet to climb dark stairways
with filled baskets, leaving behind hearts
amazed at the goodness of the world.

I cause the prodigal to pause a moment on his wild,
wasteful way, and send to anxious love some little token
that releases glad tears -
tears which wash away the hard lines of sorrow.

I enter dark prison cells,
reminding scarred manhood of what might have been,
and pointing forward to good days yet to come.

I come softly into the still, white home of pain,
and lips that are too weak to speak
just tremble in silent, eloquent gratitude.

In a thousand ways
I cause the weary world to look up into the face of God
and for a little moment
forget the things that are small and wretched.

I am the Christmas Spirit!