santa kiker
(hannah and me, part seventeen)


so, this is it. the true meaning of my christmas. feel free to argue with me about this. i will just make you feel selfish and wrong. i promise. because this is it. i've had my opportunity to rail against "christmas-time". what i don't like about the season. the worst that it brings out in people. i've had (or read) others tell me what they think christmas should be/is about. baby jesus. a time for family. a time for renewal. a time to let bygones be bygones. a time to focus on someone other than yourself. a time for visa checkcards. and xbox 360's. a time for candles. and ties. the nativity story. the nativity story? rocky 6??? a time for this. a time for that. a time for love. a time for hate. i swear it's not too late. and maybe it is. some of these things. or all of them. or maybe it's this.

so, there's this guy i know. happens to be one of the very few people in this world that i'd take a bullet for. this guy has this crazy idea. he's going to buy a santa suit. he's going to wear this santa suit. and not just for his kids. but for a lot of kids. he's going to make house calls for goodness sake. he's going to spend his weekends at food giant making sure that kids he has never seen and may never see again have a chance to tell santa what they want for christmas. okay, so he's also going to have to give that same chance to 45 year old women with not enough teeth and not enough clothes that think it would be really cute and fun to sit on santa's lap. it's a dirty job. you have to take the good with the bad.

in my eyes, this act, this idea is a beautiful metaphor for what christmas-time should be about. instead of railing against the commercialism of the holiday, this guy is owning it. instead of just being upset that some people are too stingy and selfish to "understand" the "true meaning" of christmas, this guy is doing something about it. and he's making kids happy. and he's making cynical parents warm with the idea of of their kids being happy. it's his idea. it's his ministry. there are people all over the world that play the role of santa. suit and all. some are paid. some are not. these people are very special. kids can't get the idea of jesus as the ultimate "giver". hell, sometimes i can't. but they can get santa. this jolly guy in red that shows up and gives them something out of the kindness of his heart and doesn't ask for anything in return. now, this is the part of the story where some might think or say that santa doesn't come to every house. and i get that. i know i am lucky. i know my family is blessed. but i didn't say santa was the true meaning of christmas. i said this guy, this idea would be my true meaning of christmas.

and so tonight, hannah, santa kiker will come see you. you may be stoked. you may completely freak out. we'll see. i keep thinking, though, that this may be one of your first true memories that you hold onto. i hope so. it would be a good one.

i know i will hold onto it. merry christmas, kiker. merry christmas, indeed.