I love Christmas. I have since I was a little boy. When I was between 3 and 10 I believed in Santa Claus. My goal was to see him delivering gifts on Christmas Eve. My two sisters and I would devise a plan each year to try to either take a nap during the day see we could stay up to see him, or have one of us stand watch. If either of us saw him, we’d come running.

Unfortunately, none of us could: a. Stay awake that long. b. stay up (mom an dad ALWAYS made us go to bed). And, c. None of us deep down REALLY wanted to see Santa Claus — it was spoil the surprise.

But, I would go to bed with very few Christmas presents under the tree. Then, I would wake up at 2am or 3am and sneak out to the living room where there would be MANY more gifts under the tree. It always AMAZED me how many more gifts would just magically appear under the tree in just a few hours.

One year, I had a flashlight in my room and I would sneak out and play with the toys before everyone got up. I got a Lionel Train set one year. Another year I got an airplane that would REALLY go. It was electric…it could take-off, fly around and circles and land. It was cool. Another year I got a Virtibird helecopter toy. It was really cool.

I know many Christian families won’t let their kids believe in Santa Claus, our family does. It’s not the only thing we tell our daughter about. We STRESS the reason for Christmas is the birth of God’s Son, Jesus. We also tell her that without Jesus’ birth, we’d never have salvation. It’s the best gift of all.

Well, I’ve been enjoying listening to my favorite Christmas music: Perry Como – Home for the Holidays (1959), Maranatha Long Play Christmas, Steve Green – Joy to the World, Steven Amerson – Is There A Place, Damaris Carbaugh (especially the song, May God Give His Gift This Christmas). I’ve also been dreaming of a white Christmas. The weather’s predicting 8 inches tomorrow. We’ll see.

Merry Christmas!

Greg