Scott Bremner

My oldest has moved past such childish things, her world now absorbed in skirts and lipstick, boots and boys, computer chats and MP3’s.

It’s a telling testament to the speed of our world these days that she is not yet eleven years old.

In my youngest, though, the sparkle still shines, and even though she envies the two years her sister has on her she has not yet abandoned her childhood in that headlong rush toward tweendom.

She still wants Santa to know what she really wants for Christmas; she still sets out not only milk and cookies but carrots as well lest the reindeer be left out hungry in the cold.

She still believes.

Number One passed the threshold not with an epiphany but with a casual aside, one day just mentioning to her mother her views on Christmas as yet one more piece of proof as to just how old and wise she has become.

But Number Two may darn well demand an explanation when her time comes as to whether she has been the unwitting victim of some cruel, vast conspiracy.

She may well look her dad right in the face and want to know,

“Dad, is there a Santa Claus?”

To which I will take a deep breath, look her square in those bright brown eyes and admit,

“You bet your stockings there is!”

You see, my dear, you may well have a tough time finding Santa on a map.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist.

You can’t find courage or love or pride on a map either.

Does that mean that they aren’t real?

Santa Claus exists in that moment when you hold the door open and smile for a total stranger.

Santa exists when something compels you to stop to drop a few coins in a red kettle.

You feel him in the first few notes of your favorite carol heard for the first time of the season.

You’ll find him in that excitement over the holidays because you know your family is going to come together to shut out of coldness and realness of the world and even for just one evening create a warmth you wish every day could contain.

And then there is that magical instant, with everyone prepared to exchange gifts, when your soul first grows to the point that your nervous excitement is not over what you may get but the look on someone else’s face for what you did for them?

Yes, kids there is a Santa Claus, and it is in that moment where he truly lives.

HEY! The Bremner Family wants to wish you and yours Happy Holidays and a bright and prosperous 2008!