He said/ She said: Santa: The truth is out there

___Despite our collective shortcomings of the past year, Santa made his customary visit to our house this Christmas and left us goodies rather than lumps of coal. ___Now that our boys are third-graders--and under the influence of oh-so-worldly fourth-graders in their mixed-grade classrooms--they had their doubts about the reality of Sa MARK WINGFIELD nta. ___For weeks leading up to Christmas, we had discussions around the dinner table that went something like this: ___Garrett: "Some kids at school say Santa isn't real. Is Santa for real?" ___Dad: "What do you think? Do you believe Santa is real?" ___Garrett: "I don't know." ___ Luke: "Well, of course, he's real. If he's not, where do all those letters to Santa get sent--to the North Pole Destruction Company?" ___ Alison and I have decided that both boys want desperately to believe in Santa, because they're afraid if they stop believing in Santa the gifts will stop showing up. ___So, despite their reservations, Luke and Garrett held on to their believe in Santa, and sure enough, he delivered two scooters beside the fireplace Christmas morning. Along with goodies in the stockings (Santa obviously doesn't know anything about the dangers of tooth decay), Santa even brought a big new bone for Molly, our dog. She was as delighted as the boys. ___Santa also left a note, thanking the boys for the cookie and peanut butter ball and milk (the boys wondered how Santa knew it was called a peanut butter ball, but I assured them Santa knew his way around the finer chocolates of the world). His note assured them that Santa would always be real as long as they believed. ___ And for now, with scooters underfoot, they say they do. Mark Wingfield is managing editor of the Standard. Alison Wingfield is a freelance writer. The Wingfields moved to Texas from Louisville, Ky., where Mark had been editor of the Western Recorder, in which this column appeared weekly. ___Garrett was our biggest skeptic this year. He continually schemed to unwrap the truth about Santa. ___His biggest plan was for Mom and Dad to submit handwriting samples, using the same handwriting we would use if we were writing a Santa note (trusting soul, isn’t he?). Then he planned to compare the actual ALISON WINGFIELD Santa’s note with our samples. His parents never got around to complying with this wily scheme, so the truth is still out there somewhere. ___I could tell there was more cynicism in our house this year when the boys put off writing their Santa letters, which is usually first on the getting-ready-for-Christmas agenda. When they still hadn’t written them by Christmas Eve, Luke said it wouldn’t be a problem, because Santa has a crystal snow ball and would know what they wanted anyway. This convenient idea was courtesy of a video they had seen at school. ___ But I think Mark is wrong about the motives of our children. Getting great gifts is definitely in there somewhere, but I think it is much more than that. They don’t want to let go of the magic feeling of Christmas. ___ We went to see "The Grinch" movie before Christmas, but they didn’t like all the extra stuff that was added to the story to make it a full-length feature. So, they requested that we watch the original TV version multiple times. Hopefully the message that Christmas is more than all the trappings and presents is the reason they love this classic. ___ One of my favorite memories of Christmases past is my Mother reading about the birth of Jesus to us on Christmas Eve. Now my boys remind us of that tradition, and even requested we read it a night early this year. ___ Naturally, we emphasize the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrate the coming of Christ. But it doesn’t hurt to have that special excitement and magic of not knowing what will come our way on Christmas morning. ___ Santa or no Santa, the magic of Christmas lives on in the Wingfield house, as long as there are hands to hold and hearts to laugh. Ba-hu-rah-re.

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