Will Santa Claus Return?

I looked forward to the Christmas party and gifts; but something that I most eagerly waited for, was the arrival of Santa Claus. A lot of excitement and surprise were associated with his arrival. All I used to be worried about is whether I would have my stocking ready and hang it in my room for Santa to drop in a gift into it. I used to ready it myself.

I still remember, it used to be a beautiful red and white stocking, well-decorated, hung at my room's window, the night before Christmas. I used to launder it myself and decorate it so that Santa would like it. I also remember using sparkling colored decorations for the stocking. I believed, Santa would find them attractive.

I always wanted him to visit my place before visiting any other house in the neighborhood. I believed this would fetch me the most precious and the best of gifts from his goody bag. I always thought of myself as being his favorite as I always got what I wanted most.

I wondered how he managed to ride a sledge and climb down chimneys. I admired his skill of finding houses where children lived and cleverly dropping a nice gift into the stockings that kids hung. I could never figure out how he could do all this without being seen even once!

There was a secret longing to see him, meet him; along with a strange kind of fear of losing the thrill in not seeing him. I feared seeing him as I did not want to lose the excitement in never having met him at all... It was strange yet funny to want and not want to meet him; both at the same time.

These whys and hows had started eclipsing my belief in Santa and all the good in the world that he symbolized; my childhood had started slipping away. Yes, I had stopped believing in Santa Claus. By then, I had come to know that it was either my mom or dad who gifted me every Christmas, and not Santa.

It wasn't Santa who came down through the chimney to gift me. It was my mom who sneaked into my room after I was fast asleep and placed a nice gift in my stocking. Although I still looked forward to receiving Christmas gifts, the excitement was not the same.

I appreciated the gifts mom and dad bought every Christmas, but there was not much surprise and excitement left in the whole affair. Yes, Christmas gifts had become a yearly 'affair'.

As time went by, I derived a new meaning of Santa Claus. "Who is Santa?" if you ask me today, I will say, Santa is no mortal human being; he symbolizes 'immortal' hope; the hope that never dies. In fact, hope never dies; it's 'us' who lose it. And that's so much like Santa, who we stop believing in as we grow old; it's 'us' who 'lose' him.

Santa does not cease to exist. He exists in the fantasies that we sometimes need to live in, to stay away from life's stark realities. Santa symbolizes the 'impossibles', we seldom dare to aspire for. He symbolizes miracles, we hardly believe in.

Today, most of us have stopped believing that dreams can come true and that things can have happy endings. And to restore all that's lost, Santa will have to come back! He will have to come and make the world understand that hope never dies; that even impossible dreams can come true; that truth isn't always bitter; and that life can be a fairytale!

Today, people have stopped believing in the power of good; they do not believe in concepts like 'dream come true' and 'happily ever after'. We think they are only a part of fiction. But we often fail to understand that there is so much positivity in pursuing impossible dreams. They may or may not come true (why care?) but their pursuit is wonderful!

There's so much positivity in living in fantasies once in a while. There's something so much positive about looking only at the positives in life; there's no harm in being blindfolded to the negativities around. Why not wait for a happy ending rather than cribbing about whether life will have one!

How about never losing hope rather than feeling hopeless all the time? Why let the outside world dampen our enthusiasm about living? Why not be spirited, motivated, and happy from within? And why let anything shatter our belief in the good? Our belief in he who personifies all the positives; Santa Claus!

Believing in the existence of Santa Claus and waiting for him with the eagerness of a child is what each of us needs to do; as believing in him is believing in the strength of good. Believing in him is believing that hope never dies.