S.O.S. Santa Claus!

POSTED IN contemporary poetry, Stories December 24, 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S. O. S. Santa Claus!

Ever since we were children we have been waiting for Santa Claus to arrive on Christmas Eve and give us something which usually was our deepest wish. Growing up we have learned that Christmas is all about peace on earth, good will to mankind, light in our hearts. The road from the child waiting for Santa to the adult waiting for his children to smile in Santa’s arms is paved with memories, patience, experience and most of all the desire to keep alive the spirit of Christmas.
I was the child waiting for Santa, like I was waiting for my best friend. Now I am the adult who wants to help Santa be healthy and happy. But the time has changed and Santa gets slowly scared, tired during Christmas.
People grew too busy, too impatient, too greedy and some of them slowly have forgotten what Christmas is really all about. Santa cannot change the calendar, to reverse the time. He is confused: nowadays Christmas starts already in October?
All the shops are filled with shiny christmassy advertisement, TV offers all sorts of Christmas sales. By November the cities dress their Christmas trees with lights and stars are shining everywhere. When December comes every city or village is hosting the famous “christmas market”, where people go to drink mulled wine, eat sausages and buy all kind of christmassy stuff.
One can see Santa’s confusion! The Christmas trees aren’t green anymore! No! Now they are either white, or dazzling colorful, or golden yellow, cubist, or surrealist (Salvador Dali would be more confused than Santa!) as if we render our Christmas for a competition of the most postmodernist view and not as it is supposed to be: traditional. The streets become more and more crowded with busy people, nervous, aggressive, pushy, searching for something which never seems to please them enough. The food is either too expensive or out of date. The presents they prepare are a “must” not a pleasure. The cards they MUST send are too many to be written: in other words everything is “too something”.
Out of all this charade named Christmas one thing disturbs Santa the most: the presents offered by people to people. Offering a present to someone should bring happiness in both hearts: the giver and the receiver. When one prepares a present, one must think of the person who will receive it: what do they like, what would make them happy? A present should say: “I know who you are, I know what you secretly want, I know your dreams, wishes and I’d like to try to offer you a smile”.
A present mustn’t be a “must”, a duty, a “he gave me and I have to give him back “, do ut des. A present should be a quintessence of the person who offers it and of the person who receives it. Not a bribe, not a must, not a “thing which I don’t need, so I can give it to somebody else and get rid of it and of the duty of offering a present”. Or even worse: a present should not become a competition of “who’s richer than who?”. Unfortunately, more and more Christmas time has become a time for expensive gifts which have an ulterior motive. The heart is no longer involved in the process.
So, bottom line: Santa is sad and confused. How can we help him?
I remember him when I was a child, and he came to my parents’ house. It was not a rich house but it was clean, warm, luminous, cosy, with a shy Christmas tree in a corner decorated with candles and angels and ornaments made by me and my brothers. Santa felt home in my house. He knew the road by heart, it was silent night, snowy starry night, every year. Maybe that silence and the snow-covered house where children were dreaming of him in Christmas Eve is one thing which could guide Santa through the noisy life of today. Bear with us, Santa, we will bring back the Christmas spirit and we will remember how to make a house be a home for you!

 

Maria Magdalena Biela