3 STAGES OF SANTA CLAUS

It was two weeks before Christmas and we were in our kitchen in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Jordan was about twelve years old.

Earlier that year I had been visiting my oldest daughter, Julie, who lived in France. It was Easter and unfortunately their dad wasn’t plugged in well enough to remember the Easter Bunny. No chocolate bunnies, eggs or jelly beans showed up. What happened to the magic bunny in the full moon? It was devastating.

The kids expressed genuine concern. Maybe it was time. At twelve and thirteen they quickly figured out that the Easter Bunny only shows up if Mom’s around. To this day if any of my children are home you can be sure the Easter Bunny is probably going to show up.

It was December and I was in the kitchen cooking dinner when Jordan walked in. Apparently he was concerned that maybe Santa Claus was going to pull a “no show” as well.

“I just can’t wait for Santa Claus to show up this year, Mom. I love Santa Claus! He always brings me cool presents. I just can’t wait!”

I smiled. Pretty clever I thought. I knew Jordan knew the real deal. After all he was growing armpit hair. I guessed it was time to set the record straight.

“Jordan,” I said. “There are three stages of Santa Claus.

“The first stage is for small children. You hear the story about elves, the North Pole, reindeer and coming down the chimney. It’s a beautiful story and a wonderful tradition.

“The second stage, you learn that the reindeer, chimney, elf and North Pole story are a little exaggerated. Then you develop your own ideas about Santa.

“The third stage, YOU ARE SANTA CLAUS.”

Merry Christmas to all my friends! 

Here's a fun, country two-steppin' song I wrote and recorded with a group of wonderful children in East Texas who are all grown up now and have babies of their own. KWKH played it first. To date there have been over 48,000 listens.