Dr. James L. Snyder
The best holiday for me is Christmas. I enjoy everything about Christmas except paying for many gifts. But looking back, it’s all been worth it. I can’t think of anything I would ever change.
It’s the one time of the year that families get together who usually aren’t together during the year because of work schedules and so forth.
I look forward to our great Christmas gatherings. There was a time in our family when the number of family members increased every year. I thought when we had children, that would be the end of it. But wouldn’t you know all of our kids decided to have their own kids? And it’s even come to the point where some of our grandkids are having their own kids.
Oh boy, when will this stop?
Actually, I hope it doesn’t stop.
Everybody looks forward to the Christmas holiday and everything associated with it. It is very hard to have a bad Christmas, no matter what seems to happen.
After our Christmas holiday, I was sitting in my easy chair drinking coffee and reflecting on all the Christmases I had as a child. Those were fun times. I got to see relatives I haven’t seen the rest of the year.
It was then I remembered something—the worst Christmas I ever had. I had forgotten about this, but all of a sudden, it came to mind.
When I was young, before I became a teenager, my parents would take me and my siblings downtown to meet Santa Claus. We would sit on his lap, take a candy cane from him, and tell him what we wanted for Christmas.
When we were done, he would say, “Ho, ho, ho,” give us a Merry Christmas look, then send us back to our parents.
I vividly remember the first time I told him that I would love to have a pony for Christmas. He agreed to bring me a pony, and then he did his “ho, ho, ho” routine.
When I got up that Christmas, I noticed no pony under the Christmas tree. As I thought more about it, I realized that nothing was under the Christmas tree that I had asked Santa for. I couldn’t understand it. My parents told me Santa would bring me the Christmas presents I asked for. Of course, I believed them.
Several Christmases passed, and the same thing happened or didn’t happen. And I was just a little bit confused about this guy called Santa Claus. Why wasn’t he good to his word?
I remember the year I turned 13. I was now a teenager, and so I had graduated to that smart level of being a teenager.
At school, we were having some kind of Christmas party, and they were talking about Santa Claus coming down the chimney to put presents under the Christmas tree and in the stockings hung by the fireplace. I didn’t think too much of it at the time.
That Christmas Eve, as we were getting our Christmas tree all “holidayed” up, I felt that something was missing with our Christmas decorations. Then, it hit me rather strongly.
“Dad,” I cried in alarm. He looked at me and said, “What’s wrong son?”
I looked at him angrily and asked, “Dad, where is the chimney?”
With a curious look, he responded, “What are you talking about?”
“It’s beginning to make sense,” I seriously said to my father. “I now know what’s wrong with our Christmas. I now know why I haven’t got my pony.”
My dad had no idea what I was talking about and asked me to explain.
“This week in school they were telling us all about Christmas and Santa Claus and Rudolph the red nose reindeer. One of the things they told us was that Santa Claus comes down the chimney to bring his gifts.”
I paused for a moment and then continued, “So, that’s why I’ve not got my pony for Christmas. Dad, where is our chimney?”
My dad was momentarily confused and had no idea how to respond to what I was saying.
“Well, son,” my father said, “we don’t have a chimney. We don’t even have a fireplace so we don’t need one.”
“How then is Santa going to get me my Christmas presents under our Christmas tree I asked for while sitting on his lap?”
Thinking back over that now, I couldn’t help but laugh. My father had a hard time explaining to me why we didn’t need a chimney for Christmas time. Every year, just before Christmas, I ask, “Dad, will we have a chimney this year?”
After a while, he got tired of hearing me ask that question and refused to come up with any more excuses.
I was confused about Santa Claus and Christmas, not knowing what to believe. It took me some time to sort out the Christmas holiday.
As I reflected on this, I thought that many things in life need sorting out. We believe something and then find out it wasn’t the truth.
Jesus addressed this in John 8:31-33, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
The truth about Jesus and His birth sets us free, and that truth can only be found in the Word of God.
Dr. James L. Snyder lives in Ocala, FL with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage. Telephone 1-352-216-3025, e-mail jamessnyder51@gmail.com, website www.jamessnyderministries.com
