The Pressure of Being Santa

I love Christmas. It is such a wonderful time of year to spend with family and friends. Plus, it’s the only time of year when you can celebrate a Savior’s birth and get trampled trying to buy Tickle Me Elmo for your child. I know that Christmas isn’t all about the gifts, but based on the roughly 1.6 million people I recently ran into at Target, I don’t think everyone got that message.

You might think I’m crazy, but I actually really enjoy Christmas shopping. There is no better time to witness the highs and lows of humanity than during the holiday shopping season. On any given trip to the mall you can see everything from precious children anxiously picking out the perfect present for mom to acts of bone-chilling terror. “Terror” may sound dramatic, but until you are confronted by a frazzled mom who desperately needs that last Zhu Zhu Pet that you just put in your cart, you have no idea.

Being in the holiday spirit, I decided to help her out and I gave her the rat – I think it was a rat. Actually I gave it to her because 1) it was quite possibly the ugliest toy I have ever seen, and 2) the look in her eyes made it abundantly clear that she was fully prepared to rip my heart out of my chest in order to get her hands on it.

Growing up, I never received the “hot toy” for Christmas. My parents simply didn’t have the means. And I survived.

Now, as a parent, I look back and wonder if that was hard on them or not. Every parent wants their child to be happy, and it seems like all kids are programmed to want the most popular, most hard to find toy more than anything else in the world. I am sure that every year my sister and I would beg and plead for whatever was the “it” toy – a Cabbage Patch Kid, Lazer Tag guns – and hope with all of our might that Santa would deliver. He never did because they couldn’t afford it, and now I look back and pray that I didn’t act like an unappreciative brat. At the time, I didn’t realize the amount of pressure that Santa was under. Now that the responsibility of being Father Christmas has fallen to me, I am much more sympathetic to his challenges.

I didn’t realize that Santa was responsible for driving to the mall and endlessly circling the parking lot waiting for an elusive parking spot to become available. During my last trip it took me just a shade under 30 minutes to park. At one point, I was afraid that I was going to run out of gas. I wonder if Santa ever had to have his sleigh towed? I also didn’t realize that doting parents are willing to do virtually anything to get their hands on certain toys. Apparently adults are a little less worried about being on the “naughty list” than their children. Finally, I didn’t realize just how fickle our little angels can be. Nothing like finally tracking down the perfect gift, only to have them announce over dinner that they have completely changed their minds.

Christmas morning, Tyler and Kailey will wake up and there will be no Zhu Zhu Pet under the tree. I think they will survive. I know that Christmas is not about the presents under the tree, but they don’t. They are only 5 and 2 and are convinced that Jesus’ birthday is the greatest day of the year because a heavyset, older man in red velvet is going to break into their house, eat their food and leave them presents. They seem perfectly okay with the whole breaking and entering thing.

What I love best about Christmas is getting to see it again through Tyler and Kailey’s eyes. I didn’t realize it, but as I have gotten older, I stopped appreciating the little things during the holidays. I love their pure excitement when they see all of the beautiful lights on the houses. Or how they work together so diligently to make sure that Santa has the perfect cookies and hot chocolate with exactly 10 marshmallows waiting for him. Their precious innocence, infectious excitement and sheer joy are so uplifting. Being Santa definitely has its challenges, but having a plate full of cookies with “my” name on it isn’t all bad.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

PS – You would not believe how much work it took to get this picture!

• Name:
• Email:
• Website:
• Comment: