December Sketchbook: Gate Gossipers

I know that, personally, one of the best things about visiting the family home is that feeling you get when you finally see the front gate. If you lived on a farm, this is especially true. This is the time of year when that shabby wooden gate becomes the grand entrance to a magical world full of laughter and cheer.

There's an old saying that everyone is a kid at Christmas. I definitely believe that to be true. I mean, doesn't looking at holiday displays in the department store make you feel all giddy inside? It's just like back when you were that one kid who could barely see over the window ledge, standing on your dad's feet to catch a glimpse of Santa's Train roaring through a snowy model landscape in the window of J.C. Penny. Or what about the sight of Santa at the mall? Do you still have to resist the urge to run up to him with arms flung wide, a fanatical smile on your face as you spout about how good you've been all year? If not, then maybe you've let go of what the holidays are really about.

There's a tendency as we get older to set aside those things that made us happy as children just because "it isn't proper adult behavior" - things like mud pies, imaginary friends, and even Santa Claus. No, I don't mean the commercial Santa that was invented by the Coca-Cola Company or the ones that were painted by Norman Rockwell. I mean the real Santa Claus (or Sinterklaas, or Kris Kringle, or whatever you happen to call him). And it isn't Santa himself that I'm talking about, but the idea that he represents - the compassionate giving to those less fortunate without any expectation of thanks or gain. It is the joy found in the giving, not in the praise that is received because of it.

I guess you could say that the real Santa was the world's first social worker - handing out food, shoes, and blankets to destitute serfs in medieval Europe. Yes, it's said that he was a man of the cloth, and that's just fine. There's no harm in saying that God wants you to help people who are suffering, and then actually going out and doing it. Even an Agnostic can find respect in that, because whether you're black, white, yellow, red, tan, or even blue, you're still a member of this one huge family called Humanity.

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