Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Christmas Season - Santa time

Each one of us has received gifts at some point of time in our life. Most often, we receive gifts from people we know. The joy that one feels is for everyone around to see when one opens the gift-wrappings.

As a kid, I used to eagerly wait for Christmas Eve. I used to hope that Santa would come and gift me something I desired for during that age. Most elders and family members always stated that Santa would only gift you something if you were a good kid throughout the year. After that, they used to remind me of the bad things I might have done and why Santa would not gift me anything in that case.

However, my parents would try to figure out what I really wanted before Christmas. Alternatively, they would buy something that would make me happy.  Under the disguise of Santa, my parents would keep a gift under the Christmas tree that I would find the next morning when I would wake up.

This continued for a few years until I grew up and my parents updated me that Santa would stop visiting me, as I was no longer a kid. Around the same time, I realized that Santa was just an imaginary character in the life of us kids. This hurt me more than the fact that I would not receive gifts from Santa any more. It took me some time to overcome the lie with which I had grown up.

However, at quite a later stage in my life when I looked back over those years, I realized that gifts were just one way of expressing love and care by those people who were close to us. Gifts could be in form of material objects, people, a feeling, or even kind words that make the other person happier or less sad.

Each one of us is a Santa to our loved ones. My parents made me happy when I was a kid during the Christmas season by taking the form of Santa.

Now, I am 30 years old and am still waiting for Santa during the Christmas season. Yes, you read it right.

The reason being for the last 2 years at my workplace, we have been playing Secret Santa. For people who are not aware, Secret Santa is a Christmas tradition in which a person in a group is randomly assigned another person in the group to whom they anonymously give a gift.

So are you planning to be a Santa for your loved ones?

Wishing you and your families a very Happy Christmas.