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' Michael
Mayo
South Florida
v Sun-Sentinel ,
S. /a
dinner at a small Italian restaurant
in New York City, December 1970.1 was 4. On the
way out, the owner asked me a question: “So, what
is Santa Claus going to bring you for Christmas?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I’m a little Jewish boy.”
My parents blanched. The owner broke out in
laughter.
We had Hanukkah, which meant
eight days of celebration and eight
days of gifts, so I never felt
deprived. As I grew up in Brooklyn,
my family blended the Hanukkah
traditions of potato pancakes and spinning tops
with the New York holiday tradition of seeing the
big tree at Rockefeller Center.
But on Christmas morning, with no tree in our
house or big pile of presents to unwrap, I always
felt different. Not envious. Just different.
These days, however, I’m getting to know Santa
better every year.
Thirty-five years after my family dinner in New
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Yes, Virginia,
there is a Santa Claus.
I just didn’t always
understand him.
This season brings back a
flashback. I was having family
I’m getting
to know Santa
better every year.
York, I found myself at a small Italian restaurant
in South Florida on Christmas Eve 2005. My
daughter, Natalia, had been born five weeks earlier.
She was wearing a Santa Claus outfit. Swaddled in
red velvet with white trim, the little cap covering
her crinkled head, she slept through most of the
meal. You see, Virginia, my wife, Michelle, is
Catholic, which means w 7 e have a multi
denominational home. Which means our beloved
Natalia, now 2, gets the best of both worlds. Every
year, she is showered with gifts, toys
from her parents and grandparents,
the Christian ones and the Jewish
ones, and we celebrate it all.
Christmas. Hanukkah. Life.
Every December, the tree goes
up and the menorah comes out. We trim the
Christmas tree, and we light the Hanukkah candles.
We make beef brisket one week, then glazed ham
the next.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He’s not a
jolly fat man we see sitting in malls or riding sleighs
at the end of parades. He is you. He is every child.
He is the boundless hope and infinite love that come
in the tiniest package imaginable, one that begins
as a tiny cell in an incomprehensible ocean and
keeps growing. And smiling. Santa Claus, you see,
can come in a Nativity creche or in the warm glow
of a menorah.
When you grow older, you’ll find that adults
think they know all they need to know: But they
keep making mistakes because they fail to realize
that being human is about not having all the
answers. But one day, if you’re lucky, you’ll know
this: When you look into your children’s eyes, you”i
know that Santa Claus exists, ca
JIM CRAIGMYIE. COWBS
CHRISTMAS BONUSES AT
www.usaweekend.com:
We talk with two of the original
Virginia’s granddaughters!
Plus, don’t miss our star-studded
presentation of the classic poem
’Twas the Night Before Christmas.
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