Check-It-Out: Santa is Fake

Megumi's father is visiting us from Tokyo for a couple weeks, so we decided to go to his favorite place on the earth - The Grand Canyon. We packed up the family and drove to Williams, Arizona, which is about 450 miles from Irvine. Now that can take an entire day - all dependent on the mood of the little ones. But praise God that our children travel well - we only had to stop for Sora Hope to eat - once in Barstow and again in Kingman. We made in exactly 7 hours.

We checked-into our room at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel, ate a buffet dinner (not bad if you like Hometown Buffet), and then prepared ourselves for magic.

You should know that all of my kids still believe in Santa - even my 11-year old daughter, Hana and certainly her younger brother, Sei, age 6. And Megumi and I are playing along.

It's not like we talk a lot about it with them, which I think helps preserve the whole notion. (I have a hard time keeping a straight face). So when we decided to purchase tickets for the Polar Express in Williams, I knew this would either ruin it or elevate their imagination. This evening, we boarded the preserved Pullman train cars, which chugged out of the train depot into darkness, only to pick up speed through the "time-tunnel." Many of the kids (and adults) were dressed down in their PJs. We were served chocolate chip cookies and a hot chocolate that seemed like it was a melted-down Hershey's Bar - too sweet for my son, Sei, but perfect for little Tomo. We then listened to the story of the Polar Express while helpers showed us pictures from the story book. Anticipation was high, and it reached a frenzy when it arrived at the North Pole about 30 minutes later. We stopped at a little village with bright lights where Santa was waiting outside waving to all the kids, who had crowded to that window side, faces pressed against the cold glass. Santa came inside our car, and it was nuts. I intentionally looked at my kids' eyes, and I remember especially Sei's look.

Santa came to every child and gave a large jingle bell (you have to read the story if you don't know it). It was magic.

Afterwards, Hana made the remark that she wasn't sure if it was actually Santa (I think she's cracking). Of course, this led her little brother saying the same thing. "Papa, was he real?"

My response: "Actually - he was a robot.....did he look real? did he sound real?" I mean, even his beard was yellow.

Sei later said that he was going to test Santa by once again leaving him cookies and milk on Christmas Eve and leaving him a note with a question "Do you remember my name?" Sei noted that he told Santa his name on the Polar Express and can't wait to see if he remembers it. One additional note: My kids attend a private non-sectarian school where much of the early curriculum is focused on fostering a wild imagination in the kids. Lots of stories, lots of art with total discouragement of electronic media (no computers in any of the classrooms and TV and video games are highly discouraged). These kids have wild imaginations and capacity to create and imagine things on their own. People have asked us why we do not send them to a Christian school instead to help grow their faith. I have a long explanation for our decision, but here's my simple answer:

Christians should have the wildest imaginations of all humans. More on that later.

In the meantime, we will play along, knowing the life of faith is full of mystery. A large part of embracing smallness is embracing things that cannot be explained. Be leery of Christians who have a nicely wrapped answer for everything. These are probably the same people who ruin Christmas for many.