Well....
A few years back, with Christmas only days away, I decided to take some time to ponder a question posed to me by my wife. That question; “What do you want for Christmas?”
I thought about it… What do I want for Christmas? Hmmmm….Well, very much in keeping with the movie A Christmas Story, there was one item in particular that I had wanted for some time.
A Christmas Story always pops into my mind whenever I hear this question. I guess that it’s appropriate because I can relate to so much of this movie and equate a lot of the story to my own life (both Ralphie, the main character, and myself spent some time with a bar of Lifebuoy soap sticking out of our mouths). I’m sure that if you’ve seen the film, you too can find some similarities between the lives depicted in the film and your own.
Well, much like Ralphie from the movie longs to get his hands on the “Holy Grail” of Christmas presents, a “Red Ryder” BB Gun (Young Ralphie has the advertisement for the carbine memorized verbatim and reiterates its verbiage to everyone that inquires about what he wants for Christmas, including Santa himself – those of you that have seen this masterpiece of cinematic Americana know exactly how passionate Ralphie is about attaining this gift); I too had a similar quest.
My desire and dream for the perfect Christmas gift was driven by my 20+ years in the martial arts. I have always wanted a “genuine” Samurai Sword. In fact, I had always wanted a: Paul Chen, Shinto ~ Soul of the Samurai” .39” long, 1095 Carbon Steel, cotton cord wrapped over real Stingray skin, Samurai “Katana” (sword). I love to blurt out the details contained in the ad just like Ralphie did. My desire to finally obtain this piece d’ resistance of Christmas presents for me had only been fueled by the likes of the Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai,” an Akiri Kurasowa (black and white subtitled) film festival on A&E and a special that had aired on TLC about the great Samurai Warrior. I wanted that sword!
Well…..One night, as I lay awake in bed “dreaming” about my Red Ryder…I mean my Samurai Katana, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. "What more do you need, Kevin?”As I lay there and reflected, my mind dissected the question and a review of my “memory files” commenced. My contemplation ended with a recollection of a trip to my doctor’s office (at the time of my doctor’s appointment the only thing that I wanted for Christmas was a clean bill of health). Anyhoo….While I sat in the waiting room, I read a reality check-type article from the December issue of Smithsonian written by Barbara Sjoholm entitled, “Dear Santa.”
This article was about a small “Santa Claus Village” in the town ofRovaniemi , Finland Afghanistan to Zambia
In most cases the letters are light and typical of the Dear Santa letters that we all write as children. Some include drawings or pictures of family members, friends and pets, others are in barely legible crayon. The different languages these letters come in are too many to count. These children are from every race, color and creed on the planet.
The volunteers in the Santa Village reply to over 40,000 letters (the ones that come in with return addresses) via a form letter. The volunteers also reply to about 2,000 of the inbound letters with hand-written responses. These are the letters that gave me the answer to the Holy Spirit’s question: “What more do you need Kevin?”
The topics of these roughly 2,000 letters are of a nature that truly distinguishes the difference between wants and needs. These are the letters from children asking Santa to perform the near impossible. The children ask him for a new limb to replace the one that was blown off by a landmine. They ask Santa to bring back their mom or dad that was killed on September 11th. They beg for cures for incurable diseases. The children ask Santa to stop the bombing in their village and bring rest to their country that is deep in the midst of civil conflict. They ask Santa to bring back siblings that have died or been killed. They ask that someone adopts them from a Russian orphanage. They ask Santa to keep their school open. They ask for food to come more regularly. They ask for warmer clothing. They ask for jobs for their daddy or mommy. They ask Santa to bring back grandma who was killed in a bus bombing. Their requests go on and on… What more do you need, Kevin….(Gulp!)?????
We all get caught up in a Christmas season that has become so commercialized, even though my conscience and a banner that hangs on our Knights of Columbus hall constantly remind me to “Keep Christ in Christmas”, I still get swept away with all of the holiday festivities. Every time I catch myself I think about those letters to Santa and realize that the answer to God’s question is: “Nothing.” I have so many gifts/blessing that they are too numerous to recount.
So, in closing, I’ll have to change directions and refer to a different Christmas movie than A Christmas Story. This "new movie" is also one that is a “must see” if you haven’t seen it already. This movie drives home the answer tp both the Holy Spirit’s question and my wife’s question, and provides us with the body of what all of our “Dear Santa” letters should say.
The movie is A Charlie Brown Christmas. The message is, and I’ll quote Linus (Luke 2, 8:14)…:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city ofDavid
[Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is:] “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown…..
God’s Peace and Love to all of you.
Merry Christmas and to all a good night!
Kevin Neis
p.s. “You’ll shoot your eye out kid….” (or in my case, “You’ll cut your foot off kid”)
I thought about it… What do I want for Christmas? Hmmmm….Well, very much in keeping with the movie A Christmas Story, there was one item in particular that I had wanted for some time.
A Christmas Story always pops into my mind whenever I hear this question. I guess that it’s appropriate because I can relate to so much of this movie and equate a lot of the story to my own life (both Ralphie, the main character, and myself spent some time with a bar of Lifebuoy soap sticking out of our mouths). I’m sure that if you’ve seen the film, you too can find some similarities between the lives depicted in the film and your own.
Well, much like Ralphie from the movie longs to get his hands on the “Holy Grail” of Christmas presents, a “Red Ryder” BB Gun (Young Ralphie has the advertisement for the carbine memorized verbatim and reiterates its verbiage to everyone that inquires about what he wants for Christmas, including Santa himself – those of you that have seen this masterpiece of cinematic Americana know exactly how passionate Ralphie is about attaining this gift); I too had a similar quest.
My desire and dream for the perfect Christmas gift was driven by my 20+ years in the martial arts. I have always wanted a “genuine” Samurai Sword. In fact, I had always wanted a: Paul Chen, Shinto ~ Soul of the Samurai” .39” long, 1095 Carbon Steel, cotton cord wrapped over real Stingray skin, Samurai “Katana” (sword). I love to blurt out the details contained in the ad just like Ralphie did. My desire to finally obtain this piece d’ resistance of Christmas presents for me had only been fueled by the likes of the Tom Cruise movie, “The Last Samurai,” an Akiri Kurasowa (black and white subtitled) film festival on A&E and a special that had aired on TLC about the great Samurai Warrior. I wanted that sword!
Well…..One night, as I lay awake in bed “dreaming” about my Red Ryder…I mean my Samurai Katana, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. "What more do you need, Kevin?”As I lay there and reflected, my mind dissected the question and a review of my “memory files” commenced. My contemplation ended with a recollection of a trip to my doctor’s office (at the time of my doctor’s appointment the only thing that I wanted for Christmas was a clean bill of health). Anyhoo….While I sat in the waiting room, I read a reality check-type article from the December issue of Smithsonian written by Barbara Sjoholm entitled, “Dear Santa.”
This article was about a small “Santa Claus Village” in the town of
In most cases the letters are light and typical of the Dear Santa letters that we all write as children. Some include drawings or pictures of family members, friends and pets, others are in barely legible crayon. The different languages these letters come in are too many to count. These children are from every race, color and creed on the planet.
The volunteers in the Santa Village reply to over 40,000 letters (the ones that come in with return addresses) via a form letter. The volunteers also reply to about 2,000 of the inbound letters with hand-written responses. These are the letters that gave me the answer to the Holy Spirit’s question: “What more do you need Kevin?”
The topics of these roughly 2,000 letters are of a nature that truly distinguishes the difference between wants and needs. These are the letters from children asking Santa to perform the near impossible. The children ask him for a new limb to replace the one that was blown off by a landmine. They ask Santa to bring back their mom or dad that was killed on September 11th. They beg for cures for incurable diseases. The children ask Santa to stop the bombing in their village and bring rest to their country that is deep in the midst of civil conflict. They ask Santa to bring back siblings that have died or been killed. They ask that someone adopts them from a Russian orphanage. They ask Santa to keep their school open. They ask for food to come more regularly. They ask for warmer clothing. They ask for jobs for their daddy or mommy. They ask Santa to bring back grandma who was killed in a bus bombing. Their requests go on and on… What more do you need, Kevin….(Gulp!)?????
We all get caught up in a Christmas season that has become so commercialized, even though my conscience and a banner that hangs on our Knights of Columbus hall constantly remind me to “Keep Christ in Christmas”, I still get swept away with all of the holiday festivities. Every time I catch myself I think about those letters to Santa and realize that the answer to God’s question is: “Nothing.” I have so many gifts/blessing that they are too numerous to recount.
So, in closing, I’ll have to change directions and refer to a different Christmas movie than A Christmas Story. This "new movie" is also one that is a “must see” if you haven’t seen it already. This movie drives home the answer tp both the Holy Spirit’s question and my wife’s question, and provides us with the body of what all of our “Dear Santa” letters should say.
The movie is A Charlie Brown Christmas. The message is, and I’ll quote Linus (Luke 2, 8:14)…:
“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were so afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of
[Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is:] “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown…..
God’s Peace and Love to all of you.
Merry Christmas and to all a good night!
Kevin Neis
p.s. “You’ll shoot your eye out kid….” (or in my case, “You’ll cut your foot off kid”)
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