“Is Santa … real?”
The question was heavy on my heart. I was that age when whispers at school made the magic feel fragile, like it might shatter if I looked too closely.
So I asked my beloved grandmother, “Gonny, is Santa real?”
Without missing a beat, she looked at me with wise eyes filled with love—eyes that had seen seven decades of Christmases—and said, “Momo, Santa is the spirit of Christmas.”
In that moment, she didn’t take Santa away—she made him glorious. Suddenly Santa wasn’t confined to one night, one sleigh, one man. Santa was everywhere. Shimmering. Infinite.
Santa became the shriek of delight when a child discovers that one perfect toy. The smile spreading across a parent’s face, watching. The surprise note tucked in a backpack on a random Tuesday. The stranger steadying someone elderly at the crosswalk. The barista who draws a heart in your foam after being on his feet for nine hours straight.
Santa is joy. Surprise. Delight. The magic of giving—seen in all its infectious sparkle.
This year, while everyone’s drowning in shopping lists and perfect presentations, what if we remembered what Gonny taught me? We don’t wait for Santa. We answer the invitation to become Santa.
Send that text to a friend at 2pm on a Tuesday. Buy the coffee for the exhausted person behind you. Tuck a warm scarf on that bench where someone sleeps. Pause. Notice. Give.
Because here’s what I’ve discovered since that conversation with Gonny: When we realize we’ve had the power to be Santa all along, the magic multiplies. It spreads. It grows.
My Gonny knew. (It’s quite possible she knew everything, by the way!) Now you know too.
Santa is real. Santa is us. And Santa is absolutely, gloriously everywhere.
This holiday, who will you surprise with the spirit of Christmas? ✨
Blessings on you and your loved ones this holiday season x