The Real Santa Claus

   This past weekend while dining at a local buffet restaurant, my 5 year old Avery saw Santa Claus. He was so excited, he was telling us all about it! I looked up to see this large man in a Santa suit making his way to a party in another room. Avery then made it his mission to see the man, he made his dad take him to the window so he could peak in. He came back to the table to tell us all that this was the REAL Santa not like the fake fat men in a suit, he was real. Now let me tell you that we live in a very multi cultural society and I have always taught my children that no matter what the color of your skin is we are all equal. That said, my face turned bright red when my beautiful 5 year old stood in the middle of the restaurant and said as loud as he could....

 "Did you know the real Santa is Black?".

 

 

   I love the innocence of a child. I love that he knew that no matter what color of skin this man had it had to be the "real" Santa Claus. I am so happy that my child has learned this lesson that we as adults still have yet to learn. In my mind I was thinking, maybe I should explain to him that there is a Santa Claus for every culture or maybe tell him that this was Santa's helper. But I couldn't bring myself to say much of anything. I was speechless that my child was so certain that this man was the real one. I was so proud. 

 

   I noticed that this is not something we often think about or discuss. You don't generally think that maybe other people don't see Santa Claus the same way we do. Some people may only believe in the big fat white man with rosey red cheeks, and snowy white beard. But living in a world where there are so many other cultures and such diversity, maybe we should discover what others believe in and teach some of that to our children. Not everything is in black and white, we see in color and color is all around us. Thank you Avery for once again opening my eyes.