My Christmas List

When you get older the days of sitting down to write a letter to Santa are over. No painstaking attempt to make your childish print legible, lest Santa makes a mistake and bring you the wrong request. No more getting your parents to take it to the post office so you could drop the envelope yourself in the box designated for “Santa, North Pole” exclusively. Today, if kids write Santa at all, it’s probably an email. Today, I have a forum. This blog. So Santa, if you or one of your elves who electronically reply to the countless thousands of Christmas lists submitted, here’s one more.

Dear Santa,

How have you and Mrs. Claus been? I hope this email finds you both and the reindeer in good health. I will be spending Christmas alone again this year. Don’t feel bad for me, I’ve spent plenty of Christmas alone over the years. I had a good run thereof twenty years with family and friends. Last year, I got to spend it with the new woman in my life. Sadly, this year, she will be out of town. My son and daughter-in-law will be in South Florida. It’s okay, I’ll get to see them all when they get back. So, there is no tree or wreath, but I put a poinsettia on the front porch, so the neighbors didn’t think I was a Bah-Humbug kind of guy.

It’s funny Santa, but I don’t feel alone. I like my own company. I think of the host of friends who I love, and they love me in return. If I want to be with any of those I love, all I have to do is look into my heart, and I’m with them. This brings me the comfort and joy tidings the song extolls. That said, there are a couple of things I would like for Christmas.

I would like my significant other to know I am with her this holiday and every day. She is a most wonderful gift that keeps on giving. I also want my friend and his daughters to have the strength and courage to continue forward this season despite the recent loss of his wife due to cancer. I want them to know I love them dearly.

I have to tell you Santa, well, I don’t have to tell you, but I’m going to anyway, but I really don’t need anything this year. I could do the superficial bullshit of more money, a better job, new underwear, a yellow Tonka dump truck, but that isn’t going to give me the Christmas I want. The Christmas I want is what I have right now. Every day. I get up and have another chance to enjoy the day and maybe make a difference in someone’s life. It could be as small as a smile or kind word when they need it most. It could be the extra dollar I can give to someone who is struggling. Maybe to those people, those acts are not so small.

So Santa, if you can find it in your heart, please give me another day where I can do the things that make me happy, which is bringing happiness to others. To show them that the life we are given is a very valuable commodity that can’t be bought and shouldn’t be treated like “things” that have built-in predetermined obsolescence.

 And lastly, and I know this is a huge request, but maybe if I’m good, could the Bengals make the playoffs and win for the first time in 32 years? And can there not be a Major League Baseball Lockout so I can go with my son to our 33rd consecutive Opening Day. He already has tickets. We are going to New York to see our Mets.

Thank you,

Wade Berstler