Ken Beaton: To believe or not believe

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year with family traditions, people have kinder attitudes, and the world becomes a better place for a few days. Thirty-nine years ago, one of our family’s Christmas Eve traditions was to leave a homemade chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk and a note for Santa. Besides our Christmas stocking presents and presents under the tree, Santa always wrote a sentence thanking us for the homemade cookie and the milk to provide him with the energy to deliver all those remaining presents in his sleigh around the world.

In 1984 Christmas was a watershed year. Everything seemed to be the same, a thank you from Santa on Christmas morning with the presents for us under the tree. However, a rogue wave was about wash ashore in Carson City.

On Christmas afternoon I was caught off guard when my 7-year-old son, Paul, asked me to write, “Paul, you’re a good soccer player.” It seemed like a perfectly innocent request. Little did I know I was being set up to be busted! I was standing next to a 7-year-old who had the ability to analyze two or more facts and reach a conclusion better than a number of adults. He reached in his pocket and removed the thank you note that Santa wrote. Next, he compared my handwriting with Santa’s. After five seconds of comparing the slant and curves at the end of each word, he concluded, “Dad, you wrote the note from Santa! You’re Santa!”

Instantly, my pride was seriously bruised! From the time I was a student in junior high school, I was the person who pulled pranks in our neighborhood and at school, advancing to more complicated pranks in high school, commuting to Boston five days a week either by car across the Mystic River Bridge or riding in the green or blue Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority tracks underneath in the first city in America to have a subway system.

For decades I held the Massachusetts record for being the “Big Kahuna of Pranks in Massachusetts!” Each spring my five-foot sterling silver trophy would be engraved with my name, month, day and year. Mom purchased a picture within a picture of the trophy with right bottom corner a close-up of the month, day and year.

I told Paul, “There are almost 5 billion people in the world (1984) and half of them are Christians. You’re right, I wrote the thank you note from Santa. Think of Santa as the CEO, chief executive officer, of Christmas. There is no way he could bring presents to 2.5 billion people in a 24-hour time period or less. As CEO, Santa has at least 400 million helpers who believe in the spirit of Christmas and distribute gifts to 2.5 billion people on Christmas Eve in his name. I am one of Santa’s worker bees because I believe in love and the spirit of Christmas. If you choose not to believe in the spirit of Christmas, there will be nothing in your stocking and no presents from Santa next Christmas.”

1985’s Christmas was not the same as past Christmases. Despite Paul’s analyzing talents, the excitement and anticipation of Christmas was missing. George Strait sang a country and western hit, “She took the wind from his sails!” The school of hard knocks has the best learning curve.

When December 1986 arrived, Paul was excited about Santa’s arrival on the 25th. His excitement peaked when he told me on Christmas Eve, “Dad, I think I heard reindeer hooves on the roof. I’m going to bed and cover my head!” Whatever your age, nothing can top your excitement as you open a gift on Christmas morning that touches our heart, “How did you know this present was number one on my list?”

Retired University of Southern California Professor Leo Buscalia’s words are true today, “No matter what the question, love is the answer.” If you don’t believe me, try to prove me wrong.