I just read a posting on Facebook that says, Santa is giving out; hats and gloves and shoes and coats and mittens in our, now closed, Macy’s parking lot…while supplies last. My mom often told me of her Christmases when she was a child and the fact that it was a major event for her and her sisters to receive an orange and a banana and some nuts…for Christmas. There were five siblings in her family and her dad was an alcoholic. When you are cold…nothing says Merry Christmas better than a nice pair of new mittens and a scarf for your neck and a coat…when you have none.

Christmas Movie that was sponsored by the Lions Club in Eldorado was a major event for me in the 1960s. On Saturday morning many of us kids would enjoy a Holiday movie at the Orpehum Theatre and afterward, there were the Lions passing out, what seemed to me to be, giant baskets of candy and fruit and nuts and toys to each of us that were in attendance. Talk about feeling special…I felt like the Little Drummer Boy…

My friend speaks of, ‘always believing in the Christmas Spirit and the Spirit of Christ.’ I could not agree more… In our world where we tend to focus on which political party is in power…or who has the inside track to fame and fortune…or who has more than we do…and how did they get it…there is the little girl whos hands are cold and red…the little boy runs to school with a light jacket…and hugs his arms about him…for warmth…

I used to negotiate with Chancellors and Presidents of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale, Illinois. As president of the Civil Service Council, I represented the needs of nearly 2 thousand staff on the Carbondale Campus. I was speaking with a Chancellor on one occasion and telling him that many of his Civil Service staff received Food Stamps because they made so low wages. I went on to say that I had spoken to a group of Clerical Staff whose apparel was in disrepair and somewhat ragged. On another occasion, there were serious discussions regarding the Contracting Out of full-time Food Service positions. When I spoke to my friend, the Chancellor, regarding this frightening issue, along with my friend Jake, he became a bit angry with me and told me that perhaps he should consider contracting my custodial staff…as well… I was feeling rather unqualified for this speech with a powerful administrator and me…a lowly housekeeper…but I said that I knew that he would do the right thing… The Chancellor that I speak of had a heart of gold…and a bark that was much worse than his bite. He gave the Clerical Staff a raise and chose to not Contract any Civil Service Staff. This is the Spirit of Christmas…

Joy is a bit difficult to define…but you know it when you feel it. During the Christmas Season, we seek something to react with our emotions that will subsequently bring us that elusive joy that songs have been written about. We hope that our Christmas shopping will go well…or at least as planned. We labor to ensure that our decorations are eye-catching and somewhat better than our neighbors. During Advent, we desire our Pastor to read the passages from scripture that resonate with our personal Christmas. We donated to the poor children in order that they might have a better Christmas…we give to the needy in hopes that the spirit of the Enlightened Scrooge will drop upon us and we will magically understand the Reason For The Season… Some of us stand upon our soapbox and proclaim with righteous indignation…that we do not say Happy Holidays…we proclaim…Merry Christmas… We that perform this Christmas Theatre equivocate God’s Fiery Anger…with the meek and mild birth of our Saviour in a barn…

Christmas Magic is supposed to fall upon us from Heaven…with the Christmas Star to show brightly upon our dark path. Somehow we have not perceived that the Magic of Christmas rests in our hearts. It is not Chrismas reacting with us…it is us reacting with the birth of Jesus and the wonderful promise of the Season. MJ and I visited with a wonderful Physicians Assistant today. This woman, Misha, is full of joy and gives peace and hope to all that she meets. Combined with receiving much better news than you feared that you might…the Christmas Trees show more brightly and the Christmas Carols have a deeper meaning.

As if it were but yesterday…I remember riding to Eldorado with my buddy, Steve, in his 1950’s Chrysler. In the back seat

a lovely landscape picture that I had purchased at Down’s Furniture in Elkville. I purchased it on time because I did not have the $25 dollars to pay for it outright. Christmas In The Country was playing on the radio…and there was snow on the ground…and it was cold…and I felt like a millionaire who just had yet to count his money…

‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…’

All seemed calm…all seemed bright. Santa was watching Turner Classic Movies…as he liked the vintage films. Mrs. Claus was fast asleep down the hall in her bedroom after drinking two tumblers of Extraordinary Egg Nog that was manufactured in her Christmas Egg Nog and Spirits Shoppee that was adjacent to Santa’s Work Shop. Carolyn Claus had been an Egg Nog maker when she met Santa…many Christmases ago. Her Egg Nog was considered the best in the land of Christmas and it was fortified with her secret recipe… Most of the elves could not remain awake after just one tumbler of Nog…but they were short… Carolyn was a 2 tumbler girl…but she often had to hold on the hallway walls…and indeed Humphrey the Head Elf in Charge of Manufacturing had placed handrails…like you see on a Cruise Liner…along the walls of the oaken hallway…for the First Lady to hold on to as she made her way to her slumber.

Humphrey was especially concerned as to what toys and crafts and gifts should Santa be delivering around the world for Christmas 2021. It had been an unusually hectic year with the ongoing Pandemic and labor shortages…yes…even at the North Pole. However…the supply line slowdowns did not affect Santa’s Operation…as he personally delivered all gifts… Now last year the Craft Shop had focused on games and toys that could be played with inside the children’s homes…due to the worldwide lockdowns resulting from COVID. But this year was critical…in Humphrey’s mind…there needed to be a practical application of Santa’s Magical powers…to help put the world back on track. Humphrey believed with enough elves and enough means of conveyance…and partnering with the medical community…Santa could make a difference in stopping the Pandemic…

Trains…were the answer. Santa Trains across the Globe…loaded with COVID Vaccinations for every member of the human family. Of course, the Trains could fly just like Santa’s sleighs….and they could also travel on land into the many remote parts of the Earth that have forgotten people. These trains could carry the essentials of a happy life for the children and the parents and all of the hurting and lonely people of the world. It would carry school desks for those who have none in their school. It would deliver clothes for the ill-clad and food for the ill-fed and educational tools like paper and pencils and multiplication tables and coloring books…and a COVID Vaccine for everyone who had not received one…and nurses to administer the Vaccination…

It was a Marshall Plan for the Pandemic. Santa had thought throughout our Pandemic how relevant he could be to the solving of it. He had watched as governments and peoples and tribes and nations had brought forth numerous ideas for the amelioration of the Plague…and how many had been satisfied with ignoring it for their Idols and Totems…and their own perceived benefit… As is customary…the poor countries of the planet were left…by and large…to figure out how to vaccinate their people…and it did not happen. The rich countries of the Earth focused on their citizens and crowed for their own political gain…and wondered why their herculean efforts had not stopped our Pandemic… Santa and Humphrey set up a meeting with all of the work-force of the North Pole Operation.

Rudolph asked Donder if he knew what the big meeting was about…this close to Christmas. Donder said that he had heard that Christmas would last a week this year. The Jolly Old Elf had developed a plan to literally visit every; igloo and hut and Flat and to not miss a single person for his special gifts. The Santa Trains would begin to fly on December 17 and end on Christmas Morning. ‘If I could have all of your attention…please,’ said Santa. ‘I tell you this every year that I could not perform this Magical and Mystical feat without each of your hard work and perseverance,’ Santa said. He continued, ‘This year is special and it is different…our world is suffering under a terrible malady of fear and loneliness and illness…and death.’ ‘The wealthy countries of our world have done little to help their poor neighbors…so we must do what we can,’ Santa said with a tear in his eye. ‘Are you all with me,’ Santa asked?

Tears of joy cascaded down the cheeks of every elf and reindeer and Mrs. Claus…’Three cheers for Santa Claus’ cried, Rudolph…

Santa was old and arthritic…and he had just returned from his doctor in Destin, Florida…who had told him to retire…for his health…but he could not resist attempting to do his best to help the ‘Apples of His Eye’…the Children of The World…

Humphrey cried, out…’Oh my God…we have to make the Trains!’

It is difficult to believe that today is the first day of December. Where has autumn gone? Where has 2021 gone? This year was our emergent year from our Pandemic. We received our vaccination jabs in the late winter and the early spring…and believed that happy days were here again. No face masks for us who had received the vaccine…until the ‘Break-Thru COVID’ cases began appearing.

During our May Maine Holiday, it finally dawned on me that restaurants across our country were experiencing severe labor shortages. Prior to that we were at our favorite restaurant, Cunetto’s House of Pasta that is located on the Hill in St. Louis, Missouri, and witnessed that only half of the establishment was open due to not enough help.

I was in Kroger supermarket yesterday and there was the strange combination of many empty shelves and two manned check-out areas with lines that snaked around the aisle… Life has changed for us…and we are yet to understand…how much. And, so, we are seekers of solutions and answers to our new reality…as well as the individualized reality that each of us live with on a daily basis.

Christmas has come again. One of my blogger friends asked, ‘Why do we have to include religion in everything?’ I think his question is valid. I have been a Christian for over 50 years. I became a Christian because the love of Christ compelled me… I have been a member of 4 churches during the past over 5 decades. Some for much longer periods than others. First Presbyterian Church of Carbondale is my longest and I am sure that I have found my natural Church Home. It seems to me that there is the religion that many enjoy proclaiming and broadcasting…and there is the ‘Quiet Faith’ that you go to bed at night with and wake up the next morning…with the same desire to seek and understand God and your role in his creation and his plan… The people of faith that I want to be my mentor are those that never feel the need to announce their faith. They quietly go about doing good unto others…and look for neither recognition nor praise…and are embarrassed when someone mentions their good service to their fellow woman/man.

Church simply does not have all of the answers that you seek. The congregation is a gathering of honest hearted people that are seeking the faith… Many churches garner large attendance by assuring those in their midst that they have the dogmatic and final answer from God and that their leader heard from him personally…this morning… We humans like certainty and definitive answers. But, ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’

The Quiet Christian…sees a hungry person…and feeds them…and a lonely person…and they sit with them and learn of them and become their friend. They pray for those in need…not because another human gives them the definite answer that God answers prayers…but because they have faith that he does…

Christmas is coming…and the lonely need a friend…the hungry need something to eat…the homeless need shelter…

Seeking God…and religion…and faith…can be found in the eyes of your neighbor…who you practice loving…as you love yourself…