Santa Claus really does exist! When I was seven years old and my brother was eight, my parents took us on a seven-month-long freighter trip. The year was 1963-64, and that story is told in my mom’s book “Around the World by Mistake.”
We spent that Christmas at sea, as our little freighter crossed the Indian Ocean, carrying its cargo of onions and copra. Of the fifteen passengers on the ship, one of them was an Australian boy who was about our age. He was the first person to impart to my brother and me the shocking information that Santa Claus was made-up. (Our unconventional upbringing had kept that news from us for a bit longer than perhaps is usual.)
As my mom remembers it, her heart sank as she faced this critical moment. Would cynicism set in? Would parental betrayal be the overarching memory we would have of Christmas for the rest of our lives? She knew she could back-peddle, or she could apologize, or she could try to turn the lesson into a metaphor for holiday spirit.
Instead she told us, “You’re wrong. Santa does exist. And I’ll prove it to you.”
And she told us the simple but mysterious guessing-game story of Santa Claus’s Secret Name. Her hope was that we would remember Santa Claus’s secret name for the rest of our lives, and that the insight we gained from this moment of truth would carry us through years of cynicism, inevitable betrayals, disappointments, and struggles.
The read-aloud guessing-game story called “Santa Claus’s Secret Name” is now in print. If you’re a parent, you can use this story to respond to your children’s initial disillusionment about Santa Claus by giving them a gift of wisdom that will last them a lifetime.
Most amazing of all, even grown-ups can try to guess the secret name. If you discover it on your own (don’t peek ahead), you too will learn a truth you can never forget. The answer is practical, healing, and real.
So when your children are ready, read this book aloud with them. Play the guessing game, and you’ll understand Santa Claus and the mystery of the holiday season in a whole new way. You’ll be redeemed as a parent, and your children will enter into the deeply meaningful aspect of the holiday season with a clearer way of seeing – no matter how old they are.
This guessing-game book can be read aloud and played together, or you can tell the story yourself, as my mom told us on that freighter trip so long ago. The answer is not who you might think.
If you’d like to buy the book, you can go here.
This is just what I needed to hear about today – I spent too much time in a shopping mall over the weekend. The holidays are coming quickly and with all the aggressive “news” about electronic gadgetry and trendy toys it is good to quietly learn about a meaningful book. I don’t know why, but I have a suspicion the style is similar to that of Rumer Godden? Could that be true?