SANTA climbed gingerly from his sleigh onto the roof of a home in Mumbai, “These Indian chimneys are stupid!” he cursed loudly to Mrs Santa Claus who was holding the reindeer while Santa went down to unload his gifts, “Why can’t they make them like we make them back home?”
“Stop grumbling Santa dear!” cried Mrs Santa, “You’ve become quite intolerant in your behaviour lately!” “Oh stop criticizing me!” shouted Santa from inside the chimney and you could hear the reindeer snorting as they knew he was stuck. They heard a boom, the sound of Santa falling through the chimney and suddenly his cry. “Mrs Santa please come down? There’s something beautiful here!”
The reindeer watched fat Mrs Santa slide down into the living room to join her husband standing near a Christmas tree, near a cardboard crib where the figure of a mother in a manger was holding the Christ child, where animals, shepherds and wise men looked in awe.
“I can feel something!” whispered Santa as he held Mrs Santa’s hand. “It’s peace!” said Mrs Santa as she stretched out her hands and carried the little Jesus. “What a sense of calm and stillness I feel with this baby!” “Yes!” cried Santa, “That’s what I feel too, all my grumbling, my anger, my…”
“Intolerance!” said Mrs Santa with a smile. “Yes my intolerance has vanished!” said Santa. Mrs Santa laid the baby back in the arms of it’s cardboard mother, “These are only cardboard figures!” she said, “Imagine what it feels like when we hold the real Jesus?” “You mean when the real alive Jesus holds us in His arms?” whispered Santa.
“Santa,” whispered Mrs Santa, “We forget why he was born 2000 years ago! To bring peace where there is war, love where anger exists, calm in a storm! Understanding and acceptance instead of intolerance!” “That!” exclaimed Santa Claus, “is what we need to leave in each home! Not just gifts, but a little prayer that this Christmas every home on earth will be filled with the peace and joy this baby brings from heaven!”
“Joy and peace for every home!” prayed Santa and his wife into every home throughout the vast land. Santa smiled even as he stumbled or fell, whether his fat belly got stuck or jammed! His intolerance, his grumpiness, his cursing was gone with a new peace within. “That peace dear people,” whispered Mrs Santa Claus, “is yours this Christmas..!”
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
