I Believe in Santa

This is the best night of the year because it's the night Santa delivers love to all the good boys and girls everywhere! The Santa I believe in also generously gives love to bad boys and girls, too. Well, most of them... he might skip murderers and people like that. I also have a feeling George W. Bush gets coal in his Christmas stocking, but really that's between him and Santa.

As for me, I am spending this Christmas Eve at work. Yes, you read that correctly. Now, understand that I'm not complaining. I have a job I enjoy and that many people would envy. Plus, I signed on for holidays and weekends when I chose to work in a 24-hour business. But still. Given a choice, I'd much rather be in Los Altos with my grandmother, aunt, uncle and little cousin Anna. Or at the dinner party to which Jack invited me tonight. Or down in L.A. where Diva Mommy is visiting my brother Mike, sister-in-law Maki and the fabulous Mikey Jet. If I were there, I also would be able to see my oldest sister Kathy and her kids, as well as my oldest brother Tom.

Well, heck, as long as I'm imagining places I'd rather be, I'd really rather Diva Mommy had stayed in Hawaii for the holiday, and we'd all gone to visit her there. Maybe some year. But for now, I sit with a job to do on Christmas Eve. Just like Santa.

And for all you cynics who would suggest that Santa isn't real, I have but one thing to say. Perhaps... and I stress the word perhaps... there is no rotund gentleman donning a red suit and circling the globe in a sleigh pulled by overworked reindeer right now, but look around tonight and tomorrow at all the love and happiness that has been building for the last month. Look at the smiles on people's faces and the light in their eyes. In fact, look all year at the love that surrounds us all, if and when we choose to see it. Look at all of that and then try to tell me there is no such thing as Santa Claus.

I didn't think you could.