Believe

            I could not fall asleep.  I lay awake in bed but I did not know what I was thinking.  I knew everyone was asleep.  My parents were asleep down the hall and across the hall my younger sister was asleep.  I peeked out the window and saw the snowfall outside and I looked down at the snowman that my sister and I built. 

“Santa will be coming tonight,” she told me earlier that day. 

“Santa is not coming,” I said in my head.  But I did not tell my sister that because it would crush her.  Then I realized how much I missed those days when I believed.  That was when I heard a noise on the roof, like a bump. 

“It’s probably a giant piece of hail or something,” I thought and I laid myself back down to try to go back to sleep.  Then I heard footsteps on the roof.

            “A robber!” I thought.  I quickly got up and grabbed the bat from the corner of my room.  I ran into my parent’s room to wake them up but they would not budge.  I kept hearing the footsteps and I slowly walked down the stairs.  I got my bat ready to hit the robber and hopefully knock him out but when I got downstairs I saw something even more amazing.

“Santa?” I said and he turned around.  He was wearing his bright red suit, with a long white beard, a red nose, rosy cheeks, and he had deep blues eyes.  He did not look surprise or mad, but happy and a bit, sad? 

“This is a dream,” I said in a soft voice to myself.

“Hello there, Faith,” he said to me with a huge smile.  Then I remembered why I was downstairs and I picked up my bat and got ready to hit him.

“How do you know my name?”

“I know every child’s name,” he said with a ho-ho-ho. 

“I’m not a child, I’m twenty one,” I said in an angry voice. Then he looked at me with sad eyes. 

“I know.  You grew up a long time ago.  The spirit of Christmas has left you, hasn’t it?”

“Just get out,” I told him, my voice filled with more rage. 

“Faith, you are down here on purpose.  I do not show myself to just anyone.  Deep inside your heart, you still believe in me, even if it so small as a grain of sand, you still have some belief,” I did not say anything but gave Santa an angry look and was preparing to hit him.  Then I launch at him and was about to hit him in the head but instead some force struck the bat and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor and my bat was across the room. 

“What are you?” I asked.

“I’m Santa,” he said laughing with more ho-ho-ho’s. 

“I do not believe in Santa,” I said.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because, a man can not travel the whole world in one night on a sleight with flying reindeer.  It’s impossible.  It can only happen in a dream,”

“So, seeing is believing, is it?  But it’s the opposite.  You are studying philosophy, I’m sure you know about Descartes.  You know his dream argument,”

“Yes, we can not trust our sense,”

“Yet, you trust your senses?  Descartes was a wonderful little boy.  You know he got that idea from me.  He saw me one night, just as you see me now,” There was a silent in the room as I was trying to collect my thoughts. 

“Faith, every year I make it a resolution to appear to one adult and only one adult to bring back his or her Christmas spirit.  This year, it is you,”

“Why me?”

“Because for so many years, you have forgotten me and the meaning of Christmas.  Look at that bat across the floor, where did you get it and who gave it to you?”

“I got it for Christmas when I was fourteen from my father,”

“Correction, you got it from me.  Do you not remember?  To Faith, from Santa?”

“My father told me he got it from me,”

“That because your father thinks he bought it for you but in reality, he did not.  I made it.  Faith I want you to come with me to one destination,” and in a blink of an eye, I found myself on Santa sled and Santa took me to a house on the other side of America, along with a few stops to delivery toys. 

“This house belongs to a man about your age.  His spirit of Christmas is very strong and do you know why?”

“No,” I said with my arms folded.  This dream kept getting stranger and stranger. In a blink of an eye, Santa and I were standing in the living room.  Instead of a tree, there was a plant, decorated with about five ornaments and some lights. The stockings on the wall were just regular socks.  Across the room, was a grown man who fell asleep in a chair and next to him on a couch was a little boy, about my sister’s age.  There were two older children sleeping on the floor with pillows and blankets. 

“This family has a huge Christmas spirit because they do not have much.  This is their house, just this one room.  That man, Bradley, was a young man I visited three years ago.  He had no Christmas spirit and I brought it back.  Since they can’t afford much, they leave me only a glass of milk.  No cookies and nothing for my reindeer,” Santa walked over to Bradley and woke him up.  Bradley smiled at Santa and looked at me.

“So you are the one he choose this year,” said Bradley. 

“Yeah, I guess,” I said. 

“If he picked you then you must be special.  He only picks one adult every year.  Last year he picked a woman in her fifties,”

“One year I picked a man in his eighties.  I usually do not pick seniors since their Christmas spirits are just as huge as children,”

“What is your name?”

“Faith,”

“Faith, I’m Bradley.  I want you to know, Santa is not just a figure for children and he doesn’t just watch over children.  He watches over all of us, starting from the moment of our first Christmas.  Many adults think it is silly to believe in Santa, but there are times that Santa is here for us instead of the children because the children do not need help to believe, the adults do.  Santa gives back our childhood and our Christmas spirit.  If it wasn’t for Santa, I would had never been a good guardian to my brothers and sister,”

“Faith, it’s time to go.  I need to finish my rounds,”

“Faith, before you go.  Remember to believe.  Seeing isn’t believing.  Believing is seeing,” said Bradley.

            On my way home, I had to think about what just happened.  I always wanted to ride in Santa sleigh and I always wanted to see Santa but now that I do, what does it mean?  Does he really exist?  I climbed into the front seat, next to Santa.

“Santa, how do I get the spirit of Christmas?” I asked. Santa gave me a smile.

“Trying doing a little ho-ho-ho,” and I said ho-ho-ho but in a very low voice.

“Try louder, like this!” and Santa gave a huge ho-ho-ho.  I was a bit shy but then I gave out a big ho-ho-ho.  Then I felt something.  I felt happy and excited.  I felt as if I was a little girl again and I gave out another ho-ho-ho and then Santa joined me. 

“Faith, you got your Christmas spirit back,” said Santa and he put something in my hands.

“If your Christmas spirit ever feels low just look at this,” and inside a small box, I found a ring with a fancy S on it. 

            “Faith get up!  Santa came last night!” said my little sister jumping on my bed.  I opened my eyes to the harsh light of the morning sun as my sister drew back my curtains.  I got up and walked down stairs with my sister.  At the bottom of the tree there were presents of different colors and a new train was under the tree going around it. 

“I knew it was just a dream,” I thought. 

            My sister and I opened all our presents with our parents taking pictures and waiting for the smile on our faces.  I was happy to get a book about Socrates and Plato along with a new laptop.  Besides that, I also got other stuff that I wanted.  That was when my sister noticed it.

“Faith, what’s that?” and I look down onto my right ring finger.  It was a ring with a fancy S on it.