What is it about Christmas that is so fraught with emotions?
You know what I think it is? We learn of the Christmas myth. Santa Claus lives at the North Pole. He’s married and he’s got little elves that help him make toy soldiers. That is a big story. He gets in his sleigh, he flies, he’s got reindeer, you know, and they land on a roof. He gives presents and there’s a good list and a naughty list. It’s a very involved story and, even if we come from a deeply spiritual household, we learn the full extent of the Santa Claus myth before we learn about Jesus and God or whatever it is that a family believes in. We don’t ask, we are told. At that age, 3 and 4, most of our learning comes from pulling on things and getting our fingers smashed or asking: What? Why? What’s that? Here, though, they sit us down and they tell us, which is probably the first time that ever happens. At that age, such an involved, large story has to be a relatively large percentage of our knowledge and it’s been given to us by the people who give us our food. In otherwise, peop
