Evening star., 1943-12-26
Just Between
Ourselves
BY PHILIP H. LOVE,
Editor, The Junior 9tar

i WAdt ChHC uAQerSCand, q
little girl said to me the other day,
"is how Santa Claus can be In so
many different places at the same
time. Three girls in my class went
shopping yesterday. All three told
me today that they had seen Santa,
yet they all went in different de-
partment stores. They must have
seen him at about the same time,
too, because they all went down.
town right after school,"
And what you want to know is
which one saw the real Santa?" I
asked.
"Yes," the girl answered. THAT
and how he could be in all three
stores at the same time"
We'll, they all saw the real
Santa" said. "You see, he isn't an
ordinary man. In fact, he isn't a
man at all; he's a spirit"
You mean-a ghost?"
mo, not ghost. There are no
such things as ghosts. A spirit is
well, God is spirit. You've never
seen God, have you?"
mo, but I understand about Him
being a spirit. He's everywhere,
even though you can't see Him"
well, Santa is everywhere, too.
OF course, he isn't anything like
God, but he's spirit, just the same
"a happy, kindly spirit, who shows
himself everywhere during the
Christmas season. He can be right
here in this room, or down the
street, or even in another part of
the world, all at the same time. He
can be wherever he wants to be,
and he wants to be wherever people
want him to be-wherever people
have the real Christmas spirit"
The girl thought the matter over
for a few moments. IT can under
stand all that" she finally said. Its
just like when sit down in nv
room and make believe I'm some
where else-you know, Just sort OF
day dreaming. Sometimes I pre-
tend I'm In or, or in Wonderland,
and If I think real hard, it's almost
the same as If I were really in one
OF those places. Only with Santa. I
guess he can be any place at all
without thinking very much about
it. Is that it?"
That's 1t, all right" I agreed.
Except that Santa has to be wanted.
He never goes where he isn't wanted.
When people allow themselves to
become mean and selfish, when they
stop thinking about Santa, stop low
ing him and wishing for him to come
then he doesn't come any more"
It's wonderful, isn't it?" she
laughed. Il mean that he can 70
everywhere at the same time, Just
by thinking-just by knowing that
he's wanted. But"-the laugh was
replaced by puzzled frown-"why
is 1t that he doesn't always look
exactly the same? I've seen him
twice this year. in two different
stores, and he looked little differ
ent each time"
DO you always look exactly the
same? For that matter, do you al
ways even feel the same?"
We'll, no, DON'T" she admitted
slowly. Some days I feel happy
and full of pep, and I guess I look
the same way, and other days feel
and look altogether different"
Everybody does-Santa, perhaps.
more than anybody else, because,
you know, he's spirit. He's some
thing like the air we breathe. It's
the same air all over the world, but
in some places it's cold and in others
hot, in some places dry, in others
wet, IN some places calm, in others
gusty. A spirit can appear in thou
sands, even millions, of places at the
same time and be little different In
each place. AS a matter of fact,
Santa Claus always looks the same,
because he is the same; it's tn
people to whom he appears that are
diherent-because, as a spirit, he
naturally reflects some OF their
spirit, too."
"Gee!" the girl exclaimed, clapping
her hands. Wait till I tell my girl
friends!"
'From The Junior star. Of December II.
1889. Reprinted by reouest)