Dear Santa,

If you aren’t too busy making toys for the rest of the world, I have a little list of things I hope you’ll consider giving me this year:

an Apple watch,
a remote control jet with a ramp,
a bow and arrow,
a mini golden iPhone 11 with a gold case,
two fencing swords with sheaths,
a drawing set (because I saw it earlier today while shopping with my mom),
a hover board,
a Nintendo switch,
lots of candy,
343,000 Gx and Ex Pokemon cards and a big binder to hold them all,
an Xbox,
a Nerf gun set with 4 guns,
and a pet goat that is big and powerful that you can ride on.

I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.

And thank you Santa! : )

Sincerely, Harry

After asking Harry for an updated wish list for this article, he took another 20 minutes telling me in his “outside voice” about each thing he wanted, only in greater detail. For example, the pet goat will be black with huge horns that he can use to hold onto instead of the reins. The fencing swords will also need to come with protective armor that is made out of light-weight tungsten so that the blade won’t poke through and kill you. The pet goat will live with us.

Oh, and Mom? You better buy some more grass. 

I hate to break it to ya kid, but Santa isn’t going to be giving you any of that stuff. I got to a point where I had to just honestly tell him that’s not how Santa works. In response, Harry accused me of trying to crush his dreams.

Yeah, it probably seems like I’m trying to crush his dreams, but it goes deeper than that. The problem is, he believes that Santa is going to take care of everything for him. Why work so hard or make sacrifices when you can just ask Santa? Santa is magic and can make anything.

As the Christmas season gets into full swing, I find myself reflecting on the long wish lists we all kind of have, and the idea that there’s some magical thing that will solve all of our problems.

For example, if we wish our kids would pick up after themselves, it’s not going to magically happen on its own. We are going to have to model it for them, and teach them how, and then expect them to do it, and then remind them, and then remind them again, and then keep doing all of that until …. sigh …. they might actually pick up after themselves.

It takes concentrated and real effort.  

And that’s the same in politics. Nothing is going to get better unless we’re willing to do something to move us in the right direction. No wish lists will be fulfilled without a lot of effort. We can’t just wish and hope for things to improve, all the while waiting for a political version of Santa Claus to fix our problems and give us the things our society needs.

We’re going to have to do some work, real work, ourselves. 

One thing I will say for Harry, it’s good to have a vision of what we want. Even better if we can be as creative and detailed as little Harry. Our hopes and visions of the future have to inspire us and remind us that all of that effort will be worth it.