The Best Gift Ever

December 21, 2025
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
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Dear Santa:
How many letters did I write to you at the North Pole when I was a child?  Despite my not so good penmanship, you were always able to read my wish list.  You were usually pretty good at delivering the present that I wanted the most, an electric train, a Magic 8 Ball, which was always good at answering whatever question you might ask.  It was artificial intelligence before its time.  I am sure there were other gifts including model cars that I can't remember right now.  By the way, I never did get my slotted race car set.  Thank you very much.
 
But you know what, Santa?  How is it that you could be in so many different places at the same time?  You were on the hayrack the day after Thanksgiving in my hometown with your, ho, ho, ho’s, and then I would read that you were in a different town at the exact same moment.  Kind of like Christmas.  You and your reindeer travel the whole wide world in a twenty-four hour period.  It's Christmas magic.  Dem’ dare reindeer are truly amazing.
 
Everything about Christmas is like living in a snow globe, everything seems so perfect.  Ice skaters gracefully twirling round and round, snow falling gently on the scene, and to think nobody looks cold.  But then after a while, the ice skaters coast to a stop, the snow stops falling, and I am reminded that all too soon, you Santa, retreat to the North Pole not to appear again until next year.  I wonder what you will bring me then?  
 
I still have my electric train, but it’s all rusty.  The Magic 8 Ball is long gone and just a memory.  But I do have one memorable Christmas gift from 1959.  If my house caught on fire, it is one of my treasures I would rescue from the flame.  You see, Santa, this is the only gift that never breaks or gets rusty.  It keeps on giving, not just Christmas after Christmas, but day after day.   It is a Holy Bible you left for me under grandpa and grandma’s aluminum Christmas tree long ago.  It's the best gift ever!
 
I thought I would just let you know the memories you brought into my life.
 
Merry Christmas!  
Pastor Allan
 
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