37 Weeks Until Christmas

Countdown to Christmas37 weeks until Christmas and I’m late! I was supposed to post yesterday but I had an exciting day with Santa and we got delayed.

I’m told this happens to Santa a lot. He goes places, he gets to talking to people and before you know it you’ve lost track of time.

Santa, of course, is very popular. A lot of people want to talk to him. So it is easy to see why and how this could happen.

But I have to tell you, it was a very cool day. So many neat things happened and I learned so much about Santa I never knew.

You see, he was scheduled to visit a Christmas tree factory in Northern Europe and my editor, Elf Harold Star of the Santa Trackers Herald Star, was supposed to go with him so he could write a story.

Elf Harold couldn’t go because he got sick. So he asked me to go in his place.

Well, when you are asked to go with Santa you don’t turn down that chance. So yesterday I found myself in a sleigh heading for a Christmas tree factory with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

How cool is that?

Now, I know what you’re thinking. It was a factory tour. Fake trees.

Yeah, I know. I had that thought too. But then Santa explained to me that people shouldn’t think bad things about fake trees. After all, a tree being real or not is not the point of a tree. A tree can be real, fake, made of glass or wood or steel or plastic – heck, even a drawing of a tree, it does not matter. At the end of the day, it’s a tree one way or the other.

And that’s the point. It’s a tree. That’s the symbol. It means something and it is hugely important to Santa.

Santa really opened my eyes. He got me to see that we use the tree at Christmas as a way to communicate an idea. It’s not just a thing to hang lights on. It is not just there to look good. It means something.

The same is true of other things we associate with Christmas. The Christmas stocking, reindeer, sleighs, Santa’s red suit, stars, angels, – gee, even eggnog MEANS something.

We had so much fun.

But we started early and we got home really late. I got to see a whole new side of Santa and Mrs. Claus that most never get to see. I also got to fly in a sleigh – FAST – I mean like REALLY FAST – because that is what Santa likes to do. Actually, that is what Santa HAS to do because he’s the busiest guy in the world. Seriously. It’s amazing to watch the man work.

So, I’m sorry I am late with this weeks countdown. But I’m not sorry, you know?

I have enough new information about Santa and Mrs. Claus and Christmas for a billion updates. I’ll get to them, I promise.

But for now my message is this: love your tree, kids. It’s really special.

See you next week!

Elf Trixie