There’s two Christmas songs with very similar titles.  One is a cute children’s classic about asking Santa for two front teeth – and nothing more. The other song titled All I Want For Christmas … is a romantic ditty by  Mariah Carey asking only for time with her one true love. 

Awww, right? Both songs are adorable for their own reasons. How precious is it when a child asks for nothing more in way of a gift than what nature will provide in good time? It’s also quite a romantic notion to believe that the greatest gift in life is being with the one, or ones, you love. 

Santa’s Magic Way

The last three Christmases my daughter has been teaching me lessons I should have long known. Three years ago, when she was seven years old, she asked Santa for a typewriter. That was pretty much it. I have to admit I was very nervous. 

If you haven’t tried to source a typewriter in the last two decades, trust me; they are not easy to find. I shouldn’t have worried, I guess. Santa has his magic ways, and my daughter received a secondhand typewriter that looked to be straight from the early 80s. 

She was thrilled. Last year, my daughter’s letter to Santa had one main request; a safety pin and some string. Why? Because she wanted to make bracelets for others over the holidays. 

Let’s just say she wasn’t disappointed as Santa apparently has an abundance of such things at the North Pole  –thanks to da missus. 

Now in her tenth year, I wasn’t sure what to expect on this year’s letter. 

My daughter hid her Dear Santa letter from me this year, though I managed to sneak a glance quite by accident. What is she asking the man in the red suit for this Christmas? Ink for her typewriter, a surprise, and something Harry Potter themed. 

Oh no! Ink! I should have known. The ancient, yet beloved machine, stopped working this past fall when its ribbon bit the dust. If you haven’t tried to source a typewriter lately, imaging trying to find ink for one. I was thinking, in time, that darn thing would make its way to Robin Hood Bay. Not so. Not if Christmas wishes come true again this year, it won’t. 

So, the magic of Christmas will continue as it looks like that typewriter, thanks to Santa of course, will keep on making my daughter happy for years to come. 

So much less…

Elia’s oh so innocent simple – yet not so simple to source – requests remind me what Christmas is truly all about. Sure, Christmas can be elaborate turkey dinners and perfectly decorated trees and fancy packages and bows, but at its core, it’s so much more – or more precisely – so much less. 

Through her letters to Santa, my daughter’s reminded me that Christmas is about the magic of making the impossible possible and enjoying the simple pleasures; like pins and string, typewriters, ink that keeps them clickin’, front teeth and being with the ones you love. 

Merry simple Christmas to one and all.

Pam Pardy Ghent, The Herald’s Managing Editor, can be reached by emailing [email protected]