Better than Santa! ... by our own Becca Sanders

I used to wake up at 6 am every Christmas morning and run to my sister’s room and anxiously wait for it to be 7 am so that we could wake up my parents (since they wouldn’t let us wake them up any earlier) and go see what Santa brought me. Then, when I was around the age of 10, I found out the most devastating news… Santa wasn’t real! All this happiness I used to feel from Christmas suddenly went away and the holiday became a little less special.

Let me tell ya though kids, the joy of Christmas and Advent doesn’t have to go away when you find out that Santa doesn’t exist. The day when your faith in Santa traveling the world to bring you that new toy that you’ve been begging for turns into faith in Jesus is a magical day. This joy can continue through the whole season of Advent to not just on Christmas day! Advent isn’t just the opening act for unwrapping presents on Christmas morning, but the season of anticipation, of “holy waiting”. As we remember the birth of Jesus Christ and his first coming we begin to anticipate his second coming.

It is important to remember the four virtues that Jesus brings us during this season: Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace. The fact that these four virtues were brought into our life because of Jesus is kind of an awesome thing. These gifts aren’t something you can find under your tree but in your heart.

I pray that you are all able to feel the joy, love, peace, and hope of the Advent season. “The season of Advent, which we begin again today, restores this horizon of hope; a hope which does not disappoint for it is founded on God’s Word. A hope which does not disappoint, simply because the Lord never disappoints! He is faithful! He does not disappoint!” –Pope Francis

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