Exploring Creativity, Clarity and Charity a.k.a. Writing to Santa Claus

The stores in my city have begun decking up for Christmas. Alongside brightly lit trees, ornaments and mistletoe, Santa Claus remains a popular embodiment of Yuletide cheer. The season’s spirit of hope and goodwill is palpable and is inspiring me to write to Santa.

Expressing to an imaginary Santa is a great way to put to paper the wishes and aspirations that are percolating in my mind. Santa is a friendly and trustworthy audience who doesn’t limit my word count nor enforce literary rules. This fun activity is purely an unrestrained delivery of my raw ideas and spontaneous feelings.

I get to reconnect with the child in me to unleash my unbridled imaginative powers; displaying to myself a creative and expansive alternative to the hopes and desires that are stifled by practical constraints. Social norms and propriety have also led me to silence my revolutionary ideas and my own aversion to risk-taking has subdued much of my innovative ideals. It’s liberating to let my hidden and uncontrived voices be heard; as Jesus so wisely said ‘The truth shall set you free.’

The visual presentation of my muddled yearnings could help me clarify and prioritize my choices. Seeing my thoughts on paper can also highlight the repetitive patterns and reveal unquestioned assumptions regarding my hopes for the future.

The process of editing and rewriting the letter will help me identify the changes that I could implement to make my hopes a reality. I can better identify my perception of myself and my proclivities, and reconsider the behaviours, attitudes and beliefs that keep my dreams a mere wish.

I would also love to include the qualities of Santa in my wish list. His preference to remain an anonymous benefactor is something I admire. Contemplating on Santa attributes, I realize that consulting others on how to cheer them is far more charitable than imposing my unsolicited “gifts” on them.

Another reason why writing to Santa isn’t a futile or childish act, is the literary masterpieces created within the genre of epistolary writing. One beautiful example is the hilarious yet profound insights offered in The Screwtape Letters by C.S.Lewis. It’s a fictional satire based on a series of letters by a senior devil delivering secrets of the demonic trade to his rookie nephew. The author’s humorous style and sharp discernment reveals penetrating wisdom of the human psyche in an entertaining manner. I find this provocative book beckoning me to deeper contemplation. The unusual standpoint and exaggerated observations of the fictional demon offers heightened possibilities for radical perceptual shifts. Surely a similarly meaningful and beneficial composition is possible with letters to Santa Claus.

So I’m off to let my imagination soar and explore infinite possibilities through my message to Santa. I can include the entire globe in my dreams for a better future, for this is the magical Santa I’m engaging with. This will also help me get out of the rut of self-absorbed thinking and dwell on the bigger picture of life. After all, my personal wishes are not independent of the world circumstances and needs. It’s not only caring but wise to incorporate the wider concerns in my own personal quest for a fulfilling life.

How do you give voice to your aspirations? Do you find greater clarity by partaking in hobbies and including playtime? Do creative pursuits evoke love and goodwill in you? Ho ho ho, everyone!