"Santa knows my name!"

Monday night we made a hurried trip to the mall with Ty & Kamen after realizing that we had not visited Santa yet and Christmas WAS 2 DAYS AWAY!! What bad parents we are! lol Actually Ty is well aware of the true meaning of Christmas but Santa is a part of our Christmas tradition as he was in my family. Rox had given me a heads up that at the age of 10 - Kamen was a little skeptical of most Santas and that it was important to him that Santa call him by name. After quickly figuring that one out (a whispered conversation to Santa's helper while we were looking at picture packages) and then the boys were on their way. Ty approached first and Santa called out, "Tyler, what do you want for Christmas?". It wasn't until he called "Kamen, how about you?" that the boys had stunned looks on their faces. Their picture is so cute - partly because instead of the hilarity that ususally surrounds these two - it is a softer, sweeter version! The both came running out to tell us, "Santa knew our name!" Kamen added, "He must be the REAL Santa!" Sharp as he is, he noted that WE hadn't even talked to Santa before the boys got to go see him! The rest of the night, they marveled at the fact that they had talked to the "real" Santa, otherwise, how would he have known their name??!!

It was actually a cool spiritual thought as well. After all, we know the true Messiah, one who knows us BY NAME. The one who came to earth as a baby and left it a Savior. Every night we read our Advent book and have read Luke 2 many times this season. But Jesus Christ isn't some far off Savior - He lives in our hearts and calls us BY NAME! My mind can't remember the actual song that goes something like, "He knows my name, He knows my every thought, He sees each tear that falls, and hears me when I call, and hears me when I call..." Isn't that the greatest gift ever!