Opinion: The best gift we can give the departed is to keep their sparkle alive

NPR's Scott Simon with a Santa mug. Caroline Simon/NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Caroline Simon/NPR

There was a clatter in our kitchen just after midnight Thursday and I crept down to find a large man in a red suit and tall black boots with his long white beard at our refrigerator.

"Got any leftover pad thai?" he asked. "I just can't take another gingerbread cookie."

"Well, it's been a while," I told him.

"Sure has."

"And how are the elves?" I asked.

"We call them 'Amusement Influencers' now," the man explained. "They cobble and post on Instagram."

"And the reindeer?"

"Well, Blitzen left our crew to go into Bitcoin. And Rudolph's red nose?"

"Yes?"

"Glows with a Waze guidance system now, so's I don't go down any wrong chimneys. Things change. Like your daughters," he told me. "I see they're grown. Can't just put dolls under the tree anymore. But I get reports. They're both smart, funny and kind."

I think he must have shaken some snow into my eyes, because they got wet. Then the red-suited visitor asked, "And how you doing?"

"I'm the most blessed man in the world," I told him. "Married to the most amazing woman. I love my family. I have good work. But ..."

The man in the red suit heard the catch in my voice.

"I've lost a few friends," I told him. "People I worked with, who taught me things and gave me chances. People I grew up with, who helped me laugh and learn. People I admired, who showed what's possible. People I've loved."

"I know what you mean," said the man in the red suit. "I've been around a while, too. What I tell myself is that every time we have to say goodbye to someone, we take a little of them along with us. They ride along in our hearts. We miss them. But stories and memories still put sparkle into our lives. We hold on to them that way. So," he asked me, "any gifts you'd like?"

So much rushed through my mind. I managed to blurt out just this:

"Yes. Give every child a chance. Please? Wherever they are in the world. Give them a chance to be happy, healthy and loved."

The man in the red suit reached over and took my hands in his own.

"I tell you what, pal," he said. "Why don't we all work on that one together?"

We packed a snack — pad thai and cocoa — aboard his sleigh, so the man in the red suit could be replenished and soar off on his mission to raise spirits all over the world.