Dear Father Christmas, it’s Steve, you know all the rest about me because you are AKA, Santa Claus, Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas (whose feast day was on Friday, December 6), Pere Noel – et al., just wanted to drop a line to say “Thank You” again for all you do.  

It’s been awhile since I’ve sent you one of these, what, 201l, one of the tough ones, thirteen years ago, horrible Christmas, horrible year when on top of the bloody hell sky falling in on me from personal and health stuff, although somewhat my fault, no gifts, no decorations, but you, our newborn Lord and Holy Family, got me through it.

This past Friday the 13th was the last day of finals for our wonderful Ole Miss students. For those students who listened to their advisers to study regularly, go to class, especially our special St. John’s students who put God first all year, even during finals by attending daily Mass – will miss but see you for Spring classes on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 – well done! 

This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent (no way!) and the last purple candle will be lit on St. John’s Advent Wreath, the “Angel’s Candle,” symbolizing peace and the angels’ message of, “Peace on Earth, Good Will toward All.”  Then, that Tuesday at Christmas Eve (Christ-Mass) the baby Jesus, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, will be placed on his throne, a manger hewn out of rock in a borrowed stable, in a cave…. 

Time flies way too fast for me these days, but Christmas Eve being only six days away from you reading this, then Christmas after a swell night’s sleep, blows my wee mind!  Just yesterday, I was mowing my lawn, trimming shrubs and sweating in 90 degree weather – Whew…trying to wrap my brain around all this! 

For years, I have used Christmas, not New Years, to reflect on the past year because it’s the birth of our Lord incarnate, king of the universe, here to save and provide us with a new beginning.  All that to say, it is never too late to assess our lives (especially now before Jesus arrives) to note the positives and tweak the dumb stuff in our lives when we tried to take control…amen?!

And each year I pray for a Christmas miracle.  This year I’ve received mine ahead of time by enduring a year of health issues after being snow/iced in for a week in January 2024, zero temps, finally shoveling my long, steep driveway from 8:30am to 3pm on Monday, January 22, getting “walking pneumonia,” causing beaucoup medical stress issues that lasted until a steroid shot by hero GP, Dr. Mona Castle on November 15, 2024 finally knocked it out. Whew! Did I say, Bloody Hell?

Arriving in Oxford in 1988 I prayed to God for five things – to complete my Ph.D., at Ole Miss; to work on Campus; to have an okay car; to live in my own house; and for the first time in my life to be unconditionally in love.  He granted me all but the last.  You who have the last one probably take it for granted, but I have no understanding what that could possibly be like and wanting so badly, like a cool drink of water in a dry desert, is the last thing I want…perhaps, humbly, this Christmas….

Merry Christmas!

Steve lives is Oxford, worked on Campus, and obtained his Ph.D., in Counseling from Ole Miss.  JMJ