Thank you, Santa

The spirit of Christmas is alive and well in northwestern Ohio.

With only three weeks left to be seven years old, Alyssa's belief in Santa stands firm.

And I love it. I want to retain the magic of Christmas and Santa for her for as long as possible.

See...when I talk about Santa to her, I talk about giving and loving and remembering that Christmas gifts are giving to loved ones because we can't give gifts to Jesus.

My brother recently said that he's not going to let some fat guy take the credit for the gifts he gives to his son. He works hard for the money he spends on his child and he wants the credit.

And that's okay. That's how he wants it to be and I'm not going to tell him his way is wrong because it's not wrong. It's just now how I want to do things.

I want my girls to believe that there are people in this world who give just because. Just because you're kind to that weird kid in school. Just because you hugged your sister yesterday. Just because you smiled at a stranger.

Just because.

So I'm saying thank you to Santa today. Thank you for giving my girls a wonderful, beautiful Christmas, full of joy and magic.

Thank you for giving us time with family. TIme together to love and laugh and make memories and build traditions.

Thank you Santa, for giving. For teaching us to give and to love.

Just because.