Day 861: The ‘Truthiness’ of Santa Claus

As a parent, Santa Claus seems to be quite the funny character.  Now, I’m not talking about encouraging our children to sit on a strangers lap… or asking our kids to except the idea of that stranger entering our home while we sleep… or even enabling a man who is clearly a diabetic… or well on his way to becoming one by leaving him cookies. No, those are the ‘norms’ of Santa Claus we’ve learned to accept… what I’m talking about is the ‘truthiness’ of Santa Claus. 

 I see many of my friends struggling with the idea of introducing the concept of Santa Claus to their kids and their issues usually stem from two different arguments:

“I don’t want to lie to my kids; I want them to trust me.”

“Why should I give all the credit to some fat dude in a red suit?  I bought the gift, my kids should thank me.”

Now, I understand where both arguments are coming from… but I don’t agree with either. 

First, I don’t’ believe Santa Claus is a lie.  Is he an over marketed embellishment of the truth?  Yes.  A lie?  No.  St. Nicholas was a very real person.  He was a priest who pioneered a way to make Christmas more accessible to our children.    And frankly, making religion more accessible is a good thing, right?  One of the key ways this is accomplished is by reenacting traditions.  And the tradition of St. Nicholas giving gifts is an excellent way to open a dialogue regarding the true meaning of the day.  The legend of Santa Claus is simply an evolution (or intelligent design) of St. Nicholas.  Asking our kids to believe in him isn’t a lie… because his spirit of generosity was and still is a very real thing.

Second, why shouldn’t we get the credit for buying our kids Christmas presents?  It’s our money, right?  Well… for those of you who feel this way... I think I should remind you of something.  Christmas isn’t about you.  It’s not about Santa Claus or St. Nicholas either.  You know what it’s about.  Christmas is different.  If you really want to get all the credit for gift giving, why not choose a different day?  There are 364 other options.

For me, the beauty of Santa Claus is that he’s both a tool and a lesson in humility.  Being able to give anonymously without a ‘thank you’ is something we should all do more often.  And who is more special and dear to our hearts and deserving of an anonymous gift than our own children?  Without Santa Claus, this act would be impossible… and the joy and excitement on my boys faces Christmas morning is all the credit I need… and it’s all the credit I should ask for.

I just wish adults still believed in Santa Claus… but you know what?  I bet they do believe in one way or another.  As I said before, the spirit of generosity is very much alive… and Santa Claus is an excellent tool for giving anonymously.  Do you have a friend or a neighbor having a tough year?  I bet you do. 

Send them a gift… nothing expensive… something simple… just something that says ‘I care’.  And sign it ‘From: Santa’. 

Trust me, you don’t need the credit… and it will be worth it.

Day 860: ‘Microfundraising’, A Lesson in Following Through With a Good Idea

While enjoying a frosty cold adult beverage with Jimbo, my brother-in-law, almost five years ago, we were overtaken with a moment of inspiration.  What started as a funny thought quickly rolled into a way to revolutionize fundraising at a school/non-profit and small business venture level. 

Our idea started simply enough, “What if we could get every American to give us a quarter.”  Sure, some might call that panhandling… but what is fundraising?  What is soliciting venture capital?  Call it what you will… but it’s all panhandling.  Not everyone with a great idea has access to the big fish that has the money to invest… some times; people only have access to loose change… and the idea of giving away loose change is something most American’s can live with, thus, our idea of ‘microfundraising’ was born: solicit little from a big pool, rather than lots from a small pool. 

We quickly abandoned our idea of building a website to soliciting quarters for our own personal gain… because…  well… because we couldn’t figure out how to accomplish two things:

1. Why would people come to our site?

2. Why would people be compelled enough to give us a quarter?

So, our idea quickly morphed into something a little bit bigger in hopes to generate more web traffic:  Create a website where other people who are in need of money/capital could solicit quarters… people wanting to get out of debt, make a movie, travel around the world in 80s, or buy all new musical instruments for their high school band.

Then, to answer the question, “why would people be compelled to give’?” we turned our idea into a competition for status and prizes.  Because as we all know… people like status and prizes.    Give more, win more.

Well… as most seemingly interesting ideas steaming from a couple of beers, it didn’t go very far.  We didn’t really get any further than registering a domain address… although Jimmy and I had a fair amount of experience designing websites, neither of us had the skills to design the type of site we mapped out… and we couldn’t afford to hire someone to do it for us… we were living in a proverbial Catch-22.  However, I’ve kept the idea in the back of my head for when I had the capital and time to invest.

So… why am I telling you this?  Am I just giving a good idea away?  Not really.

You see, a few weeks ago Time magazine published an article profiling the 50 greatest inventions of the last 10 years.  The 3^rd invention profiled is only a year and a half old… and it’s called www.kickstarter.com.  And it’s pretty much the same idea Jimmy and I came up with five years ago.  And after doing a little more research, there is already, at least, four copycat sites that have popped up.  So… it’s safe to say the market is saturated.  Although… none of them are doing quite like I had envisioned. ;)

Now I know how Nikola Tesla felt.  DANG YOU MARCONI!

Day 859: The Christmas Bicycle

For all of my readers that have kids… have you ever stopped and thought about how different your parents treat your kids’ verses how they treated you growing up?  I’m mainly talking about presents… and if you’re tempted to reflect on this difference, I would advise against it.

This whole Grandparent spoiling thing is very new to me.  Simply put, my Grandparents weren’t in the position to spoil.  I am one, of about, twenty-eight grandchildren on my mother’s sides and one, of about, twenty-three grandchildren on my father’s side… my Grandparents would have needed to be multi-millionaires to spoil their grandbabies… and they certainly weren’t millionaires.  Now, to their credit, both sets of Grandparents were really good about treating their grandbabies equal… so none of us were spoiled… at least to the best of my knowledge.  I really have no idea.  My grandparents were from Baltimore and I grew up in Atlanta.  Shady things could have happened.

 Anyway, this year for Christmas my parents decided to get Grayson a new bike.  It had been on our list of things to get him and my parents volunteered.  Awesome!  Santa can now focus on getting Grayson the Millennium Falcon instead!  (Shhh… don’t tell anyone).

But then… then I started thinking about the time my parents bought me a new bicycle.  I’m pretty sure I was in the fifth grade… or there abouts.

Growing up I had inherited my dad’s childhood bicycle.  It was yellow… made of steel… and it had cement tired.  I remember riding that bike most of my childhood.  At some point, my brother got his first 10 speed.  I don’t remember if he bought it himself or if my parents bought it… but all I remember is inheriting my brothers old dirt bike.  Now, I should point out… my brother is six years older than me and when I inherited his bike… it was too big for me and really beat up… and the yellow cement monster was too small for me... and really beat up.  But, I had no other options. 

Finally, somehow, I wore down my parents and they agreed to buy me a new bike… which turned into such a long and odd ordeal that, if I had known, I would have kept the yellow beast.

Over the course of the next week, my father took me to every bike shop in the Atlanta Metro area.  The quest was less about finding the bike I wanted and more about finding out what my options were within the price range my father was willing to spend.  I can’t blame him really… but he tried to hide his frugality by claiming the process was a ‘learning experience’ for me.  This was the first of many epically long ’learning experiences’ my father drug me on.

Now, my father is a very smart and shrewd business man… but when the ‘right’ bike turns out to the $80.00 6-Speed we saw in the ‘Toys R Us’ Sunday circular before setting foot in a single store… the only lesson I’m ‘learning’ is how valuable my time is.

And I still think it was odd for my father to take me to ‘Toys R Us’ to buy the bike, talk a stock boy into putting the bike together, and then leave me with the guy in the ‘Toys R Us’ warehouse to ‘learn how to build a bicycle’ while he left to run other errands.

So, yeah… they ordered Grayson’s bike sight unseen off Amazon.  Then again… we all know it’s the Grandma’s that spoil our kids.  ;)

BTW: To all of my Baha’i friends, I wish you a very peaceful ‘Day of the Convenant’!

Day 858: A Hungry-Man Thanksgiving

Well folks, I’m still not 100% sure how I’m going to spend my Thanksgiving Holiday today.  On Halloween I felt a slight twinge of loneliness… after all it was Gilliam’s first Halloween.  So now, here we are.  Thanksgiving… and I’m feeling a little more melancholy.  Today is a day that I can feel every painful minute of the last four (plus) months I’ve been away.

Prior to today, I have spent one Thanksgiving away from family… but that was back in college.  I was in rehearsals for a show and didn’t have the time to drive home so my roommates and I hosted an ‘orphans’ thanksgiving for a bunch of our friends and professors.  But college is a different animal.  College is a time when you’re trying to claim your own independence and the definition of ‘family’ blurs.  I may have been away from my actual family, but I was dining with my theatre family.

Now, I have a family of my own… and the definition is no longer blurred.

Sure, in the last four month I’ve fostered some very close friendships.  Friendships that will undoubtedly last for quite some time… as I’ve said in the past, a friendship is defined by a shared experience… and serving in Pakistan is certainly that.  However, friendship is no longer a replacement for family.

So, yes, the American Club is cooking a delicious feast for all of us lonely souls today… and all my new friends are hosting countless ‘orphan’ Thanksgivings around town… but… you know what I really want to do? 

All I want to do is stay home, heat up my Tyson’s Hungry-Man Turkey Dinner, turn on Skype, and share a meal with my family… I’m a man of simple tastes.

But don’t you worry about me… as the song says, ‘I’ll be home for Christmas’.  ;)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!  And whether you are American or not… today would be a good day to give your family a hug.

Day 857: These Boots were made for Walken

Nancy Sinatra, eat your heart out:

Day 856: Middle School Football Trick Play

Okay, so… I’ve seen a lot of trick plays in my time… but, this has to be the most bada— play I have ever seen.  We need to watch out for that quarterback… it doesn’t matter if he makes it in football or not, with that kind of confidence he will certainly make it in any profession he chooses… let’s just hope he doesn’t choose shoplifting.

Day 855: Conan’s a Barbarian!

REF:  Conan/Leno

CONAN!  My friend!  I’ve missed you so much!  It feels as if an empty void in my heart has been filled… .

Did anyone else watch Conan’s triumphant return to television earlier this month?  Oh man!  Conan’s premier was the highest rated comedy to air on TBS since they stopped airing ‘Gilligan’s Island’ reruns during Braves rain delays.

Seriously though… Conan’s ratings rocked the house.  Conan pulled 4.2 million viewers!

So, NBC fired Conan seven months into his stint hosting ‘The Tonight Show’ and gave it back to Jay Leno.  Which begs the question: How did Jay Leno do?  Well, Leno only received 3.5 million viewers and Letterman only received 3.4 views. 

Conan couldn’t have asked for a better return. 

It’s going to be very interesting to follow Conan’s rating over the coming months.  4.2 million viewers will be very hard to maintain and this number will probably drop rather quickly and fall in line with Leno and Letterman… however, unlike Leno and Letterman who merely maintain the audience they already have, Conan is in a place in his career where he will generate a new audience base and grow… which is what NBC wasn’t patient enough to wait for. 

In the end, only one thing is certain: NBC will rue the day they let Conan go.