Set up your Christmas tree, hang your stockings by the fireplace, and start shopping for gifts because Christmas is coming soon. It’s that time of year again when we sing Christmas songs, watch Christmas movies, and spend time with friends and family.
But the best part is waiting for Santa to bring our Christmas presents. That is if we’re not on his list of bad kids.
Even if you’re joking, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without a picture of Santa Claus riding his sleigh full of gifts. Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, is a legendary figure who is said to bring gifts to good children on Christmas Eve.
So, you can sneak up on Santa at night when everyone is asleep. But if you’ve been bad all year, Santa will give you a lump of coal.
Even though Santa Claus is a made-up character, that doesn’t stop “real-life” Santas from making kids happy.
Kids can find them in malls and stores all over the country. They make kids happy and give them hope. They make each experience so magical and fun that kids can’t help but smile big when they leave.
One Santa showed how kind-hearted he was in a much sweeter and unique way.
A woman from Texas saw Santa while she was at work. He was very kind. She was so moved by what he did that she just had to take a picture of him. But it wasn’t when Santa delivered Christmas presents and talked to a child.
Especially for a child, being in the hospital during Christmas is a very hard. The child has to spend Christmas in a hospital instead of with family and friends around a warm fire and a big Christmas tree.
Parents and hospital staff try their best to make things better. They ask Santa Claus to bring a smile to these kids’ faces by visiting them. But these visits can also be sad for the big guy with all the gifts.
This is what went on in a Texas hospital.
Mariana Whitley Tumlinson works at the Brownsville, Texas, Valley Regional Medical Center. Santa Claus was hired by the hospital where she worked for young children there. Santa kept the kids busy and worked hard to make them laugh and smile.
He asked Mariana where the chapel was when he was about to leave.
He told Mariana he was going to pray for the kids. When he asked, Mariana showed him the way to the chapel and left him alone. When she went back inside, what she had seen had moved her.
Santa Claus was quietly praying as he knelt in front of the picture of Jesus.
“This photo keeps making me cry,” she wrote in a 2018 Facebook post below. “Today, after visiting our patients, Santa was leaving and saw our chapel. He asked if he could go in and pray for the kids he had just seen. I said yes, of course. I didn’t walk in with him immediately, but when I did, I was so moved by this image that I had to take a picture of it—what a great way to remember why the season is so important. The reason for the season is Santa Claus.
The picture went viral and now has more than 42,000 likes.
Mariana put an end to it by saying:
“What a great way to remember why the season is so important.
Christmas is more than just a time to give gifts; it’s also a time to remember when Jesus Christ was born. This is when we try to be kind and humble and love our neighbors. And this Santa, with a big heart, was doing the right thing.
We hope you are kind all year long, not just during the holidays. Happy Holidays!