Forty years ago tomorrow night I saw Santa. I didn't see him at the mall or in a department store or ringing a bell on the street. I saw him in our living room at 4am. He wasn't my dad in a suit or an inflatable dummy or a photograph, he was the embodiment of Christmas made visible. He filled the room, was semi-transparent, more spirit than flesh and didn't notice a small boy crouching on the stairs and watching him between the newel posts. I know he was real precisely because he was so unnatural. You can't see through your father in a Santa suit and no mundane human can fill a whole room.
This encounter with Santa is one of my most vivid memories from my childhood. It's the only genuine supernatural experience I've ever had and I have no reason to believe it was anything but real. I wasn't given to hallucinations as a child and haven't had a history of mental illness in the years since then. I don't think it was a holy vision. It certainly didn't cause me to become particularly religious. It's just this one, inexplicable incident when I glimpsed something beyond our normal reality.
I bore my children with the story every year, and I think my older daughter finds the whole concept somewhat embarassing. I guess it's not cool to have a father who still believes in Santa. I think that in most ways I live a pretty rational life, but I can't shake the reality of what I saw all those years ago. I wait up late every Christmas Eve - ostensibly filling stockings - hoping I might get lucky and see Santa again, though lately I have this morbid fear that if I see him again he'll be the spirit of death come to take me away.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Aaman
Interesting Dave, thanks for sharing. Did you see him/or any similar phenomenon again?
2 - Dave Nalle
It's the only experience of this sort I've ever had. My teen daughter is convinced that I was asleep and dreaming the whole experience, but I'm still convinced it was real. I wonder if I'm alone or if others have had similar experiences.
Dave
3 - Jackson
That is an interesting story. I personally don't believe in Santa but I respect you for doing so past the age of ten. The fact that you've made it past 40 still beleiving is remarkable. Good luck on catching Santa again tomorrow night. Oh, by the way, I have an upcoming satirical peice about Santa. I hope it doesn't offend you. It's not serious, just supposed to be funny. It should be published in a few hours.
4 - Aaman
Interesting Santa picture on your post. What is the source?
5 - Dave Nalle
I said I believe in Santa. I didn't say I worshipped him as a god or anything. I actually have a bit more faith in Santa than I do in god, but I'm still pretty much an open-minded atheist.
Dave
6 - gonzo marx
Mr Nalle sez...
*I wonder if I'm alone or if others have had similar experiences.*
yes..Ebeneezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present
no wonder yer waiting for the Third One
Excelsior!
7 - Scott Butki
Great post, Dave.
8 - Victor Lana
I saw Santa once too, Dave. It was late on Christmas Eve and everyone was upstairs, and I only ran down because I forgot my Bugs Bunny (at 5 he was preferred over a Teddy Bear). I swear to this day I saw him, swinging his legs out our window (we didn't have a fireplace). He wasn't so much a specter; he seemed real. I stood in shock as he slipped out and shut the window behind him.
I wanted to say something but he was gone so quickly. The reason I think he was real was because the room was freezing cold (from the window being opened). I ran to the window and saw nothing and heard nothing (no bells, no reindeer's hoves, nothing). He was just gone. I still believe I saw him even if no one else ever believed me.
Ho, ho, ho!
9 - Aaman
Practically, you probably experienced wish-projection, your mind created what you strongly believed ought to exist
Economically, you know of course someone had to pay for presents, and even a Santa on minimum wage would not tolerate being as over-worked as the guy probably is each year
10 - Dave Nalle
Victor, in many ways your experience is even more disturbing than mine, because it's so much more believable and non-supernatural in character. Interesting.
And Aaman, I'm not convinced that the Santa I saw was actually leaving any presents. I've always thought he was merely 'blessing' or sort of infusing the presents with Christmas spirit.
Dave
11 - Dave Nalle
Oh, and I found the Santa image on the web, but I believe it's from a turn-of-the-century issue of Vanity Fair magazine.
Dave
12 - Fabianus
It's certainly easier and more pleasant to believe in Santa Claus than in Intelligent Design.
Fab
13 - mt
"I wasn't given to hallucinations as a child and haven't had a history of mental illness in the years since then."
Ho ho ho, Dave.
14 - Dave Nalle
Not diagnosed anyway, MT.
Dave
15 - brady
I saw Satan in a chimney once and lit his ass on fire (which he enjoyed). The next time I saw Satan's Claws I was eating Stone Crab claws at Truluck's with my aunt Mabel. I mistook Satan for my crab and dipped him into honey mustard sauce. Mmm, good Satan's Claws.
16 - Cindy
I love Dave! :-)
17 - Richard
Hello everyone i'm 20 years old, i never believe in santa never, but at the age of 8 i saw him, he was on the sky crossing my house, this happend in my country El Salvador. I quicly called my friend and he saw it too and we also called our other friend but he didn't see him he desappeared in front of our eyes, we didn't see him wearing red color we saw him in his sleigh running in the sky, But the strange thing is that after 10 years when i ask the guy who saw it too, he says that he doesn't remember and i remember very clear, i don't believe in him and i never did but the real truth is that i saw him or his shade and it was a full moon that day.
18 - Sara
I'm 13 and I still believe. I have a story like Dave, actually, but none of my friends believe me at all.
When I was seven, on chirstmas eve, I was sleeping in between my parents on their bed (I usually did this on Christmas eve) and I swear (at around four AM) a bright light woke me and I saw it coming from the stairs. My parents were asleep, and I went to the staircase. I heard the sound of rubber boots on the wood floors.
Burglar? No, the alarm was set. The light was so beautiful! I went back to bed happily, knowing what I saw and heard was real.
Am I wrong to not believe what I really saw? I was wide awake, I swear it. Definately no dream, I never remember my dreams, anyway. Besides, what child really sleeps on Christmas eve?
I really just need an answer. I want to know if I'm right and Santa is really real.
19 - Tory
I'm a teenager, and I believe, When I was little, about 4 I think, my brother and I heard Santa Clause on the roof, people I've told usually say it was just my parents, but our roof is nearly impossible to get onto, and our parents would never go through such lengths. My brother no longer believes, but I will always believe in Santa.
20 - dan
im 17 and i have never seen or herd santa but i just have a gut feeling that tells me that he is real
21 - Caiin
You guys are sooo way over your heads hahahaha i mean seriously come on! Christmas was about JESUS douchebags until someone came up with this idea that sum fat guy gave out presents, commercialized it and now your brains have "convinced" You into seeing santa! this is stupid eveything he does has to do with "magic" yet people would disregard god or life on other planets and believe in magic... Wow humns amaze me at times ! YOU HaVE FORGOTTEN THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS HERE fools -_-
22 - Lauren
i have to agree with dan i mean i am 32 and still believe in santa. My Parents aren't up when santa Comes To My So Obviously Santa Has My Presents on His Sleigh With him Coming From The North Pole. Even though I I Never Seen Him But I Hear Him Every Christmas Eve When he Lands on my Trailer Roof. and he comes down my chimney but it anyone has seen then m&m's Comercial thats your proof right there. so there is a santa. but if anyone saw the parade there he was there too. so yes there is a santa Dan! I Had my 3 cousins outside with me at my aunts lastnight and told them do u see that blinking light and they said yeah thats santa checking on you guys. but they believe. but my cousin timmy whose 6 said he saw santa on christmas eve every year.
23 - Beth
I'm currently 14, and I still and always will believe in Santa. When I was about 7 years old, I got up in the middle of the night around 2 oclock to go to the bathroom. My little sister's bedroom door was open, and she was fast asleep. My parents door was also open, and they were both in their beds sleeping (and snoring) as well. Coming from downstairs, I heard the rustling of wrapping paper as if someone was wrapping gifts. It was not air blowing against it. It was too loud for that. It was Santa wrapping presents. My sister claims to have heard the crunching of cookies the same night. The following year, we got a small maltese dog. When she was a puppy, we kept her in a cage in the kitchen. Every Christmas Eve night she would bark. There is no possible way for her to have gotten out of her cage, and she obviously would have been able to smell if it was my dad, mom, sister, or me downstairs. She was barking at Santa, I am convinced. This happened every year until she began sleeping in my parents room. Sometimes she still growls in the night on Christmas Eve. I also have a friend who is 16 who heard footsteps on her roof one year (I heard them one year as well, and saw a strange light far off in the distance another year), and also found carrots on her roof. No parents would go to the extent of biting dozens of carrots and tossing them up on the roof. Her mom also told her and her siblings that she got coal one year and showed them one of the actual pieces. My entire family believes in Santa Claus. There have been years when we didn't have a lot of money and I still got TONS of presents from Santa. I am and always will be a firm believer, no matter what my friends say:)
24 - Santa Claus
Did you write all those other comments, Dave? It seems interesting to me that they all think it's INTERESTING, Dave... MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)
25 - Santa Claus
...Oh, and you DIDN'T SEE ME!