It\u2019s a sight to see: a real, live Santa Claus on his knees, hands folded, inclining his head reverently toward statues of the Holy Family. Then, still kneeling, he becomes \u201cmaestro Santa\u201d \u2014 leading children and their parents not in \u201cJingle Bells\u201d or \u201cUp on the Housetop,\u201d but in a verse each of \u201cOh Come, All ye Faithful\u201d and \u201cSilent Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
In case you think you\u2019re having a Christmas hallucination brought on by too much eggnog or an overabundance of holiday films, rest easy. This is just how they do Christmastime at the Merrifield Garden Center just outside the Beltway in Merrifield at Lee Highway and Gallows Road.<\/p>\n
Rather, this is how John Buckreis does Christmastime. The Annandale man\u2019s approach to Santa Claus \u201cas the modern-day St. Nicholas\u201d has kept generations of families returning to the jolly old elf\u2019s garden center home for nearly 30 years.<\/p>\n
The 78-year-old tries not to turn his Christian message into a lecture or an in-your-face religious experience, but instead imparts his message subliminally, using \u201cSanta\u2019s Alphabet Calendar\u201d instead of an Advent one, and mixing religious songs with the secular. If the kids have deeper questions about the true meaning of Christmas, they can look to mom and dad for answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI turn it over to the parents,\u201d said Buckreis, a parishioner at St. Michael Parish in Annandale. \u201cI\u2019m forcing the parents to become involved in Christmas and they love it. They want it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the real Santa,\u201d said one of those parents, Lisa Davis, who has brought her two boys to Merrifield for the last six years. \u201cHe makes you believe from the time he walks out until the time you leave. He includes Jesus into his performance. That\u2019s what the real meaning of Christmas is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be real here, though. Most kids wait in line \u2014 sometimes for hours \u2014 not to talk about the New Testament, but so they can climb into Santa\u2019s sleigh with their Christmas lists, eyes wide in anticipation that their conversation will lead to a toy-filled Christmas morning. That, after all, is their right as children \u2014 and part of the excitement of the season. But as they slide off his knee, Santa has two things ready for them \u2014 a lollipop and a holy card.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo other place does that,\u201d said Andrea Albanese, a parishioner of St. James Parish in Falls Church, who has brought her children to see Santa for the last five years. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty counter-cultural.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You can visit the Herald site<\/a> to see pictures of Santa in action, and to learn more about his remarkable little ministry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"…your state has a Santa like no other. We see Santa all the time at malls, but most of us have never seen one quite like this, in Virginia, just outside Washington. From the Arlington Catholic Herald: It\u2019s a sight to see: a real, live Santa Claus on his knees, hands folded, inclining his head…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links-r-us"],"yoast_head":"\n
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From the Arlington Catholic Herald: It\u2019s a sight to see: a real, live Santa Claus on his knees, hands folded, inclining his head…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/yes-virginia.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-12-15T14:05:00+00:00","author":"deacon greg kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/yes-virginia.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/yes-virginia.html","name":"Yes, Virginia... - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-12-15T14:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-12-15T14:05:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/yes-virginia.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/yes-virginia.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/12\/yes-virginia.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Yes, Virginia…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10","name":"deacon greg kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","caption":"deacon greg kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/365"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}