Jeff Belanger

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Jeff sundry observations, thoughts, and musings.

Mt. Kilimanjaro - Photo by Jeff Belanger
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Jeff Belanger to Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Belanger aims to raise over $25,000 for blood cancer research and treatment for those in need. NATICK, MA, September 21, 2016—Local paranormal author Jeff Belanger knows about scary things like facing ghosts, monsters, and things that go bump in the night. But those fears pale in comparison to watching a loved one die from cancer. Today Belanger announced that in March of 2017 he’s going to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in an effort to raise at least $25,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). Mt. Kilimanjaro is 19,341 feet tall. It’s the largest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Belanger’s route will take him 45 miles from the Serengeti to the summit and take eight days to complete. “Before I climb Kilimanjaro, I have a financial mountain to climb,” said Jeff Belanger. “I’m asking for $19.34 from everyone who donates. That’s one penny for every ten feet I need to climb. I’m counting on my friends, family, and community to help support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and wipe out blood cancer.” All donations are tax-deductible and go directly to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Belanger has set up the http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/mtklmjr16/JBelanger link to direct donors to his Team-in-Training page at LLS. “All of us are affected by this,” Belanger said. “I’ve watched family and friends lose their lives to cancer, and I know that it can also bring out the best in people. This is what I’m doing to help.” Belanger plans to write a new book about the experience. About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a 501c3 non-profit organization, is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. Founded in 1949, the LLS mission is “Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.” LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care. Belanger is climbing to support the Massachusetts chapter headquartered in Natick. About Jeff Belanger Jeff Belanger is the Emmy-nominated host and producer of the New England Legends series on PBS, he’s the author of over a dozen books on the paranormal (published in six languages) including the best sellers: The World’s Most Haunted Places, Weird Massachusetts, Our Haunted Lives, and Who’s Haunting the White House? (for children), and he’s lectured all over the world on legends and folklore. Belanger has written for newspapers like The Boston Globe and USA Today, and has served as the writer and researcher on numerous television series including Ghost Adventures, Paranormal Challenge, and Aftershocks on the Travel Channel, and Amish Haunting on Destination America. He’s been a guest on hundreds of radio and television programs including: The History Channel, The Travel Channel, Biography Channel, PBS, NECN, Living TV (UK), Sunrise 7 (Australia), The Maury Show, The CBS News Early Show, CBS Sunday Morning, FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates, National Public Radio, The BBC, and Coast to Coast AM.

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Two Men Dying

Eighteen to 24 months. That’s what Chris’s doctor told him exactly 26 months ago tomorrow. This thing had snuck up on everyone. At 45 years of age, no one was really looking for it. My brother-in-law went through some weight loss, he figured he’d been watching his diet better lately, but no. Tumors. Lots of them. And all over. The funny thing about two years is that it’s both a long time, and not a long time. It’s like driving through the desert toward a far-off mountain. You keep driving for hours, but the mountain doesn’t seem to be getting closer until finally it does. Because the desert offers you little perspective, the mountain looks big from a distance, and then suddenly it looms over you when you finally do approach. Here we are two months past expiration, and the doctors sent him home from the hospital. “There’s nothing more we can do,” they said. “Liver failure is imminent.” The mountain now looms heavy above us. For the last two days he’s been lying in a hospital bed rented for his bedroom at home. His skin and eyes are yellow from jaundice, but in the afternoon sunlight he looks golden. I know this color is unnatural for a human, but I start to look at Chris differently now. Like a glowing spirit is ready to break out of the confines of his too-frail body. An oxygen machine offers a low hum, a steady rhythm to the room that’s broken up by his occasional awkward breaths. His lips and mouth are dry, making speaking difficult. But still we talk. For three hours we talk. For the last two years Chris has been reduced to numbers. “These markers are up, so we’re adding this medication,” he would tell us. “This cell count is down, we’re cutting back on chemo,” he might say. Because death is so uncomfortable for everyone, we focus on the numbers, the data. We look only at the disease, because the person reminds us how fragile we are. How it could be us. We cheer for news that tumors aren’t growing, we allow heavy sighs of sorrow to come out when we learn that the chemo keeping him alive is also destroying his body. With organs failing, he was admitted to the hospital again last week. He already has multiple tubes surgically implanted in his abdomen to drain fluids his liver and kidneys can no longer process, but even those tubes and surgeries aren’t keeping up anymore. I received a text from Chris last week. “Do you have time to talk this morning? I don’t know anyone else I can talk to about this,” it read. That morning we talked on the phone for a while about some out-of-body experiences Chris has had almost every night since last week. The first one scared him—only because he was so high up he felt he would fall. (Plus, he confides, he’s always had a fear of heights.) But the second experience, that was incredible. He couldn’t control his movement, but he was aware of being out of his body. He said it felt both electric and free. It was this week that Chris made peace with what’s happening to him. Death is the first promise the universe makes to a newborn babe. “No matter what, death is coming for you, little one.” For most of us, a visit from death happens in an instant. You’re here. You’re gone. A car accident, a heart attack, going to bed one night and not waking up, there are many ways death surprises us. But Chris… Chris got intimate with death. For Chris, this has been a long courtship, a slow dance with the inevitable. Chris and death cohabitated. They got to know each other. In a way, it’s a precious gift. For three hours today we talked about life, about death, and about this profound human experience he’s going through. Chris is no longer numbers or test results, he’s definitely no longer a disease. He’s a person again. A golden person ready to disembark on a new adventure. Now that he’s home, he’s still leaving his body. He tells me he’s seen his grandmother. He’s seen his old cat. He makes of point of saying he makes no attempt to control these adventures, he views them as a gift, and he’s intent on allowing whatever is supposed to come through to enter. As a stream of visitors pours through his doors in these, his final days, Chris has a gift for each of them. He is blessed in a sense that he is attending his own wake fully conscious. His friends and family get to tell him kind words. He graciously accepts them. There’s no need for any grudges anymore. Any issues or grievances make no sense in this moment. There’s no need for anything but kindness and love. I sit there in awe of the conversation. I too am dying. I have been since the day I was born. Though I’m in good health right now, I can’t know if there’s some runaway truck out there waiting for me on the highway of life. Or if one of my own routine doctor visits will turn into a death sentence. Today I received an abundance of gifts and blessings from Chris. Not just talking and connecting to a fellow human being, he reminded me that though I’m not counting my final hours, I’m still dying. Like him there’s no need for me to shut people out who may want to visit in whatever capacity. I learned this from a golden man whose spirit is already practicing to leave his body for his next journey. Two men sitting, talking, and dying together.   His family has started a GoFundMe page to help raise money to offset the finanicial hardship they’ve gone through over the past two years: https://www.gofundme.com/3kfnv4mc In loving memory of Christopher Quirk. February 28, 1969 – December 20, 2015

The Belsnickel
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Beware Der Belsnickel!

Like Krampus, the Belsnickel is another dastardly Yuletide figure. But unlike Krampus, an encounter with Der Belsnickel isn’t fatal. With his origins in southwestern Germany, the Belsnickel made his way over to Penns…ylvania Dutch communities over two centuries ago, but his tale has since spread. The Belsnickel wears fur from head to toe and sometimes he wears a mask. He carries a switch of sticks in one hand for whipping bad children, and on his back is a sack full of sweets. The Belsnickel typically shows up a week or two before Christmas in order to check on the behavior of the little ones. The Belsnickel approaches a house and knocks on the window with his switch of sticks. The children are expected to fall in line in front of him. They may be asked to sing a song or answer questions asked of them. If they do well, they are given candy. If they misbehave… whack! In some cases, the candy is a test. The Belsnickel might toss some candy on the floor. If a kid jumps for the sweets before it’s offered to him… whack! The extremely naughty are brought outside to a tree and given a proper beating. Where Krampus carts off the naughty kids and devours them, the Belsnickel offers a chance at redemption before Christmas. The whipped children then have a couple of weeks to fly right so Santa will bring them toys on Christmas Day.

Krampus
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Happy Krampusnacht!

You know Dasher and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen. And of course you know Santa Claus. But did you know Santa has a dark and deadly counterpart? His name is Krampus… and today, December 5th, is his day. Between the 1870s and 19-teens, Krampus was very popular in Europe and parts of the United States. Though this yuletide figure originated in Germany and Austria, he quickly spread because every parent is always looking for new and innovative ways to scare their children into submission. Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6th in many European countries, but December 5th belongs to Krampus. Through old postcards from the turn of the century, we can see how popular this figure was. Krampus is depicted as a horned devil creature with one regular foot and one cloven hoof. His long, red, forked tongue often hangs from his mouth surrounded by an evil grin. Over his shoulder he carries either a scratchy burlap sack or a basket, so he can stuff the naughty kids inside. In his hands are chains and a switch of sticks for beating the bad children. When you were a kid, did you ever consider that no one you knew never really got coal or sticks in their stockings Christmas morning like people said would happen if you were bad? It’s because Krampus had already claimed the bad children and carted them away to be eaten! Happy Krampusnacht! If you survive tonight, you already know you’re on Santa’s nice list…

Jeff Belanger and Tony Dunne from the New England Legends television series at the Boston Emmy Awards.
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2014 Emmy Ceremony

With me in the photo is my New England Legends partner, Tony Dunne. We were thrilled to be nominated for an Emmy for the very first episode of our show, and our hopes were high, but the night would not be ours. As our category came up and the nominees were read, my heart raced. It looked like a long walk to the stage. I had already seen other winners walk off holding that famous golden trophy, and I imagined what it would feel like in my own hands. Then the winner’s name came up, and it was not our production. We applauded the winner, we smiled… It stung like a sonofabitch. Five minutes later, Leonard Nimoy took the stage to be honored. In his speech, he talked about how he had been nominated for an Emmy four times since he started acting on television at age 19. Four times he lost. He described how each time he lost he applauded the winner, smiled graciously, told himself it was about doing good work and not winning awards, and moved on. He said it’s not like he carried those losses with him all of these years… then he rattled off the names of the four people he had lost to. At age 83, he got to hold his first Emmy trophy… Saturday night in his hometown of Boston. Mr. Nimoy said exactly what I needed to hear. This guy was an inspiration to me not just because I loved his In Search of… show as a kid, but because he kept doing the work his whole career. And did I mention I’m a bit of a closet Trekkie? So yeah, just as he’s warpping up (wow… Freudian typo… I meant “wrapping up”) his speech, he tells us all to keep doing the work, then he pauses, raises his hand into that sign he’s made internationally famous and says, “And my wish for you all is that you do indeed live long and prosper.” That was it. I jumped to my feet. Thunderous applause. What a night! On the ride home, Tony and I brainstormed about all of the things we’re going to do better in our next episodes. That loss motivated me in a way that a win never could. I tasted blood, and I want to go back next year for more. When we produced our first episodes, we weren’t thinking about Emmy awards. We just wanted to make a good show. Knowing our first effort put us into that league… I know we can do better. Much better. And we will. I’m on it.

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2013: A Look Ahead for Newtown and for Us

“I grew up in an old New England town…” You know how many lectures I have begun with those exact words? Each time some radio talk show host asks me how I got started in the paranormal, I start with those nine words. I’ve said them in that order thousands of times now. I say that phrase because it sets the stage that I grew up around historic locations and old buildings with tales of ghosts. I specifically say “old New England town” because nobody has ever heard of Newtown, Connecticut… My heart broke completely on December 14th as I watched with the rest of the world as we learned the horrific details of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. It hit me particularly hard because I’m a dad to a little girl who is only a few months younger than most of the victims, it struck me so profoundly because I went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in fifth grade and I felt like part of my childhood was attacked that day, and it hurt more because my family still lives in Newtown—the house I grew up in and where my folks still live is less than a mile from the school. What has happened to humanity? What kind of monsters walk among us? How could something like this have happened? I asked all of those questions too. I’ve cried over this… a lot. I’ve felt rage and anger because of what happened. While the event was still unfolding that Friday morning, I was emailing and texting with local friends. “We have to do something,” was the tone of each of those messages. Something had to change. I had to change. On the morning of Christmas Eve, I spent some time down at the makeshift memorials in Sandy Hook Center and by the firehouse. TV cameras and photographs did them no justice. There are a million details that could only be seen in person. The notes left in a child’s handwriting that said, “I hope you are okay,” the thousands of teddy bears, the cross made from Legos, the candles, the trinkets, the flowers, the toys, the hand-made Christmas tree ornaments that featured the victims’ pictures, the handwritten notes of support offered to anyone who read them, and the profound sense of sadness and loss that hung in the air. It took a community to create those memorials in a matter of days. Everyone was building something, though they didn’t know what or why. But it mattered. They did something. One little gesture, then another, and another turned into something powerful. This is where it gets paranormal: intent is everything. You really can change your outlook, then the world, then the universe. It’s been proven again and again. I know it sounds daunting. I mean all of the baggage we all have from our past, and all of the trouble the future will no-doubt bring: bills, broken cars, bad relationships, horrible bosses, and so on. But we can focus on right now. I’m mean this second. We can easily change this second. It’s right in our hands, after all. It’s tangible. New Year’s is a time for resolutions and change. I’ve found that any resolution with a start date other than right now has little chance of success. So right now, do something. Make a choice, and do it. Change this second, then another. You’ll inspire the person next to you to do the same. Slowly those seconds will compound and build something bigger and powerful—the same way those memorials were built in Sandy Hook Center. Those emails and text messages I was sending on December 14th have turned into a new non-profit organization called the Newtown Memorial Fund, Inc. I’m proud to serve on the board of directors along with other locals who are volunteering their time to change the world around them. Our goal is to raise $26 million that will be used to assist victims’ families immediate needs, to build an appropriate memorial, and to establish a sustainable fund to provide academic scholarships in the victims’ names for generations of Newtown students to come. We’ve already raised over $450,000, but we still have a long way to go. I have no doubt we’ll get there, though. There are mountains to climb to get to that goal, but we’ll climb them one step at a time. To learn more, or to donate please visit: http://newtownmemorialfund.org/ The reason tragedies like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting hurt us is because we are all connected. There’s a fabric that binds one person to another, our past to our present, and our present to the future. It’s the same reason we sometimes know something before it happens, and why we feel emotions like love, joy, rage, and sadness. Because we tap into this global thing called humanity. I hope and pray that 2013 will be a year filled with love, laughter, and more humanity than we have seen in a long time.

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Christmas in Newtown, Connecticut

The ancient Mayans are right: The world ends this week. That doesn’t mean I’m not making plans for any event beyond December 21st. In fact, my family just decided that we will be spending Christmas in Newtown this year. But the world as we knew it must end. And I’d like to thank 26 heroes for showing us why. In 1985, my family moved to Newtown, Connecticut. I attended fifth grade at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I recall the giant green footprints that were painted on the street from Riverside Road up to the school’s entrance; I remember Mrs. Paige, my fifth grade teacher; and I recall my friends—carefree, learning, trying to be cool—exactly the way elementary school kids are supposed to be. I am forever a part of that school and town, and it is forever a part of me. I share a kinship with every person who was a student there, who taught there, who walked those halls, and who had a connection with the building. If you were to draw a line between all of those people and all who knew them, it would include a community of millions of human beings. I’m not only saddened by the atrocity that took place at my old grammar school, I’m broken… and ready to be rebuilt. It’s been surreal watching 24×7 television news plastering images of my childhood everywhere. The police press conferences are being held at Treadwell Park, a place where I’ve played in hundreds of soccer games. St. Rose of Lima Church is the church where I was confirmed. Sandy Hook center is an intersection I’ve driven through thousands of times. That firehouse and school—less than one mile from the house I grew up in, and the house where my parents still live—are landmarks that we passed almost every time we went anywhere. I can’t help but feel naked and vulnerable as the world peers into my hometown. But since the world is watching, that amazing community has an opportunity to make a stand and say something both comforting and profound here at the end of the world. It took 26 angels—most of them young children—to accomplish what no single person could have done alone. They made the world stop turning. They made all of humanity pause. They forced us to ask ourselves, “What’s really happening to us?” The ancient Mayans may have predicted the end of the world this week, but these 26 heroes fulfilled it. These angels all have names: Charlotte Bacon, age 6, Daniel Barden, age 7, Rachel Davino, age 29, Olivia Engel, age 6, Josephine Gay, age 7, Ana M. Marquez-Greene, age 6, Dylan Hockley, age 6, Dawn Hochsprung, age 47, Madeleine F. Hsu, age 6, Catherine V. Hubbard, age 6, Chase Kowalski, age 7, Jesse Lewis, age 6, James Mattioli, age 6, Grace McDonnell, age 7, Anne Marie Murphy, age 52, Emilie Parker, age 6, Jack Pinto, age 6, Noah Pozner, age 6, Caroline Previdi, age 6, Jessica Rekos, age 6, Avielle Richman, age 6, Lauren Rousseau, age 30, Mary Sherlach, age 56, Victoria Soto, age 27, Benjamin Wheeler, age 6, and Allison N. Wyatt, age 6. These fine human beings caused billions of extra hugs in recent days. They started dialogues that need to happen. They woke up a town, a state, a nation, and a world to what really matters. They did not die in vain. It’s our duty as humans to carry on their legacy. The person who won’t be named is the shooter. Names belong to people. He doesn’t deserve his. The 26 angels are all that matter. But the shooter also had his role to play. It took only one monster to remind me that people are good, kind, and selfless. Fred Rogers once said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” There was only one monster Friday morning, but hundreds of helpers who ran in—and those are just the first responders. As word spread, you had thousands then millions more who pledged prayers, support, and money to help in any way they could. Even in the darkest corners of this tragedy, we find light. The word “hero” is thrown around too much today, but already we have heard stories of true heroism from Sandy Hook. Victoria Soto, a first grade teacher, thought quickly when she heard shots fired in her school. She hid all of her students in closets and cabinets. When the gunman entered her classroom, she told him her kids were in the gym. The coward then shot the defenseless teacher. She was quick-thinking, brave, and selflessly traded her life for those of her students. That is a hero. We should name towns and streets after her. But no amount of honor will ever be enough. Each of her students will be greater people because of her. They will guide us into this brave new world. On Sunday, President Obama visited my quiet hometown to help console the victims’ families and a grieving nation. While it was right for him to do so, it saddens me that any United States president would have ever even heard of my little town. As one of my high school friends pointed out in his Facebook post, “The last time shots were fired like this in Newtown was during the Revolutionary War when Rochambeau’s army took practice shots at weather vanes.” This stuff doesn’t happen in Newtown. It shouldn’t happen anywhere. Of all of the human emotions, “helpless” is the worst. If there was something I could build, I’d build it; something I could fix, I’d fix it; something I could break to undo this, I’d break it. For now, all I can do is pray for those who need our support the most. When the prayers have been said, and the condolences offered, next I will focus this energy on myself, on my family, and

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Santa is a Legend Not a Lie

My friend Al told me he was struggling with telling his four-year-old daughter about Santa Claus. “It’s the only lie I’ve ever told her,” he said. I too have a four-year-old daughter and am currently in the thick of Santa Fever at my house, where we’ve been lauding Père Noël for the last three Christmases. He’s a legend I’m honored to propagate. I study legends for a living. Monsters, ghosts, extraterrestrials, and ancient mysteries swirl around me like smoke from a smoldering campfire. If there’s one thing that’s certain: it’s that all legends have a solid foundation in someone’s reality. From there the story grows and evolves; it becomes part of a collective human experience. Legends are real. The point can’t be argued. When I say “Bigfoot,” an image is instantly conjured in your mind. You no doubt picture a tall, hairy, upright-walking creature who lurks in the forest. There are Halloween costumes that feature this biped, he even shills beef jerky in TV commercials. Can there be any doubt as to the veracity of this legend? Whether there is an actual ape-like creature wandering the forests of America can be debated forever. But the legend itself cannot. Belief makes reality. The only reason that $20 bill in your pocket is worth more than the $1 bill is belief. Faith. We believe our government will back up these bank notes so they’re worth something. If we collectively lose that belief, our monetary system will collapse. Of all the legends in America, there can be none as prominent, or as real, as that of St. Nick. If I were to walk into a crowded restaurant anywhere in the United States holding an image of a big man with white hair and a white beard wearing a red suit and asked each diner, “Who is this?” I would have trouble finding a single person who wouldn’t answer, “Santa Claus.” Before there was the hoopla, the guy in the red suit at the mall, the shopping frenzy, the Christmas trees, and the holiday lights, there was a man—a regular man who was the foundation of something extraordinary. Nicholas lived in the land of Myra (which is modern-day Turkey) around 300 A.D. He was the only child of a wealthy family and was orphaned at a young age. The boy grew up in a monastery and entered priesthood by age 17. A true philanthropist, and inspired by a person named Jesus who lived long ago, Nicholas gave away his wealth throughout his life. He left gifts for children in their shoes, he was known to toss small sacks of gold through open windows, and to lavish affection upon the poor. The Catholic Church canonized him shortly after his death, making him St. Nicholas. A real person inspired Catholics to make him into a saint. When the Church established Christmas on December 25th to coincide near the Pagan holiday of Yule, incorporating Nicholas and his spirit of generosity into the Christmas season was a natural fit for the Church. The legend of that saint grew, evolved, and spread through a natural folklore process. Over the centuries, Nicholas’s story was passed around, he was copy-catted by others who took joy in giving away money and toys to poor children. As the centuries passed, his legend grew to mythic proportions and took on supernatural attributes. The Dutch people called this figure “Sinter Klaas,” and brought him over to New York when they arrived in the seventeenth century. They celebrated this saint on December 5th or 6th (depending on what country you lived in). Washington Irving wrote about this figure in his History of New York where he described the arrival of the Saint on horseback, but it was a poem penned by Clement Clarke Moore in 1823 that defined Santa Claus, his sled, the reindeer, what he looks like, and his chimney-arrival behavior. That poem is called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” better known as “The Night Before Christmas.” In 1860 a Harper’s magazine illustrator named Thomas Nast depicted Santa as a big round man who had a workshop at the North Pole and a list of all the good and bad children. In 1931 the Coca Cola Company made the figure of Santa in a red suit with white fur trim a cultural icon as part of their advertising campaign. The first time a child meets Santa Claus, it’s like meeting the world’s biggest celebrity. Most of us never forget the racing heartbeats, the giddy excitement, or maybe even the fear of meeting this omniscient, supernatural being who can either make your dreams come true by laying your most desired toy under the Christmas tree, or crush you with lumps of coal and sticks in your stocking. As we get older, our ideas of Santa morph and evolve until many of us actually become Father Christmas—either at the office holiday party or when we have children of our own. The Santa experience offers genuine miracles on both sides of the fluffy white beard in a world where most mysteries are dying off at an alarming rate. Since Santa went mainstream in the nineteenth century, he’s has been deified, lampooned, imitated, commercialized, scorned, and overexposed. But through all the murk and mess, Santa’s magic still shines through like Rudolph’s nose through the fiercest blizzard. We created Santa. All of us. Each Christmas he’s born again. We teach our own children about Santa because, even if only for the first few years, it’s right to believe in magic. From the children’s perspective, it’s so wonderfully simple: On December 24th, before they go to bed they leave milk and cookies out for Santa. They glance at the empty space under the Christmas tree, and run off to try and sleep; giddy with anticipation. The next morning there is tangible evidence of the supernatural visitation: The cookies are mostly eaten, the milk is mostly drunk, and behold the wrapped presents under the tree! I don’t care if you’re Christian

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