by Harvey Alvarenga, Age 4
EDITOR’S NOTE: I love having conversations with my son, and I thought I would share our latest conversation because I love the way he thinks. However that conversation turned into something else that was simply impressive. He wanted me to write his words down into an article for “Daddy’s magazine.” These are his own words about Christmas, and this is his first article titled “Christmas Through Innocent Eyes.” Harvey is autistic, has sensory processing disorder, and is only four-years-old. It also makes this honor so very special to be named the youngest journalist at The City Insight Magazine. I hope this warms your heart as much as it did mine. Seeing Christmas through such young and truly innocent eyes makes the holiday season even more magical. It taught me one important lesson – you are never too old to believe.
Welcome to my home, and come inside. You can play with anything you want but don’t touch the breakable stuff.
I want to tell a story about what Christmas means to me, and to children, and puppies and grown-ups and everyone in the world.
The first thing I think of is of Santa Claus. Santa looks like he has big whiskers and if you’re naughty, then he will give you a card to tell you to try to be good. He has a belt to hold his trousers up and he has a coat and a hat so he can look like Santa and he can stay warm.
I think Santa has a Christmas rocket or a Christmas plane so he can fly all around the world to give present. The sled is not fast enough. I also think Santa has a puppy and he is taking him out right now for a walk. He has the puppy because he got him from the North Pole General Store. He likes puppies and dogs and he can take care of them and keep them safe. The puppy’s name is Henry because I dream of Santa and I heard Santa say that to me in the dream.
Mrs. Claus is cooking some breakfast for Santa and her. I think she is making Christmas Tree Soup. It’s called Christmas Tree Soup because it’s like Spaghetti Christmas Tree soup which is super, super hot. So we need to cool it a little bit and you need spaghetti, meatballs, bananas, oranges, apples, and pumpkins to make it.
I think of the elves too. They help Santa make toys and fix toys. They have jingly bells on their hats. They check the list of naughty and nice children twice. I think they do this for Santa because the paper is too long with all the children’s’ names on it and it’s rolled up and it goes down to the floor when it’s not rolled. That’s too much for Santa to read.
Snow on Christmas is so cold and chilly and fun to play with. I like sledding and snowball fights. I think the snow comes from the clouds or the rain. Snow is important for children on Christmas to play with.
The reindeer are good and they are super, super special. They have antlers and they can guide Santa’s sleigh. They are nice to look at and Rudolph was not the favorite but he came to be the favorite.
I think the kids in the world like Christmas and other Christmas stuff like trees, decorations, pots to hold the trees, turkey, soup, chocolate, cookies, and milk, which Santa loves! You bake some cookies like sugar or chocolate chip and we get some milk. We put the milk and cookies on my learning desk and I do it to say thank you to Santa for the presents. I think he enjoys the cookies and milk because they are always gone in the morning.
I wish I can work with Santa in the Workshop so I can make toys for all the children in the world like trains, planes, snakes, globes that have snow in them with Santa and the Christmas tree… snow globes. I think I need to help sick children and go with them to the Doctor’s so that I can help them feel less sick and ask the Doctor what’s happening inside of them. Then I can get the supplies with the tools to help them so they can have a happy Christmas.
I want everyone to enjoy Christmas and be happy, safe, and sound.
