The Secret You Were Never Meant to Know—Writing The Santa Claus Paradox
When the feeling fades, the search for what holds Christmas together begins.
The Santa Claus Paradox started as a quiet thought during a Christmas that felt a little different. My kids were older, the house was calmer, and the rush that used to fill the mornings had softened into something slower. I still love the season, the lights, the food, the laughter, and especially watching other people open their gifts, but the feeling had changed. That wide-eyed energy I remembered from when they were small had settled into something quieter and more reflective.
It is a strange shift, that moment when you realize the magic has not vanished, it has simply moved. It lives in different places now, in conversation, in small acts of kindness, in the way memories return when you unpack old ornaments or hear a familiar song. Still, part of me missed the spark of that younger wonder, the way the whole house used to hum with excitement long before the sun came up.
One day, while thinking about that feeling, I remembered my kids watching Elmo Saves Christmas. In that story, Elmo wishes it could be Christmas every day. It seems sweet at first, the lights, the joy, the music, but as the story unfolds, the repetition dulls the magic. Without the anticipation and the contrast, Christmas loses what makes it special. That message stayed with me. Maybe magic exists because it cannot last forever.
That became the seed for The Santa Claus Paradox. I started wondering what really keeps the season alive. What if Christmas was not just about Santa, but about a network of unseen forces working together, the guardians of joy, generosity, luck, and light, each holding part of the balance that makes the world feel whole? And what would happen if that balance was broken by someone who only wanted to preserve it?
That idea grew into a story about connection, trust, and the unintended consequences of good intentions. It explores what happens when we hold on too tightly to something we love and in doing so, begin to change it. Sometimes, the harder we try to protect what is magical, the faster it slips away.
At its heart, The Santa Claus Paradox is not just about Christmas. It is about the balance between holding on and letting go, about how belief evolves as we grow, and how wonder can still live in quieter forms. It is about realizing that the spirit of Christmas does not disappear when life changes, it simply finds new ways to reach us.
For me, this book is a reminder that magic does not fade because we grow older. It changes shape. And sometimes, when we stop trying to keep it exactly as it was, we discover something even more meaningful in what it becomes.
