Santa Never Goes Away (And Neither Does Your Spark)|

How are you creative?

Merry Christmas, my friend. Coffee in hand. And here’s my line in the sand for today: Christmas magic and joy is real — and it’s a choice. The world will always have its “if it bleeds it leads” nonsense, but today? Today you get to anchor on something better.

Now, I know something else too: not everybody wakes up Christmas morning exactly where they want to be. Sometimes you’re far away. Sometimes it’s complicated. Sometimes you’re carrying something heavy and trying to smile anyway. I’ve been there.

1) Christmas isn’t a day — it’s a button you can push

At certain points in life, the “shadow” shows up. And when it does, it tries to shove Santa on the back burner like he never mattered. I made that mistake once. I learned my lesson. Santa never goes away. Ever.

That doesn’t mean you live in fantasy land. It means you don’t let cynicism steal the best part of being human: wonder, gratitude, and that kid-version of you that still lives in there somewhere.

2) Toys are not “kids stuff” — they’re memory grenades (in a good way)

Here’s the truth: we accumulate things for a reason. A lot of the time it’s because something inside of us knows that an object can take us back—back to a moment, back to a feeling, back to a version of ourselves that was lighter. Those things still speak to you.

And that’s why I wrote Toys Are Totems. Not because I want you worshipping plastic. Because I want you remembering who you were before the world told you to shut it down.

3) Your life needs your words, not just your photos

We’ve got photos of our grandparents. Sometimes we’ve got video. But most of us don’t have their words. And those words are often more important than the picture, because words reveal perspective. Words reveal values. Words reveal the “why.”

That’s why I’m going to keep encouraging you to write. Maybe you never publish a thing. Fine. But leave a record. A notebook. A stack of pages. Something your future people can hold and say, “Oh… THAT’S who they were.”

4) The real villain is the joy-killer inside your own head

Some folks decided the agreed-upon magic was “delusional.” I say: embrace it again. Because if you’ve gotten away from the magic, odds are you’ve been feeding that negative “lush”… the Wetiko mind virus… the thing Stephen Pressfield calls Resistance.

And I’m not preaching. I’m calling balls and strikes: it’s a terrible way to live. You can choose different right now. This isn’t an altar call. It’s a wake-up call.

5) My Christmas ask (and yes, I’m plugging the book)

I’m giving the ebook away free through midnight tonight. Why? Two-fold: I want the message out, and I want you back in touch with that Christmas morning feeling — because you absolutely can recall it.

Here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FDTR461C

If you grab it, do me one favor: share it with one person who needs their spark back. And if it hits you in the heart, leave a review — not for my ego, but so the message keeps traveling.

Close:

Wherever you are today… look left, look right, maybe up, maybe down — there’s something in your home that can spark that feeling again. It’s already waiting on you. It just got buried.

Merry Christmas. Go have some coffee. And choose the magic.

Now, Go Play!

Jim 12/25/2025