November 28, 2008

Register columnist publishes Christmas book for parents

Fran Rajotte, Tennessee Register

The wonder of Christmas brings excitement to children of all ages. Poems like “Twas The Night Before Christmas” have been a huge part of our culture, and children everywhere are eager to wake up on Christmas morning to find the toys delivered by the jolly elf himself. 

However, there comes a time when children begin to question his existence, and the challenge for parents is how to explain the spirit of Christmas based upon their personal beliefs and family traditions.

Tennessee Register columnist Chris Fenoglio makes it easy for parents to delicately share the mystical meaning of the spirit of Christmas with their children in his new book entitled “Kristin and the Santa Secret.”

The book is a heartwarming poem that gives parents the faith-filled words and a simple method to help answer the ultimate question asked by children every Christmas: “Is Santa Claus real?” According to Fenoglio, the answer can be found within.

Fenoglio and his wife, Linda, anticipated the moment their 9-year-old daughter, Kristin (now age 22), would raise the question. Before hearing about it from children in the playground, the Fenoglios decided to take a proactive approach, and handed her a gift.

As she carefully removed the lid of an antique box, she discovered a royal purple cloth wrapped around an object. She gently picked up the bundle, slowly unwrapped the cloth, and found inside a beautiful hand mirror, which she held up as she looked at her reflection. 

“Kristin, you are Santa Claus,” said Fenoglio, and explained she was Santa, just as both he and her mother were Santa. He explained how Santa was alive in all people of good will, including her brothers, though they did not realize it yet. 

“Just like God gave His children the great gift of His Son, we in turn give our children presents to show how much we love them. As Santa Claus, we spread the spirit of Christmas through our gifts, our decorations and the good deeds we do for others,” said Fenoglio.

“Kristin really did receive it well,” Fenoglio said. “We saw a look of understanding on her face. It seemed to confirm what she might have already thought, but she was still clinging to the wonder and magic of Santa. That Christmas, she even asked to hand out presents.”

When their two sons, Connor and Tommy came of age, they, too, were given the secret. “The boys also received it well. One asked me the question right before going to bed. When I showed him the mirror and shared the explanation, he said, ‘OK,’ and went happily to sleep. Our other son was pretty nervous sitting in our bedroom while we explained the Santa secret to him. After explaining everything, he started to shed some tears. A hug from Mom made everything better and he left smiling.”

To this day, the real props sit under the Christmas tree each year, except when they have been loaned to family and friends who use the same method to teach their children about Santa Claus.

Fenoglio said he and his wife always thought the way they talked to their children about Santa Claus was very unique and special, so he wrote an article for the Tennessee Register that explained this process to parents. The article first appeared in a December 2003 issue of the Register.

“The next year, Managing Editor Andy Telli called and said they had requests for the same article,” and Fenoglio agreed to a request to reprint it. “That is when I began to think that maybe those words and the way we told our children about Santa would appeal to a larger audience. I decided then to put it in some sort of format to be published.”

Fenoglio decided to write a short story, with the parents telling their daughter about Santa in the final scene. He imagined it to be a book the size of Polar Express, but could never get the story to flow easily. 

“I tried a couple of different scenarios, but they all seemed too contrived. So, I scrapped the short story idea and decided that a Christmas poem might be the right format to elevate the message.”

Fenoglio soon discovered that he had to use different “writing muscles” to write in this format. “With my columns, I can write in a fairly freestyle, journal type format. But with poetry, especially with a structured rhyming scheme, you have to be very precise with the number of syllables and the accents of words.”

He decided to write the poem according to the rhythm of “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” also known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

“Since it was familiar, readers would delve more quickly into the poem’s imagery and meaning. So, after learning a lot about how to structure a poem, I rewrote it and put it in its final form.”

According to Fenoglio, the final form was a bit of a joke, since he kept changing a word here and there and added punctuation. He eventually changed a word at the end of the poem according to his son, Tommy’s, suggestion. “Little changes went on for a couple of months,” he said.

There are also a couple of other family connections in the poem. Norbert’s Department Store is named after Fenoglio’s grandfather on his mother’s side. Norbert Sarto O’Connor was a large, white haired man with a twinkle in his eye. “It’s not too hard to think of him as Santa.” 

The courthouse in the poem is taken from a courthouse in Salem, Ind., which he passes when visiting with his wife’s family. “It is always decorated with hundreds of lights, so it literally glows, as it says in the poem,” he said.

According to Fenoglio, the poem connects the magic of Santa Claus to the true meaning of Christmas in a very real, heartfelt way. 

“Above all, we wanted to tell our children the Santa secret in a special way, full of wonderment and meaning. It’s a big moment for the child.” Fenoglio said parents may want to duplicate what they did and read the book with their child, or develop an idea of their own.

He said the age of revealing the Santa secret to a child depends on how receptive he or she will be to a more complex idea. “With a little thought, parents should know the best time for their children.”

The book is self-published under the name Stopher Publishing, which is Fenoglio’s nickname from his mother’s side of the family. The book is illustrated by Natasha Tibbott. “She is a wonderful illustrator,” said Fenoglio. “My words created the ideas, but her illustrations make them jump off the page. I feel very blessed to have worked with her on this project.”

Fenoglio concluded the idea of Santa Claus is real in so many children, so he is real. “He is also real in the mind of adults, just in a different way. This poem, I hope, connects those two realities about Santa and inspires the reader to truly know the love of God that is inside each of us.”

The book is available online at www.KristinAndTheSantaSecret.com for $9.95, plus $3 tax, shipping, and handling, or, it can be ordered by sending a check to Stopher Publishing, 713 Wagon Drive, Nashville, TN 37221. The book is also sold at St. Mary’s Bookstore on West End Avenue in Nashville, and there will be a book signing there 11-1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5.

Fenoglio will be reading his poem at St. Henry Women’s Club Christmas party on Dec. 3, and is available for other groups as well. He can be reached at (615) 943-1244.

Illustrated by Natasha Tibbott

The idea for Chris Fenoglio’s Christmas poem came from the unique way that he and his wife shared the “Santa secret” with each of their three children.

Photo: Chris Fenoglio