How Old is Too Old to Sit on Santa's Laps?

How Old is Too Old to Sit on Santa's Laps?

Nancy Reagan sitting on Mr. T's (Santa Claus) laps.  Where's his cap?

To be clear, the picture above did not inspire this post, but I think it suits the topic: how old is too old to sit on Santa's laps.

Now, for the sake of clarity, I need to state that the real reason for Christmas is Jesus.  We celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas.  However, unless you've been living under a rock, there is an entire Christmas culture built around the non-existent Santa Claus.  So, in today's world, Christmas also evokes images of the big bellied old man wearing red and white.  Don't even ask me why I am posting a Santa Claus-themed post in January.

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Women are more spiritual than Men

Women are more spiritual than Men

In primary school, we learnt that Nigerians practiced three different kinds of religion: Christianity, Islam and Traditional Religion/Worship.  But as it turns out, that was just a tip of the iceberg.  My social studies teacher  (because that was indeed the class where this "knowledge" was imparted to me) did not tell me what I later observed in life.  And she (or was it a he?) could not even have explained this to me.  I am referring my personal observations on spirituality, i.e. women are more spiritual than men.

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Caring for parents in their old age | Featured Artiste: Abby Godwin

Caring for parents in their old age | Featured Artiste: Abby Godwin

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Remember that riddle, What goes up and never comes down?  The answer, as you must know by now, is TAXES AGE.  Age is one thing we cannot reverse.  Regardless of your views on health-conscious or cosmetic ways of reversing age, including plastic surgery, we can all agree that each day, every one of us is getting older.  Once upon a time, people consciously decided to have lots of children as insurance for their old age.  The high mortality rate in those times due to the prevalence of diseases was a major consideration too.  Unfortunately, this is still the case in many countries, including Nigeria.  But that is not the reason for this post.

Old age is something we should plan and prepare for.  I am not only referring to retirement, but caring for parents when they are too old to take care of themselves.  It took me coming to the US to know what Alzheimer's was.  Now that I even think about it, who knows how many of those so-called "mad-men" (and women) or were living under the bridge who actually have undiagnosed and untreated cases of Alzheimer's?  The fact is that the elderly are at risk for this and many other ailments, thus making it necessary for them to depend on others for support.

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