Why Santa Doesn't Have a Naughty List

An elf once arrived in Santa’s Study carrying two enormous notebooks.

“What are these?” Santa asked.

“One for the Nice List,” said the elf. “And one for the Naughty List.”

Santa put down his biscuit.

“What would go in the second one?”

“Mistakes, I suppose,” said the elf.

Santa thought about the cocoa he had spilled that morning.

“And what about my cocoa?”

The elf blinked.

“Or the day you snapped at your friend because your boot was wet?”

The elf looked at their boot.

“Or a child who had a difficult day, shouted something and then wished they hadn’t?”

The elf opened the second notebook. Then closed it.

“That gets complicated.”

“It does,” Santa said. “A person is much bigger than one difficult moment.”

“So nothing matters?”

“Oh, things matter,” Santa said. “If we hurt someone, we need to listen. We may need to apologize, give them space or help repair what happened. If we’re stuck, we can ask for help. But we can do all of that without deciding someone is a bad person.”

The elf sat down.

“What if they make another mistake?”

“Then there is more learning to do.”

“What if I make another mistake?”

Santa glanced at the biscuit crumbs on his coat.

“I expect we both will.”

The elf pushed the second notebook aside.

“What shall we use this for?”

“Recipes?” Santa suggested.

“Cocoa spill reports?”

“That would require a larger notebook.”

They laughed.

Then Santa opened the Nice List book. There was room for children who were cheerful, children who were tired, children who were quiet and children who needed extra help.

There was room for children still figuring things out.

Which, Santa thought, was all of them.

The spare notebook became a collection of biscuit recipes.

It turned out to be a much better use of paper.