Amid the sounds of sleigh bells ringing and children singing, I sat in the bleachers of the local ice rink. I was taking a moment to rest and to think.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a man we all know at this time of year. Or at least that is how he looked to me - a sight for sore eyes and something to see.
He was dressed all in fur and that caused quite the stir. But his eyes - how they twinkled and his dimples were quite merry. His cheeks were like roses and his nose like a cherry.
He had the stump of a pipe held tight in his teeth but due to anti-smoking laws no smoke for a wreath.
He had a broad face and plump belly, which shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
He sat down beside me as quick as could be. I knew it was St. Nick for all to see.
And being a scientist, I put caution aside as I had to ask questions about all that he did.
So, I worked up my courage and asked "Are you...?"
He looked at me and said "Of course not. You know I don't really exist? I mean how could I be? Scientifically speaking, hasn't physics declared me an impossibility?"
"But you look just like him." I said "And there are so many questions running through my head. Would you consider answering a few?"
"Go ahead and ask," he replied. "I will make up some stuff. Will that make you happy?"
"Sure," I replied with some hesitation. I mean, how often do you get to ask questions of the source? And straight from the horse's - or reindeer's - mouth, so to speak?
"So I guess the first question is one about time. I mean, if you start at midnight and work until dawn, even with the time zones around the world, that only gives you 32 hours to deliver all of those presents. And there are an awful lot of presents!" I asked.
He chuckled and his belly shook. He winked and said: "But that is only if you believe in a Newtonian construct for time. Old Sir Isaac believed in a sequential time with one event preceding the next or one event following the one before. Very medieval. By the way, you know that I dropped that apple on his head? Trying to get him to wake up."
"Really?!?" I replied. "Of course, that doesn't really answer the question does it? I mean, are you saying that time is not sequential?"
"Of course it isn't," he replied. "Einstein showed that with his theory of relativity. Using the Lorentz equation, it is easy to show that time is related to velocity. The faster you move, the more time you have. Indeed, time does not pass for a photon."
"But how then does that work?" I asked "Photons have no mass. They are packages of energy. Indeed, a photon is really just the amount of energy required to shift an electron or molecule from one energy state to another."
"That is one view of a photon. But it is very limited view. Rather, if you follow through the Einsteinian view of the universe, everything is ultimately composed of photons - of energy. Remember that energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light. And photons don't experience time." He chuckled to himself. It was obvious he was enjoying this obscure trip into physics.
"The question really is one of time. Indeed, it is all about time. Your perception of time is limited by the progression of matter towards an entropic end of the universe.
"However, if you really consider that everything is made of energy and energy does not experience time, then you begin to realize that time itself is not a variable but simply doesn't exist. Double time doubly so."
He smiled with an elfin grin and added "You have all the time in the world - in the universe - if you so choose. And quite frankly, my boy, I so choose.
"Indeed, the whole question of energy and matter is one which most people seem to find quite perplexing. They are just two sides of the same coin. I have seen physics articles claiming I could not carry all the presents or fly fast enough but what they don't understand is I have all the time in the world," he said. "Except, of course, right now."
He got up and said "Sorry, my boy, I know that there are many things that I have left unanswered. But I have to be elsewhere right now."
And with that, he turned and walked away down the bleachers. But he turned and smiled at me before he disappeared from sight.
He said "Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night."
