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Here is a little holiday story that may bring a smile to your day!
Santa and an Adventure With Grandma
I remember my first
Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a
kid. I remember tearing
across town on my bike to visit her on the day
my big sister dropped the
bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered.
"Even dummies know
that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I
fled to her that
day because I knew she would be straight with me. I
knew Grandma always
told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went
down a whole lot
easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous
cinnamon buns. I
knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so.
It had to be
true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were
still warm. Between bites, I told
her everything. She was ready for
me.
"No Santa Claus!" she snorted. "Ridiculous! Don't believe
it. That
rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad,
plain mad.
Now, put on your coat, and let's go."
"Go? Go
where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second
world-famous,
cinnamon bun.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the
one store in town
that had a little bit of just about
everything.
As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten
dollars. That was
a bundle in those days.
"Take this
money," she said, "and buy something for someone who
needs
it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned
and walked out of
Kerby's.
I was only eight years old.
I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but
never had I shopped for
anything all by myself. The store seemed big
and crowded, full of people
scrambling to finish their Christmas
shopping. For a few moments I just
stood there, confused, clutching
that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to
buy, and who on earth to buy it
for.
I thought of
everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the
kids at
school, the people who went to my church. I was just about
thought out,
when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with
bad breath
and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's
grade-two
class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because
he never
went out for recess during the winter. His mother always
wrote a note,
telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids
knew that Bobby
Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat.
I fingered
the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby
Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to
it. It looked real
warm, and he would like that.
"Is this
a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter
asked
kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.
"Yes," I replied shyly.
"It's for Bobby."
The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any
change, but she put the
coat in a bag and wished me a Merry
Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in
Christmas paper and
ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and
Grandma tucked it in her
Bible) and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus",
on it -- Grandma said
that Santa always insisted on
secrecy.
Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house,
explaining as we went
that I was now and forever officially one of
Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's
house, and she and I crept
noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front
walk. Then Grandma gave
me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she
whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his
front door, threw the present down
on his step, pounded his door and flew
back to the safety of the bushes
and Grandma.
Together we
waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to
open. Finally
it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven't dimmed the
thrill of those moments spent shivering,
beside my Grandma, in Bobby
Decker's bushes. That night, I realized
that those awful rumors about
Santa Claus were just what Grandma said
they were: "Ridiculous". Santa
was alive and well, and we were on his
team.
I still have
the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.
May you always have
Christmas in your heart!
Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year to all my friends at ALP!
JeanMarie
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