LinnaeaBorealis
Posts: 8595
Joined: 10/5/2008 From: Insanity & beyond Status: offline
|
I apologize upfront for this being a long post. When my daughter was 8, I was working fulltime, but we were very poor. I had no money to buy any Christmas presents for her at all. My Mom sent me a gift certificate for the grocery store in order to buy the traditional turkey & all the trimmings so we would have dinner. So I looked through my closets & found things to wrap & put under the tree for her; a co-worker told me she was getting her daughter a new stereo for Christmas, so I asked her for the old portable record player & wrapped that. I called it the Christmas of the previously loved gifts. This was also the year that she began to question Santa Claus' existence as a real entity. My Uncle Sandy dressed up as Santa & went to children's homes on Christmas Eve & had done that since I was her age. I had told her that Santa would be coming & she wanted to know who it would really be. I told her she had to figure that out when he got there. He & his wife were to babysit her that day & we all figured she would know immediately who was in the suit. They wouldn't have time to eat before heading out to play Santa at homes all over the Greater Seattle area for about 6-8 hours, so we hatched a plan that Chelsea would recognize him & then they could come in & have the dinner I was keeping warm for them & be on their way When we heard the sleighbells at the door, I sent her to open it & let him in. When she brought him back to the living room, she was quite obviously under a spell. She knew this was really Santa Claus in her home. He stayed an extra long time & talked a lot, hoping that she would realize who it was, but she no longer thought he was anybody but the real & true Santa. Finally, he had to leave to make the rest of his rounds & told her to go to the big window & watch for his sleigh to go by as he headed out to see other children. She went over to the window & stood there, watching intently. I walked Sandy to the door & when I came back, she was still watching out the window & didn't appear to even know I was there. I sat on the couch & watched her, entranced. After a few minutes, I swear I could see the spell lift & she turned around & demanded, "Who was that guy???" That was my best Christmas ever & I've had 60 great ones!!
< Message edited by LinnaeaBorealis -- 10/22/2008 11:01:37 AM >
_____________________________
Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in ~~L. Cohen Just one of the yahoo's
|