My First Christmas Adventure 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 way, my big sister
dropped the
bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. 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." "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, 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 to 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; he didn't have a good 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 own."Yes,
ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby." The
nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really
needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the
coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas. That
evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of
the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and
ribbons 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. 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 coat
tag tucked inside: $19.95. Annoymous
"Even
dummies know that!"
"Go? Go where,
Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous
cinnamon bun.
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.
Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the
front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
May
you always have LOVE to share, HEALTH to spare and FRIENDS that
care...And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!
