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.
"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 I 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 to recess during the winter. His mother
always wrote a note, telling the
teacher
that he had a cough, but all us 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 down.
"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. 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 coat tag
tucked inside: $19.95.
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!
