A Christmas Tale

My daughter, Jo, has 4 small grandchildren who firmly believe in the existence of Santa Claus and all the attendant tales about him. One Christmas Eve the four were wildly excited , each feeding from the energy of the others until they could not contain themselves. All parental and grandparental efforts failed to get the little ones settled down to sleep.

My son, Terry, lives with Jo and Lloyd, and Terry happened to have a complete Santa Claus suit. He donned the costume, made a makeshift toy bag of a sheet gathered at the 4 corners and twisted around. He filled the bag with pillows and boxes to give it bulk and slipped out the side door. Jo parted the drapes and opened a window, at which signal Terry gave a hearty, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Shocked into silence, the little ones gasped with indrawn breath, their eyes round and wide, and immediately stampeded to the window to look out. On the moonlit lawn they saw Santa turn away and begin walking down the driveway toward the street.

"He's leaving! He's leaving!" the little ones wailed in anguish. As one they rushed to their beds, pleading with their grandmother to ask Santa to come back. "See, tell him we're in bed! We're asleep! Tell him, Grandma!" They drew the covers up to their chins, and as as they continued their pleas, covered up their heads. "Tell him we're asleep. Tell him to come back!" Grandma promised to see what she could do but they had to be alseep before Santa would come.

Not a single whisper nor giggle emanated from the rooms and soon the children were truly sound asleep. The next morning Josh arose first, yawning and rubbing his eyes as he staggered sleepily down the hall to the family room. When he beheld the mountain of gifts and the shiny bicycles around the tree, he was instantly wide awake and shouted, "He DID come back! Santa did come back!" and ran to awaken his sister and cousins.
Ofcourse the usual pandemonium ensued.

The children were even more convinced of the reality of Santa Claus and solemnly advised their playmates to always be in bed at bedtime on Christmas Eve, or Santa would leave. Grandma Jo was a hero for talking Santa into giving them a second chance.

As children grow up it is rather sad to see them lose that innocent faith. I think the adults enjoy it as much as the children do.