Here we are, it is Christmas Eve, and I want to share a story of a family gathering that didn't go exactly as planned.
Last year, the Miner family gathered at Anne’s house for an afternoon of crafts (making Gingerbread Houses), early dinner, and the local nighttime Santa Claus parade. Anne told me this was the first time there were so many little ones (six under the age of six!), and despite careful planning, everything was late. Guests arrived late, the dinner was served late, and by the time the family was ready to go to the parade, it was over.
“Oh, dear. How did that go over?” I asked, cringing.
Anne Miner shook her head, “Not well at all! As soon as the kids realized that the parade was over, and they had missed seeing Santa Claus, there were tears.”
Thinking that must have been pandemonium, but pretty sure Anne would have solved it, I asked, “What did you do?”
“Well, first I gathered the children in the parlour where I had them all sit on the floor, in front of the tree. I pulled out my cell phone and I said, “If you will stop crying and sit quietly, I will call Santa and see if he will come back!”
“There were still a few sniffles as I made the motions of dialing. I put my finger to my mouth to signal “Shhhh," then held my phone to my ear and waited, and waited a bit more just for the suspense!
“Is that you Santa? Santa? Can you hear me, Santa? Yes, I can hear you, can you hear me? Listen, Santa, I have all these little children who traveled a very long way to see you in the parade. Oh, yes, I am sure it was wonderful, but, Santa, we missed it! And I was hoping you would come back and see us.
Yes, I know. Yes, I am sure you are halfway home. Please Santa, this is important to me! (there was a long pause during which I signaled the children to cross their fingers)
You will! Oh, thank you, thank you! No, there won’t be any tears. Yes, I understand you can’t stay long. OK, don’t worry about coming down the chimney, Santa. Come to the front door and ring the bell.”
The children’s eyes were round as saucers. “He’s coming?” “Yes, he’s coming back just to see you!” Then they were jumping up and down, shouting, “Santa’s coming, Santa’s coming! Mommy, Daddy, Santa's coming here!" So excited they could hardly contain themselves.
In the background, my brother Gary, who was to play Santa, took his cue and went upstairs to change. Dressed as Santa and carrying a big sack of toys, he went down the back stairs and out the back door … round to the front and rang the doorbell.
I opened the door and Santa blew in with a swirl of snow, and a “Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho!”
The children were all jumping around and yelling, “Santa’s here! Santa’s here!”
I asked them to sit on the floor. Santa sat in front of the tree and one, by one, he called each child to sit on his knee and receive their gift. Pictures were taken and then in a wink, it was time for Santa to go.
“Mrs. Claus will be waiting dinner for me”, he told the children.
We waved him away, out the front door, “Bye Bye Santa! Thank you for coming!”
Santa was off with, “Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!”
He waited on the sidewalk until we closed the door then went around to the back door, up the back stairs, took off his costume, and returned to the party. No one had missed him and none of the little children knew he had impersonated Santa!”
“Wow, Anne! I imagine you are everybody’s hero! I can just hear them saying, “My Great Auntie Anne has Santa on speed dial!”
So that was Christmas of 2019.
Now it is 2020 and we are all on alert. Because of the rules around COVID, we won’t be able to get together to give hugs, laugh, and enjoy Christmas celebrations together. Of course, there is Zoom and that’s what we will do. As Anne and I send our very best wishes to YOU!