by L. M. Boelz
***
Carol smiled a bittersweet smile, as her thoughts wandered back to the last Christmas they had spent together as a family, just before her dad’s accident. She remembered hearing her mom start to cry, while her dad tried to comfort her. Carol could hear him telling her he would find a way to get something for their daughter. “I promise I will find a way, so that she will not think she had done something wrong and Santa had passed her by.”
Carol had long since stopped believing in Santa Claus, but didn’t want to tell them. That would spoil the fun they would have, pretending that Santa had brought her a gift.
Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Carol came up with what she thought was the perfect plan. The next day was Christmas Eve. Not wanting to spoil her surprise, Carol had them sit down in the living room, and told them both to close their eyes. After dividing up what was left of her coloring sticks, she placed some paper and the crayons, in front of them.
“Okay, open your eyes,” she announced with all seriousness.
The puzzled look on their faces was priceless. Not wanting to hold them in suspense any longer, Carol told them they would have to go to different parts of the room, so everyone could draw pictures for each other. They were then to wrap them in paper, and place them under the tree for tomorrow.
Carol explained that Santa just couldn’t make it this year, and hoped that they were not too disappointed. At first it made them cry a little, but after hugging, everyone sang the night away.
It very rarely snowed there, mostly just frost and some ice, but that night, it had snowed about four inches. Carol was very excited, seeing the snow on the ground on Christmas day. Running outside, she scooped some of it up and tossed it in the air. Then, with her mom’s help, they added some colored sugar water and made snow cones for breakfast. After eating the treats it was time to open the pictures. Oh, what a wonderful time that was.
How simple life was then, how different it had become.