"G-r-r-r-r-r," Snowy furiously growled when she realized that the doll was a baby wet one and water poured on her.
The baby wet doll fiasco was bad enough, but then the reindeer started jerking about and playing in the storm. Incredulous to Snowy, they actually seemed to be having a good ole time!
"Stop playing with Sir Thunder!" Snowy snapped at the reindeer.
"They're just having fun, Snowy."
"You shouldn't be encouraging them," snapped Snowy. "If they keep this up, we might fall out of the sleigh!"
"Don't worry. I'll catch us. I can fly," Alma Aurora asserted, fluttering her golden wings.
"I hope we'll be okay tonight," Snowy grumbled as she saw the first house they'd be visiting. She held her stomach as the sleigh started going down for the landing. "Here we go, Alma Aurora. For better or worse!"
Chapter 5
Bump. Bump. CRASH! They crash landed on the rooftop! Snowy just knew the reindeer had done it on purpose to annoy her and scare the wits out of her. She rubbed her neck wondering if she could sue the reindeer for air traffic negligence and extreme mental cruelty. This wouldn't be happening if gramps had gotten that jet as I had suggested, she said to herself.
Alma Aurora grabbed her by the hand and said, "Are you ready to go inside the house?"
"No, but what choice do I have?"
A gust of powerful wind swept them into the chimney. Snowy shut her eyes tightly until she and the angel were in the living room.
"I didn't get soot on me, did I?" Snowy asked.
"No, you're fine."
"Let's get this over with," Snowy whispered as she tiptoed to the Christmas tree.
"You don't have to whisper. They can't hear us."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Snowy waited for a few seconds. "I guess you're right." Snowy opened her grandfather's Christmas bag and shoved gifts under the tree. "Funny how these boxes feel so light."
"There's nothing in them," Alma Aurora asserted.
"What do you mean?"
"Relax your eyes and see in front of you."
"What?" Snowy questioned.
"Relax or you won't be able to see."
Snowy relaxed her eyes because she figured that the sooner she did what she was told, the sooner this nightmare of a night would end. The strangest thing happened to her. A scene appeared in front of her. It was like a big flat screen TV but multidimensional like a hologram.
The scene showed two children writing a letter to Santa. One little girl said she wanted a baby wet doll.
"Thank goodness!" blurted Snowy.
The other little girl wanted a bike.
Snowy turned around. "Okay, I'll go back to the sleigh to get the gifts."
"We haven't finished here, Snowy. Keep watching."
"But I already know what they want."
"You don't know much about them, do you?" Alma Aurora asked.
Snowy frustratingly turned around to keep watching. She saw the girls being helpful to their parents and other people.
"Can I give them the toys now?" Snowy asked.
"Yes."
"I'll go get the gifts now."
"Check the boxes, Snowy."
Snowy couldn't believe it. The boxes felt heavy. She didn't have to go outside and then come back again. She sighed with relief. She wasn't big on exercise.
"I'm done," Snowy said. "Now it's your turn."
"I have to go to the children's bedrooms."
"Will it take you long?"
"No."
"I'll wait for you outside. All this smell of pine from the tree is nauseating," Snowy declared, walking to the door.
"You can't leave through the door. You have to use the chimney."
"You've got to be kidding," Snowy said.
"No, I'm not."
"I can't believe this!"
"Believe it," Alma Aurora said.
Snowy stomped to the chimney. "So, how do I do this?"
"Close your eyes and let the wind carry you," she said, climbing the stairs.
Snowy squeezed her eyes shut. Air started blowing around her. The heavy wind grabbed her abruptly and started flying her up.
"Hey!" Snowy exclaimed angrily. "Do you have to be so rough?!"
"It's your own bad attitude getting mixed with my air that's causing this," the wind bellowed with a strong voice.
"Oh yeah?!"
Snowy had known better than to say that because the next thing she knew the wind abruptly stopped. She was stuck in the chimney. How would she get out of there?
"Reindeer, get me out of here!" she demanded.
The reindeer walked towards the chimney. They peered down on her from the top.
"What are you waiting for?" Snowy questioned. "I'm stuck. Get me out!"
They fervently shook their heads.
"Come on!" Snowy yelled.
They kept shaking their antler heads.
"You have to help Santa's granddaughter!" Snowy proclaimed.
"Their heads didn't stop shaking even for a second. Snowy realized she was getting nowhere with them, so she decided to change her strategy.
"Please help me."
Snowy was getting tired of seeing their heads bob sideways. "Please, please, please!" Nothing changed.
What do I do? she wondered. Then the solution came clearly to her--one of her famous bribes of course!
"If you get me out, I'll get each of you a Selena-Reindeer Gomez poster," Snowy asserted.
They agreed right away. They told her to look down. Before she knew it, she felt something rushing down the chimney.
THUD!
"Ouch!" Snowy cried out.
Snowy felt like her head had been cracked open. She saw stars as she was crashing down the chimney. When she landed, she saw what the reindeer had dropped. It had been a cast iron dump toy truck.
"Ouch! Ouch!" Snowy kept crying out as she rubbed her head. She was in so much pain. The wind felt sorry for her, and it carefully flew her to the top of the chimney.
"No Selena-Reindeer Gomez posters for you!" Snowy yelled at the reindeer. "I'll remember this when gramps asks my opinion about cutting the reindeer feed and making you get flying licenses!
They added the nicknames Miss Scrooge and Snowy Cooties to their already favorite Snowy-ugly one.
Alma Aurora flew out the chimney in perfect sync with the wind. Snowy wondered why she couldn't do that. Alma Aurora started hugging the reindeer, and Snowy just about gagged.
"Yuck!" she blurted.
"Poor babies," said Alma Aurora, "having to stay out here in the cold."
"You wouldn't think they were poor babies if you had seen what they did to my head,"
"What happened?"
"Nothing," Snowy growled. "We should get going."
Alma Aurora flew into the sleigh with perfect precision. "Let's go," she said.
As the sleigh flew off the roof, Snowy turned to her. "Are you sure this is your first time doing this?"
Alma Aurora smiled. "Yes."
"But how do you know what to do? Like how did you know about the life screens?"
"Everything you need to know is in here," she said, pointing to Snowy's heart.
"But--"
"It's simple, Snowy. Just believe."
Snowy didn't get it. Her parents and grandparents were always talking about this believe mumbo jumbo, but what did it really mean? Snowy believed in Halloween, but Christmas always had to come after and ruin her happiness. Snowy believed the reindeer were horribly vicious, but her grandfather refused to fire them.
Alma Aurora slid the hair from Snowy's ears and whispered, "They're not horribly vicious."
"I didn't say that out loud, did I?" Snowy asked, baffled.
"No, but I can hear your thoughts."
"I'd thank you to not go where you're not invited like in my mind!" fumed Snowy.
"Don't get upset," requested Alma Aurora
. "I won't read your mind anymore."
"Good!" Snowy retorted, deciding to talk as little as possible to this strange angel.
Chapter 6
When they arrived at the next house, it didn't have a chimney. Snowy wanted to see Alma Aurora believe one up. How would they get into the house? Snowy stood thee with her arms crossed in front of her.
Alma Aurora took her hand. Snowy told her she didn't want to crash through the roof. Alma Aurora told her not to worry. First, Snowy's hands became transparent and then everything else did too until a gust of wind flew them through the roof. Snowy felt like a ghost.
Snowy did pretty much the same thing in that house that she had done in the first one. There was nothing to it, she thought. She didn't know why her gramps made such a big deal about it.
At he fifth house, however, things took a turn. As Snowy was looking at the life screen, she started to cringe at the spoiled brat in the house. He was worse than any snow monster she had ever come across. The parents would give him toys all year around, and he would break them after a few days. He was always damaging things.
"I want this or else . . ." He'd always threaten. "Give me that!"
For Christmas, he wanted an entertainment room, complete with every type of gadget imaginable. Right! thought Snowy, like I'm going to give that to the brat!
After the headache inducing scene was over, Snowy turned to Alma Aurora. "The brat doesn't deserve anything."
"Give Timmy something he needs."
"What if the brat doesn't want it?"
"Give him something he needs."
"That child needs a stiff spanking," Snowy asserted, "but I don't know how to give him that. Maybe I should give him a BB gun and he'll shoot his eye out."
"No!" Alma Aurora exclaimed, horrified.
Snowy chuckled. "I was only kidding. "What do I give this spoiled child?"
"Think, Snowy. I know you have the answer."
Snowy sighed. "I can't think of anything, Alma Aurora."
"What's the first thought that came into your head? Think fast!"
"A little red racer car but . . ."
"But what?"
"Forget I said that. It was stupid. After all the expensive toys he has, why should he want a little red racer?"
"That's the right gift."
"But how can it be?"
"Watch," Alma Aurora said as her eyes went to the screen and a remote appeared in the air. "Press the forward button, Snowy."
As Snowy pressed it, the scene leapt forward and then stopped abruptly. The little boy woke up early on Christmas day and rushed to the tree where he ripped open his gift box.
"What's this?!" he exclaimed, scrunching his face in a disgusted way. "Look at this! Santa's a big cheapskate! He gave me this stupid toy!" He then threw the red racer in the trash.
"I knew it! The little car was a bad idea," Snowy told Alma Aurora.
"Keep watching, Snowy."
A few hours later, Timmy was in his bedroom playing with his tablet. He looked bored. He went to the window where kids were playing with little cars on the sidewalk. Timmy rushed to the trash, pulled out the red racer, squeezed it in his palm, and rushed outside.
"Can I race with you?" he asked eagerly.
"I don't think so," one of the boys said.
"Okay," Timmy murmured dejectedly. Then he saw a racer car exactly like his on the ground. "I've got a car just like that," Timmy said, opening his hand. He closed his hand again and started sauntering off.
The kids looked at each other.
"Stop!" one of the children yelled after Timmy. "You can race with us."
"I can't believe what I'm seeing," Snowy murmured.
"Believe it," Alma Aurora stated.
Snowy put the small gift box under the tree. As she was about to leave, she decided to see what spiritual gift Alma Aurora was going to give Timmy. Snowy hadn't been curious enough to see what she had given in the past homes.
They went to Timmy's bedroom. Alma Aurora waved her hand and a gust full of gold specks flew to him.
"Awesome!" Snowy exclaimed, staring at the specks.
"Let's go."
"What did you give him?" asked Snowy.
"He'll dream about watering an apple tree. The more he waters and takes care of the tree, the more apples the tree gives him."
"A dream?" asked Snowy with a scrunched face.
"What's wrong with a dream?"
"I thought spiritual gifts would be more obvious like him seeing you or like Moses parting the Red Sea or something like that."
"Most spiritual gifts are simple."
Snowy rolled her eyes. "Simple is boring."
Chapter 7
"It's not easy being me," Snowy told Alma Aurora as they were flying through the chimney of the next house.
"Really?" she asked as they arrived at the bottom.
"No one appreciates me."
"Why do you say that, Snowy?"
Snowy started telling her about everything she had to do at the North Pole. No kid there was expected to do so much.
"Snowy, you've got people around you who love you. Do you know how important that is?" asked Alma Aurora.
Snowy looked at her with frustration. "You talk like a parent. You just don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
"You're an angel. You can do whatever you want. You don't have to beg to borrow the reindeer to go to the store. You don't have parents and grandparents to order you around. You don't have elves always playing tricks on you. You don't have gossipy reindeer telling on you. You don't have to live in one of the coldest places on earth. You're lucky. You're an angel."
Alma Aurora sighed deeply. "I don't do whatever I want, Snowy. I have responsibilities like every creation has."
Snowy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Let's look at the life screen and get this over with."
The multi-dimensional scene started playing. In it was a girl who appeared to be about thirteen-years-old like Snowy.
"I hate this house," the girl told her mother.
"Chloe!" her mother exclaimed, chastising.
"Can't we live in one of the houses across the bridge?"
"Millionaires live in those mansions. We are not rich," her mom said sternly.
Snowy eyed the comfortable farm house with the big windows and red barn next to it. Even if the home wasn't huge, it still appeared to be a pretty house.
"I'm going to ask Santa for a mansion," Chloe declared.
"I can't even get one for myself," Snowy told Alma Aurora. "Why should I get her one?"
"Santa has more important gifts to give," the mother stated.
"Like what?"
"Young lady, there's a lot of people out there who have a lot less than you do."
"Yeah, well, there's also a lot of people out there who have a lot more than I do. They don't always have to be taking care of stupid animals and doing chores all the time."
"Chloe, you've got enough to eat, nice clothes to wear, and a comfortable house. Why are you complaining?"
"You just don't understand that it's not easy being me," snapped Chloe.
"Young lady, what's so bad about your life?"
"I already told you how hard it's being a farmer's daughter. You never listen to me, Mom."
"I do listen to you, Chloe."
"No, you don't. No one does. I don't even think Santa will listen. He probably doesn't even exist."
Snowy gasped. "She's got some nerve saying my gramps doesn't exist!"
Chloe continued, "How can this fat man in a silly red outfit do anything for anybody?"
"Chloe has an attitude problem," Snowy growled.
"You think so?" Alma Aurora asked wryly.
"Yeah! Can't you see it? It's so obvious."
The next scenes showed Chloe begging her parents for a camera. Her parents would tell her that they couldn't afford one.
"I can give it to her, but I
won't," Snowy declared.
"Why not?" questioned Alma Aurora.
"She doesn't deserve one."
Alma Aurora's face turned very serious and solemn. "The gifts that you and I give are for the soul's improvement. They shouldn't be used for punishment."
Snowy made a frustrated sound. "I'm Santa Claus this year! I get to choose what to give."
"You've got power, Snowy. Don't you want to use it wisely?"
"I have power so reindeer, elves, and children better get that straight! I say what goes!"
Alma Aurora sighed deeply as she eyed Snowy carefully. "Don't act important, be important, Snowy."
"What?"
"Human beings have so much power. They can make such a difference in each other's lives, yet so many choose to do things so they look powerful instead of helping out from the heart."
Snowy placed her hands on her hips. "Maybe there's no money to help out. Have you ever thought of that?"
"You know, Snowy, you can give a smile."
Snowy rolled her eyes. "A smile?"
"There's nothing small about a smile."
Snowy rolled her eyes again. "Let's give Chloe a smile for Christmas," Snowy guffawed.
"I think a camera for her is a good idea."
"Why?" Snowy questioned.
"When she concentrates on taking pictures, she'll be thinking about something other than herself."
"So?"
"Hopefully she'll see her remarkable surroundings and appreciate them as she develops a photographer's eye," commented Alma Aurora.
"The problem with you is that you're an angel."
"What?"
"You see things through a rose colored halo," declared Snowy. "Chloe isn't going to become a serious photographer. She'll get bored with her camera in a few weeks and set is aside. Then she'll be complaining about everything like she usually does."
"But she'll always have that special time with her camera deep in her heart."
"Whatever," blurted Snowy as she grabbed a box from Santa's bag and put it under the tree. "I hope you're right."
Snowy walked alongside Alma Aurora to Chloe's pretty bedroom. It had a canopy bed and flowery curtains. Alma Aurora waved her hands at the window and then at the powder table mirror. Gold flecks flowed between the two places.
"What did you give her?" Snowy asked.
"When she wakes up in the morning, she'll see her mirror lit up with rays of light."
"And?"
"She'll be able to see herself clearly," Alma Aurora stated.
"What good will that do?"
"You'd be surprised at what human beings can accomplish when they see themselves clearly."
A Christmas Passage Page 2