Santa Clause Edited

I came home from kindergarten one snowy December day, very excited. I made my Mom a card for Christmas in Kindergarten class and I needed to find a good hiding spot, so my Mom wouldn’t see. “Hey Brian” I asked my older brother, “do you know of any good hiding spots? I made this card for Mom and I want to hide it”.

“The closet is always a good spot” he replied.
“No, she’ll find it there” I added
“How about the attic? No one goes there”. I trusted my brother, so I carried on and went to hide my Mom’s card up in the attic after thanking him for his contribution. It was a hike getting up those steep, wooded, dusty stairs in the dark. When I finally got up there, right in front of my eyes I saw a huge stack of wrapped presents. My first reaction was that my brother was hiding the presents he got for Mom and Dad up there too. But there were way too many for Mom and Dad to receive plus Brian was only in the third grade, he didn’t have the money to buy all those gifts. My curiosity drove myself to explore some more. On the wrapping paper the labels read “To Jack From Santa, To Brian From Santa”. Although I’m only a five year old in kindergarten, it doesn’t take a genius to realize what this meant. I began to cry. I heard footsteps; someone was approaching. I didn’t look up, but I knew who it was by the sound of their footsteps.

She gasped when she saw me and said, “Jack” I didn’t respond, “Jack” she said again. Then she picked me up and brought me back downstairs.

Five years old is too young to realize that Santa wasn’t real. That Christmas was the worst; it was never the same. Year after year it gradually got better as I realized Christmas was about our savor Jesus Christ and being with the ones you love, your family. But still looking back as a 50 year old, Christmas still isn’t the same.