A Christmas Story

A long time ago, in a small community which was an old mining town that many had long forgotten about, there lived a family of four. A father, mother, grandmother and little girl (along with a few cats, a dog, escape-artist hamster, and some goldfish) all lived in this old house together.

It was fast approaching Christmas and the little girl was getting more excited as each day passed. She watched with keen interest as her father decorated the yard with lights and snowmen and elves. She helped her mother bake cookies, pies and fudge for gifts to family and neighbors. She helped decorate the Christmas tree when her father put it up. To put it mildly, she couldn’t wait till Santa came!

Each day at school however, she had to put up with the older kids always trying to shoot down her belief in Santa Claus. She’d come home crying and sad that her classmates would not believe her when she told them that Santa WAS real and that she’d prove it to them come Christmas morning. She was determined to prove them wrong.

After she went to bed that night, her mother, father and grandmother discussed what could be done to help the poor little girl in the event she could not prove her claim when school started again. We feared she was in for a serious let-down and that just didn’t sit right with the father. He told the mother and grandmother he’d come up with something by Christmas Eve. That was only two days away!

While the father was at work that night an idea came to him that sounded like sheer genius. He thought it over and over, making sure that it would be fool-proof and no one would be the wiser. When he got home the next morning, he dug around in his old Army gear and found what he was looking for. After polishing it up and making it look right, he laid his plan out in his mind carefully so as not to make any mistakes else he make things worse for the daughter he loved so much.

The next day before leaving for work, he told his daughter that he had a plan to help her out. When he got home that night from work, he would sit up and wait on Santa. When Santa arrived, he’d ask to take his picture and tell him that he wanted it for his little girl who wanted to prove to the world that Santa was indeed real. The father assured his daughter that Santa would most likely oblige and let the picture be taken even though he had such a tight schedule to keep.

Needless to say, the daughter was ecstatic! She squealed with glee as she kissed her father on the cheek and told him she loved him. Needless to say, the father was now on the spot.

It took a lot of coaxing from the mother and grandmother to get the little girl to go to sleep that night. She was told time and again that the camera was ready and that her father would not forget. She was a handful to get to sleep that night for sure but she did eventually drift off to dream about Christmas morning.

Upon arriving home from work that night later than usual due to being kept over for a broken machine, the father immediately went into action getting things set up for the picture of Santa. He reached high into his closet where he stashed his polished proof and went to the living room to set things up. When done he woke his wife and they went about laying out Christmas presents under the tree as well as filling the stockings. It was after that that he showed his wife what he had done and they took several pictures of his old Army combat boot, partially stuffed into the chimney’s flue.

From any perspective one took at looking at the Polaroids, it actually appeared that a picture had been taken of a man’s shiny boot sticking out of the chimney! Now that the evidence had been set, the story came next.

The next morning came with a bright sunrise to take over from the cold night before and as the light lit up the living room, the family stirred and tried for more sleep before the inevitable sound of an excited child broke the serenity of their slumber.

The little girl was, of course the first to wake up and discover the shiny, colorful presents under the tree which was still lit up from Santa’s visit. However, she didn’t touch a one of them. Instead, she went to her parents bedroom and woke her father up to ask him if he was able to get the picture. He groaned about little sleep and super fast elves but told her he did indeed get a picture. After he got up and put his robe on, he woke his wife and went to fetch the grandmother.  He told his daughter that he’d show her the picture when the whole family was together.

So, after what seemed like an eternity to the little girl, the family was gathered in the living room to see what the picture had in it.

What the little girl saw in the photo was a man’s black boot sticking out of the chimney. At first, she was confused but then her father explained what had ‘happened’. She immediately let out a squeal of laughter and kidded her father for letting an ‘old man’ get the better of him. She took off with the photo and tucked it safely away for when she went back to school so she could finally show her friends that there was indeed a Santa Claus.

What was the story her father told her? It was quite simple actually. See, it turned out that Santa is really very fast when he makes his famous visit all across the world. He has to be to get presents delivered to all the little boys and girls. So, while waiting for Santa to arrive, the little girl’s father drifted off to sleep only waking upon hearing something stirring around him. When he did, he was only able to grab a shot of Santa as he was going back up the chimney, just getting a photo of Santa’s boot.

That photo is still around somewhere. That photo of Santa’s boot. It was polished up almost good as new. To the little girl, it was the shiniest thing she ever saw. When she showed it to her friends at school later on, they were thrilled to learn that yes indeed, there was a Santa Claus and he was a lot faster than her father!

Merry Christmas Everyone!