December 17, 2005
Santa's Bag
I am a week late on my deadline for finishing up “Taking Care of the 'Me' in Mommy” and you know how crazy this time of the year is anyway. Please be patient with me this month if I don’t personally write all the "Coffee Talks" this month.
This week I thought I'd let Clancy help me out and Haven has agreed to write for me after the Christmas letter next week. Last month, Clancy had to write a story in the style of “Pandora’s Box” for her English class. I thought her take on this myth was especially fun for this time of year.
The pictures this week are actually scrapbook pages of mine. They are various shots from our Christmas Card photo shoots every year. They out-takes are usually better than the one we end up sending.
Once upon a time, up in the North Pole, there was a lonely elf named Jared. Jared's days were quite boring because he had no one to play with. All he did was make toys all day long, thus becoming the best toymaker of them all.
One day Santa noticed Jared sitting over in the corner making toys while the other elves played. So he walked over and asked Jared why he was sad. He said "It's because I have no one to play with, Sir." This obviously made Santa very upset and sorry for the little elf, so that Christmas he gave Jared the best gift of all, a little friend. Her name was Maggie. From then on Jared and Maggie were inseparable.
The next week Jared and Maggie were playing and they stumbled into Santa's office. Sitting on his table was the most beautiful bag Maggie had ever seen. It was velvet red with soft white fur and silk gold embroidery. She was speechless; she had to know what was inside. "Jared! What on earth is in that beautiful bag?" she exclaimed. "I don’t know and neither should you, it's Santa's magic bag and no one is allowed to look inside."
Quickly changing the subject Jared offered to make her hot chocolate and take her on a sleigh ride. She, never turning down hot chocolate, agreed to come along, although her mind was still on the bag.
Time past by with fun days of playing and toy making, but every time Maggie would walk by Santa's office her curiosity would pull on her to open the bag, but she knew that she mustn't.
One particular day, all of the elves were out of the workshop and Santa had gone on a walk with Mrs. Claus. Maggie had to drop off some letters to Santa. She walked into his office and found that he was gone. She told herself, "Just get in and get out, don’t even look at the bag." It seemed as if the bag was calling to her "Maggie, Maggie, open me. Dear Maggie, don't worry I wont hurt you." She resolved the matter by saying that she would just untie the knot and maybe take a peek inside.
She walked up to the bag and started playing with the knot, because it didn't seem to have a beginning or an end. Then all of the sudden it just untied itself. Startled, Maggie tried to tie it back realizing that she shouldn’t have even touched it and that maybe if she tied it back Santa wouldn't notice.
She reasoned that she could just take a little peek inside then tie it back so it would be like killing two birds with one stone. So, slowly she started to open the bag but right when the top opened even just the tiniest bit a thousand little black faces came out. All of the sudden she started doubting that Santa was real and that maybe even elves weren’t real. Maybe this all was a dream.
Then she noticed a little white fairy come out of the bag. She came up to Maggie and told her what had just happened. She had just unleashed all the spirits of doubt that make little children wonder if Santa is real. The little white fairy went on to explain that her job was to come behind the little black faces of doubt and convince the children that Santa really is real. Sadly, her powers were limited and she could only make them believe until a certain age, then they begin thinking their parents deliver all of the presents and that there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.
Maggie was terrified at what Santa would say. The fairy saw her fear and told her that she would talk to Santa before he got back and tell him that this was going to happen one time or another, anyway.
When Santa heard the news, he surprised Maggie with his reaction. He laughed, "Ho Ho Ho, I don't care if they believe in me or not. I love to give them gifts and see their smiles on Christmas morning. I’ll bring them presents, anyway. Besides, they don't have to believe in me, because I believe in them!"
So you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why, 'cause Santa Claus is still coming to town.
Posted by weblion at 04:06 PM
