It was the week before Christmas, 1986. I was a divorced mom raising two small
children alone without any child support or help from my ex-husband. Rough times
had hit that year. I was laid off from my job in November and I knew there
wasn't going to be much, if anything for Christmas. I remember the night I sat
the kids down on the couch and told them Santa wasn't coming that year.
They were shocked. "Why, mom? Why can't Santa come this year?" Asked my daughter
Amy, age 7. I didn't know what to say. I told her and her brother that Santa was
having trouble finding everyone that year, and just to be ready in case he
didn't show up. Both kids hung their heads down and I saw a tear trickle down my
daughter's cheek as she looked up at me and said, "Mom, Santa LOVES kids, he
always comes!"
I didn't have a tree, nor did I have money to buy a tree that year. I didn't
want ANYONE to know how rough it was, so I avoided my family and friends. I felt
horrible. I remember it was December 20th when my phone rang. I answered "Hello"
to hear a voice say, "This is the North Pole and we have a message from Santa
for you."
I slammed the phone down. I wasn't in any mood for prank calls that year. The
phone rang again and this time the voice said, "Please don't hang up on me, this
IS the North Pole and we have a message for you, aren't you the mother of Amy
and Randy?"
Shocked, I said, "Who is this?" "Santa does not allow us to tell our names, but
he wants you to have this message........be at Bud's T.V. at 12:00 noon on
December 22."
I said, "What for?"
They replied, "Just be there and come alone, leave the children home." They
wished me a Merry Christmas and hung up.
I didn't understand what was going on, nor whose voice had just called, and I
decided to forget it. Besides, I didn't have a baby-sitter, nor could I afford
one had I had one. After the kids were in bed that night, I went to my closet
where all the ornaments sat in boxes from Christmas in the past. There was no
need to get them out. I went to bed that night, crying into my pillow wondering
what I was going to fix for dinner on Christmas. My part time job didn't offer
enough to buy a ham or a turkey. Peanut butter sandwiches was about the best I
could do. I thought about my past and how the divorce had taken so much of my
life, my savings, and my future. I thought about a court system that seemed
unfair to allow a husband to not pay child support. I fell asleep crying that
night, praying to God to show me how to be strong and to somehow pull off
Christmas morning without any gifts.
The kids and I were home the next day, they were watching a t.v. show, I was
trying to figure out what veggies I had in the house to use for dinner on
Christmas when the doorbell rang. I went to the door, the kids behind me to see
a tree standing there in front of my storm door. Just a tree, no hands attached
to it, and it filled the whole doorway so I couldn't see around it.
I remember Amy squealed, "Mom, we GOT a Christmas tree."
Both kids jumped up and down, happily clapping. I grabbed the tree, and the kids
and I pulled it into the house. There was no one there. No car in my drive way.
No tracks in the snow. To this day, I have no idea how that tree got on my front
porch. Nor how anyone could have removed themselves so fast. Nor did I ever find
out HOW they got it there without a vehicle to haul it in. I can't begin to tell
you of the joy that tree brought that year. The excitement as the kids hung
ornament after ornament on that beautiful tree. The kids were so wrapped up in
their happiness and I sat and watched smiling but wondering WHO brought the
tree?
The next day was December 22. I remember it well. At 12:30 P.M. my phone rang.
"This is the North Pole Sharon, and you didn't come to Bud's t.v." I remember
telling them I just didn't feel up to it. Again the voice said, "Sharon PLEASE
come to Bud's t.v., Santa is waiting for you."
I told her I didn't have a sitter for the kids, that we lived alone. She told me
that was ok, Santa was going to take care of it. I drove the 4 miles to Bud's
t.v. The kids were in the back seat of the truck. When I pulled into Bud's
parking lot, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I wondered if this was a prank
and was I fool enough to fall for it. I sat in the truck when an ELF came to the
door and motioned me inside. The kids stayed in the truck and I entered the t.v.
shop.
The ELF put her fingers to her lips and said, "Santa knows you've been having
some rough times this year, so he asked us to give you a hand." She motioned me
to follow her into another room, where my eyes about bulged out of my head.
There, boxes were stacked, filled with clothes, shoes, coats, hats, mittens,
boots, and toys. I started to cry. I couldn't stop.
I said, "Who did this? Who knew?"
She hugged me and said, "Oh, that's not all Santa has for you, and more box
loads were slid towards me filled with a canned ham, a turkey, lunch meats,
bread, canned veggies, fresh fruit, everything. I didn't know what to do but
cry.
I remember when I went out the door, I told her, "One day I WILL find out who
did this, and I vow right now, that some day, some way, I will repay you for
what you have done for my kids."
She hugged me and said, "Paid in full for what YOU have done for others in your
life."
She told me to go back home and get the kids occupied, that they would deliver
the boxes to my house later that evening. And they did. It was a happy mom that
year later that night who wrapped gifts in newspaper because I didn't have any
wrapping paper. It was a happy mom who was astonished that the clothes were the
right sizes, even the shoes and boots. I can't begin to tell you what that
Christmas morning meant to me as I watched my children open gifts. And I will
never forget what Amy said when she looked at me saying, "See Mom, I TOLD you
Santa wouldn't forget us!"
I found out that someone from The Goodfellows of Detroit, Michigan found out
that I was in financial trouble, and they are the ones who stepped in and gave
my kids a Christmas. To this day, I still never figured out how they got that
big tree on my porch and vanished so quickly not leaving a trace of a truck
track in the snow. A miracle? Sometimes I still wonder. I kept my promise. I
became involved very strongly with Goodfellows the next year. And it was me, who
made that same phone call to another mom the next Christmas telling her I was
from the North Pole. It was me who saw a mom fall apart and tears slide down her
face trying to thank me for what we were doing. And it was me who worked with
Goodfellows for the next five years until I moved here to Alabama. They don't do
the program here, but I wish they would. For I shall never forget a Christmas an
ELF showed me the true meaning of Christmas.
©Sharon Bryant 1946@Bellsouth.net
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