It was their turn in line, and Lisa opened
the back door of the blue truck for me.
Uncle Vinny: "How was your day, Sport?"
Me:
"It was good. Can we get ice
cream?"
Aunt Lisa: "Sure we can. Don't we always?"
We drove to our favorite ice cream shop,
Charlie's, in Houston. I always got a waffle cone with vanilla praline.
Two scoops.
It made me feel so grown up to have two
scoops.
It was so big.
Uncle Vinny: "Are you sure you can eat that?"
Me: "Will you give me a dollar if I can eat it?"
Uncle Vinny: "Sure.
We can do that."
He knew of course I could do it.
Aunt Lisa laughed at us.
We drove to their farmhouse. I liked to sleep in their barn. My favorite place was up above in the loft. I unloaded my bag there.
Aunt Lisa made my bed in the loft out of
feed sacks with cotton batting inside.
It made a comfortable
mattress. I slept right by the window where you lower the hay. I opened
two windows to a beautiful view of Uncle Vinny and Aunt Lisa's house on the
right, and in the front there was nothing
but trees, and acres, and fields of cows.
Uncle Vinny: "Alright, Sport, let's go down to
the hardware store. Santa Claus is
coming. It's supposed to be colder. I want him to come into the barn, and make
him comfy."
I ran into house to tell Aunt Lisa we
were going to the hardware store.
Aunt Lisa: "You two don't get into much trouble , hear
me?"
Me:
"Maybe we will, and maybe we won't."
It was about three days or four days
before Christmas. Uncle Vinny and I were
on a timeline. He drew a sketch about
what we were about to do. We were to
make a thing for Santa's sleigh to rest on when he came into our barn. Uncle Vinny didn't want Santa to slide on the
hay in the barn. He was afraid Santa's reindeer
wouldn't be able stop.
Me: "How come Santa doesn't land on your
roof?"
Uncle Vinny: "Our roof isn't strong enough to hold
him. Can you imagine a fat man like
Santa fitting down a small hole in the chimney?
I don't think so."
Me:
"So , you're telling me that Santa has always come inside the barn?"
Uncle Vinny: "Yep.
Don't question it, boy. Don't
question it."
Me:
"Well, okay."
I looked at Uncle Vinny's plans. Santa's sleigh was supposed to come in on two
rails - like train tracks - and it was to be made out of wood.
I nodded my head, and pretended to
understand. I didn't understand, but I didn't let Uncle Vinny know it.
He explained his plan to me.
I nodded again, and still didn't
understand.
Aunt Lisa: "Don't come home without a hard hat,
Vinny, just in case the boy does
something."
Uncle Vinny: "And you need a pair of working man's
clothes: overalls. You can't work in church clothes."
Uncle Vinny bought lumber, and he got me
my own hammer and nails, my own carpenter belt, overalls, and gloves.
Uncle Vinny: "Wear those gloves. Real men don't have splinters."
Uncle Vinny never wore gloves.
We worked, and worked, and worked.
Aunt Lisa checked on us and brought us hot chocolate. I really liked hot chocolate.
Aunt Lisa (in her Texas drawl): "You two are just adorable. I could eat you up."
Uncle Vinny and I both wore overalls and
tool belts, boots and cowboy hats.
We matched...very well.
Late that night Aunt Lisa came in again to check on us.
Aunt Lisa: "Since you have a project of your
own. How 'bout I make a book about Jesus
- about when He was born? We can give it
to Santa Claus, and he can take it with
him."
Me:
"That's a good idea. It has
to be all homemade."
Aunt Lisa: "Don't
worry, baby. It will be.
I intend to make it myself."
The next three days passed by like a
breeze. We got up early in the morning.
Right as the sun rose Uncle Vinny's rooster
sang: "Cock-a-doodle doo!"
I ran into the house. Aunt Lisa and Uncle Vinny were already at the
table. Aunt Lisa set a place for me with a big helpin' of eggs, bacon, and a glass
of milk...already on my plate.
Aunt Lisa: "You eat all of that. Working men need a lot of food in their
bodies. If you're not hungry by lunch, you're
not working hard enough."
I scarfed
down every part of it. I put on
my tool belt. Aunt Lisa made me
wear my hard hat.
Uncle Vinny and I went to work.
We came back to the farmhouse for
lunch. Things from Aunt Lisa's sewing kit were everywhere. She was making the book for Santa from
fabric. I watched her read words from her
Bible, and then copy them on fabric. Her
writing was so beautiful, and so
neat. She sewed each page together.
Aunt Lisa gave us lunch, and sent us on
our way.
Christmas Eve arrived. The
night I waited for.
Uncle Vinny and I barely finished before 9 o'clock at night. We were afraid Santa would slide on the hay in
the barn, and his reindeer wouldn't stop.
We made the thing to stop Santa's
sleigh from wood, and we made a little trough for each reindeer with food on one side,
and water on the other.
I went up to my loft. It was about 45 degrees that night. That's cold in Texas. There wasn't any snow on the ground. I was sleepless so I stared at the stars, and tossed and
turned. Aunt Lisa and Uncle Vinny were asleep in their beds in the
farmhouse. I climbed down the ladder,
and sat in one of the stalls. I put a
cover down by Jake, one of Vinny's baby bulls who was only about a month old. I petted Jake, and talked to him all night long.
Uncle Vinny had an old watch that he
hung by the door of the barn. At 3 A.M. on Christmas morning...the barn doors flew open.
I was a little frightened.
In came deer with beautiful leather
saddles. Their names were engraved in gold on the leather
saddles.
Rudolph led the way.
Then came Dasher, and Dancer, and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen.
I stood up in
amazement. The reindeer seemed like
magical creatures.
After rows
and rows of reindeer came in, next came the most beautiful sleigh I had ever seen. It had wheels. It was red with a gold finish. It was HUGE, and barely fit through the front
barn doors.
On the back of
the sleigh was this big red velvet sack.
The top was tied with a green and
gold entwined cord. It was a big
cord. Where the two strands met each
other there was a green tassel.
It took me a
minute to take it all in.
I didn't notice
at first someone was in the front seat:
a man......a Big Jolly Man
with pink cheeks like he had been out in the cold. His hat and his outfit was as red as an
apple picked off the tree. His black
boots shined like he had just polished it.
I saw him turn
around to his bag.
He said,
"Hey, John."
I ducked under
the stall door.
He said: "Come on out, John." as he laughed.
I got the
courage up, and stood up. I opened the
stall door, and walked out.
Me: "I dropped - um - um - my ugh ugh -
coin. I dropped my coin."
Santa: "Okay, John. Do you want to come up here?"
He extended one
glove down to me.
Me: "REALLY?
Is that allowed even?"
Santa: "I don't see why not."
I grabbed his
glove, and he pulled me up like it took him no effort at all.
I sat in the
front seat of Santa's sleigh. It was a
bench that stretched across, and it was covered in the softest seat cushion
ever. I was just amazed. I didn't know what to say at first. I couldn't help but look at that huge sack he
had in the back.
Santa: "So, John, you think I got something in there for you?"
Me: "I hope so, but I hope you have
something in there for Aunt Lisa, too.
Here's what happened, Santa: Aunt Lisa
let her neighbor borrow her sewing machine , and her neighbor broke it. Lisa liked her sewing machine."
I hopped off
the sleigh: the biggest jump I've ever made.
I grabbed the book Aunt Lisa made of fabric, and threw it to Santa.
Me: "Can you help me up again?"
He helped me
up.
Me: "Now:
You can open it."
Santa opened the fabric book, and looked through it.
He was quiet,
and he smiled.
Me: "Do you see? This is why Aunt Lisa needs a
sewing machine. She sewed all this
by hand."
Santa put the book
to his other side.
Santa: "Your Aunt Lisa is a good woman, isn't she?
I agreed.
Santa: "John, close your eyes. I've got something for you."
I peeked, and
saw him untie the big tassel. He had to
stand up on the chair just to get inside the bag. He searched and searched, and finally found
mine. He gave it to me. It was wrapped beautifully with a big blue
bow on top.
Santa: "John, don't open this until I'm gone."
Me: "I promise. Santa, please wait here until I get back."
I hopped down,
climbed up the ladder to the loft, and sat the gift Santa gave to me next to my
mattress.
I climbed back
down the ladder and said: " Santa, your reindeer might be hungry and thirsty.
Uncle Vinny and I made a trough for each
of your reindeer. May I give it to
them?"
Santa: How about if I lend you a hand?
He got out of
the sleigh, and I swore the ground beneath my feet shook. Santa helped me lift each trough that we had stored
in the stalls.
I scooted the troughs
because they were so heavy. Santa lifted
each one up like it was no problem for him.
I took Rudolph's and he did all the rest. He said I could pet his reindeer as they ate.
Me: "My Aunt Lisa made you cookies and
milk. I know you get a lot of those, but
these are worth it. "
Santa sat on the
ground, right next to Jake, Uncle Vinny's baby cow. He ate one cookie at a time, and dipped each
one in his milk. Milk dripped down his
beard.
Santa: "Do you want one John?"
Me: "Really?
Don't tell Aunt Lisa. She told me
not to eat them."
He put one
finger over his mouth and said:
"Shhhh! It will be our
little secret."
I talked to
Santa while we ate cookies. When his reindeer
finished eating, we got up and put the
troughs back where we found them.
Santa put both
of his big hands on my shoulders and said: "Well, I best be going. It was very very nice to meet you."
Me: "Will you be back next year?"
He got up on
his sleigh, and looked down at me:
"Of course I will, and I'm sure you will be waiting."
I opened the
back barn doors. Santa shook the reigns,
and the reindeer all started to go...as fast as lightening. Before I knew it - they were gone. I looked out of the barn, and watched them until I could see them no more.
I shut the back
barn doors, and said "Good Morning" to Jake. He didn't care.
I climbed up to my loft, and looked at the present laying next to my bed.
I stared at the
ceiling for the rest of the morning until I heard Uncle Vinny's rooster at
sunrise: "Cock-a-doodle
doo!"
I climbed down
the loft with my new present, and bolted inside the house. I told Uncle Vinny and Aunt Lisa what happened.
Lisa looked at
me like it was the most precious thing she had ever heard.
I'm pretty sure
Uncle Vinny liked it too. He didn't say. He was eating.
Aunt Lisa: "Open the present, and see what Santa
gave you."
That year,
Santa Claus gave me a journal. The front
and back cover was made of wood. My name
was carved out on the front in fancy letters.
Santa also carved out a pencil to go with it.
Aunt Lisa examined it
and said: "I have never seen such
beautiful work."
Aunt Lisa and
Uncle Vinny gave me presents, but I
can't remember what they were. I didn't pay attention to any other toy except the gift Santa gave me. I wondered if it really happened. Every time I
doubted there was a spark - a reflection - off the front cover of the notebook. I wanted a notebook that Christmas,
and Santa gave me one.
I never forgot
that I saw Santa Claus, even after the Christmas season. For the next six years Santa came back every Christmas morning at 3 A.M. to Uncle Vinny's barn. I
waited for him. We talked, and fed his
reindeer like we always did. Each year
he got me something I wanted, and it was homemade. He always put my name on the gift. My name was hidden somewhere on the toy, so it was fun for me to search for it.
Later on in my
life, Uncle Vinny finally told me who that Santa Claus was. Uncle Vinny said Santa was a man that people
barely saw all year except when He came to the stores
in Dallas to buy things. Apparently each Christmas Eve
and Christmas
morning he drove to most of
the houses in the area. He gave out toys he made, and put each child's name on
it.
As I look back
and remember, the other kids were happy Santa brought them a toy. They played with it for a while, but once
they lost the fascination with it - it ended up in the trash can.
I asked Uncle Vinny: "If you see one of those toys in the
trash - save it for me."
Uncle Vinny used to pick them (quite a few of them) out of
the trash cans.
Come Christmas
morning I gave the toys back to Santa.
He re-made each one into
something beautiful.
The last time I
saw Santa, I was 13 years old.
Santa: "John, I have never in my life, met a
person like you. I sure hope other boys
and girls grow up to be like you."
Me: "Well, Santa, no disrespect -
but I don't think you want other kids to grow up like me."
Santa: " Yes I do, John. I'm right."
I watched Santa drive away for the last time...like I
did for so many years. When he was out
of my view, a shine remained - like
a glimmer of HOPE as he faded away.
This is the
true story I tell to my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchildren, and to the love of my life.
A Gift for Santa
By John D.
