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Grandma's The Best!
Author Unknown
I
remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma.
I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to
visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa
Claus," she jeered.
"Even dummies know that!"
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been.
I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with
me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the
truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of
her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous,
because Grandma said so. It had to be true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I
told her everything.
She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" She snorted....
"Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around
for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and
let's go."
"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second
"world-famous" cinnamon bun.
"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General
Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about
everything.
As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars.
That was a bundle in those days "Take this money,"
she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for
you in the car."
Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping
with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself.
The store seemed
big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas
shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching
that ten dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it
for.
I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends,
my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my
church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of
Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he
sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's second grade class.
Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because
he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote
a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew
that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; what he didn't have was a coat.
I fingered the ten dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy
Bobby Decker a coat!
I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to
it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
"Is this a Christmas present for someone?"
the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars
down.
"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's
for Bobby."
The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how
Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but
she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry
Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas
paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it (a
little
tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible).
Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy Then she drove me
over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and
forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house,
and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.
Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa
Claus," she whispered, "get going."
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw
the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the
safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly
in the darkness for
the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments
spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.
That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were
just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and
well, and we were on his team.
I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside:
$19.95.
May you always have LOVE to share. And may you always
believe In the magic of Santa Claus!
MERRY
CHRISTMAS!
Contributed
by
James Odle, Jr.
Defining
Moments
Archives
Copyright
© 2006, Jace Carlton. All International Rights Reserved.
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