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Spice of life: Night before Christmas when Santa dropped in
Everything was quiet. Then something stirred suddenly. Someone stood in the bedroom near my stocking. I faced the daunting prospect of being caught watching Santa and losing all my presents. But curiosity got the better of me
The Christmas season evokes fond childhood memories, especially at night when my son and I plan our celebration. Every nocturnal noise makes us strain our ears to identify its source. Is it the carol singers on the veranda? Or, a stray cat on the terrace? As a child, I was told that Santa’s reindeer practice their flight around the world ahead of Christmas Eve, because of which we often hear thuds outside the door and on the rooftop at night.
Such sounds bring back the memory of a special night, the one before Christmas several years ago in my childhood. I had never debated the existence of Santa. What mattered the most was that the gifts on my Christmas list found their way into my stocking.
It was Christmas Eve. The wall clock in our dining room had just chimed 12 times. It was midnight — time for Saint Nick to visit. A dim night lamp shone dreamily in a corner of the bedroom that I shared with my mother. I lay with my eyes closed, trying to sleep, but unable to do so because of the excitement of receiving gifts and wondering whether our housekeeper’s children, who often uttered expletives, would get any that year or not.
Everything was quiet. Then something stirred suddenly. Someone stood in the bedroom near my stocking. I faced the daunting prospect of being caught watching Santa and losing all my presents. But curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to try and identify who it was.
“Go to sleep, or else you’ll find nothing in your stocking in the morning,” commanded a voice. With sleep weighing heavily on my eyelids by this time, it did not take long for me to comply with the command. Albeit, my mother’s vacant bed definitely raised some questions.
“I woke up to greet Santa Claus and serve coffee and cake to him,” she said on being quizzed on Christmas morning. On being reminded that Santa does not have time for that on Christmas Eve, she advised me to stop arguing and open my presents, to which I complied happily. That accomplished, she asked me to recheck my stocking.
It had been replenished with more. But these bore the names of our housekeeper, her children and the less fortunate in our parish (the jurisdictional area of a church). We distributed these among them after the Christmas church service. This plus the wrapping paper on the table in the adjoining room explained mom’s absence from her bed the night before. Years later, on Christmas Eve, my son had a similar experience. I expect my future generations to have several of these as well.
As far as my son and me are concerned, our respective Christmas Eve experiences inspired us to care for people in need, not just on Christmas, but also as and when required. If you still want to know whether Santa Claus visited me that night or not, prepare your Christmas wish list and hand it to your parents to mail it to Santa. Place a stocking by your bedside on Christmas Eve and wait for Santa’s arrival at midnight. Better still, be a ‘Santa’ to someone in need. Your celebration will have more meaning.
shaheen.parshad@gmail.com
(The writer is an Amritsar-based freelance contributor.)
