Latest update April 23rd, 2024 12:59 AM
Dec 25, 2018 News
By Sharmain Grainger
T’was a few minutes before Christmas morning dawned; a bell jingled followed by an illustrious “Ho! Ho! Ho!”
Indeed someone, something or both had just landed on the roof and was now scampering down the chimney. Could it be Santa Claus?
Hidden behind the well decorated, seven foot tall Christmas Tree they’d managed to decorate just yesterday, were rosy-cheeked twin siblings, Dora and Cole. Barely 10 years old, having celebrated their birthdays two days earlier, the two were determined to find out who was responsible for the spot-on gifts they’d been getting since they were five.
At first, they were convinced it had to be mom figuring out their silent wishes when they blew out the candles on the usually two-layer chocolate cake they share for their birthdays. But each year the twin siblings got older so was their awareness that neither their mother, nor father for that matter, was the giver of their desired Christmas gifts. This was mostly due to the fact that both mom and dad would usually seem just as surprised as the twins after their tiny fingers were done ripping apart gift wrappings to reveal heart-warming gifts.
The two, Sherlock Holmes in their own right, were determined to get to the bottom of this recurring Christmas affair although it was long passed their bedtime.
It wasn’t spoken of a lot at their home but at school, they heard a great deal about this ‘Being’ called Santa Claus, who, with his naughty and nice list, decides what to give each child around the world at Christmas. They heard the stories about him travelling through the skies in a sleigh flown by reindeers.
But all this was too much for this brother and sister pair to comprehend. “But can it be real though?” It was the subject of a constant debate between the two. However, the time had come for them to solve this puzzle once and for all.
From behind the Christmas tree, almost simultaneously, they both peered out to catch a glimpse of the culprit descending the chimney. To their amazement they locked eyes with the jolliest old man they had ever seen. Decked in a red suit trimmed with white, the man who appeared especially jubilant carried a red sack on his right shoulder and seemed unperturbed, perhaps even expecting to see their little faces looking back at him.
“Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” was his greeting to Dora and Cole as they staggered out from behind the tree. Without waiting for a response he exclaimed, “What! No milk and cookies for me?”
Of course they had heard the stories about children leaving milk and cookies near their Christmas tree so that when Santa came to drop off their gifts he could take a snack break.
But the twin siblings never did. Surely they were about to change that this year. They scurried off to the kitchen to grab some cookies and a glass of milk for their visitor.
As they returned, they both spotted two new conspicuously placed gifts under the Christmas tree one each with their names clearly affixed to it with what appeared to be glitters just like past Christmases.
Easing into the idea that indeed Santa Claus exists; the two handed over the snack to the stout old man but uttered not a word.
After completing the snack, he grabbed his sack which he had put to rest near the Christmas tree to offload their gifts, and proceeded to the chimney from whence he came. As he left, he glanced over his shoulder and locked eyes with the awestruck siblings and without a word; he seemed to beckon them to come along.
And just as they turned and looked at each other searchingly, the twin siblings found themselves magically ascending the chimney with Santa in tow.
On top of the snow-covered roof, to the siblings amazement, was a sleigh with one, two, three….nine, reindeers. Before they knew it, they were in the sleigh seated besides Santa Claus who wore the biggest and brightest smile they had ever seen.
“Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blixen and Rudolph,” Santa Claus shouted and the sleigh became airborne.
The sky was especially dark but a clear path was lit by the brightness of Rudolph’s shiny, big, red nose. Of course they remembered hearing stories about Rudolph ‘the red nose’ reindeer. Yes indeed, this was Santa’s lead reindeer. But wasn’t this supposed to be all fiction though? But no, this was all real in this moment. The two could feel the chill of the wintery night sky causing their pores to raise.
At first, it seemed like they were heading to the moon at a swift pace, but suddenly they were descending. As they, with gleeful eyes, gazed down on the world below, the twin siblings observed the sleigh passing right over what appeared to be an animal farm. Interesting enough, the atmosphere was no longer chilly but quite warm.
A short distance off, the sleigh came to a smooth stop on a grassy patch of land, and again, Santa beckoned them with his eyes to follow him. They were headed to the farm. But then Santa suddenly stopped as if glued to the ground, but with his smiling eyes he encouraged them to go on.
But as they continued, somewhere in the distance, it couldn’t be too far away, a woman cried out in anguish. They followed the sound which took them to a stable where they heard the wails of a baby. Could their ears be deceiving them?
As they tried to satisfy their curiosity without being seen, they came upon a scene which seemed to have been plucked straight out of the Bible. There was a man looking over a woman as she sat swaddling a newborn baby [much like the nativity] with such a mesmerising glow that the twins were forced to cover their eyes with their hands.
Before long they could see the silhouette of three men heading to the stable too. Unsure of the new arrivals’ purpose, the children decided to conceal themselves in the shadows behind a few stacks of hay.
As they looked on from their vantage point, the children could see that each of the men carried a package in their hands, and as they came closer to where the woman sat with the baby, the men instinctively, much like the siblings, started to shade their eyes.
“Gold!”, cried one as he handed over his package to the woman and stooped as if in the presence of royalty. The second and third follow suit but instead, identified their packages as frankincense and myrrh, respectively.
In the distance, melodious singing erupts – “Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining…”
“Did it just start or was the singing there all along?” the siblings pondered. What they were, however, certain of, was that the harmony was so arousing that they had the distinct desire to draw closer to the woman with the baby secured in her arms.
They slowly meandered out from where they had concealed themselves and proceeded to get a closer look at the stable’s main attraction. But like the men before them, they too were compelled to drop to their knees still but unable to look directly at the child.
Without being told, the siblings in the same moment were overwhelmed with the thought that this little child with the ‘blinding’ glow must be the Christ Child.
It was stories about a baby being born to save the world from its sin that they had heard about from their parents since they were tots. “But how was it possible that they were witnessing such a phenomenon years after it would have occurred?” they wondered.
But just as little Dora grabbed her brother’s hand and turned as if to ask aloud this very question, they both felt a nudge. There was no one there, but somehow they knew it was time for them to return to Santa and his sleigh.
Back in the sleigh they gleefully accompanied Santa around the globe sliding down chimneys in all shapes and sizes to drop off presents and sample milk and cookies.
When it was all done, they were magically back on their own roof top and were heading down their own chimney. Santa was not in tow this time but the echoes of his “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” seemed to be enough to appease the many questions which filled their little heads.
Before running off to bed, the twin siblings glanced at the clock which was moments earlier chiming away and to their amazement; it was barely one minute passed 12. It was Christmas morning!
Although they were baffled that their entire experience lasted no more than a few minutes, the two scurried off to bed smiling as they reflected on their unimaginable experience which they accepted would have to remain their little secret. “Who would believe that they had the adventure of a lifetime that brought them face to face with Santa Claus and the Christ child too?” They knew no one would believe such a tale coming from anyone, much less a couple of 10 year olds. What they, however, knew was that Christmas for them could never be the same.
They are no longer going to question whether Christmas was the celebration of the Christ Child or what many believed as the mythical tale of Santa Claus, after all their own experience proved that the season encapsulates the existence of both. Or does it?
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