CHRISTMAS SPIRIT LINGERS

Written by Luz Leigh – 06 January 2008

      It was a dark and stormy night…..wait, that is not how this story begins. It was a bright sunshiny day, but with a cold north wind blowing. The two friends had met in front of the local supermarket. One with a heavy jacket on; the other in shirt sleeves. The coatless one had been working and needed nothing to keep him warm.

      After the usually greetings, they began to speak of the Christmas holidays. His teenage son had broken up with the girl whom he had been dating. She told him that sounded like her sons….they always broke up with their girl friends just before Christmas and Valentine’s Day. That way they were not expected to buy a gift.

      The conversation turned to church. She told of the wonderful Christmas pageant her church had sponsored. About the music, the cast, the scenery, but most of all about the little two-year-old who played the part of Jesus as a child. The two of them exchanged comments about how we know so little about Jesus between his birth and when his mother and Joseph found him in the Temple, discussing the Mosaic Law with the leaders of the synagogue. Because we know that the Magi probably did not arrive to visit the Christ child until he was approximately two years old, the little boy in the pageant did an impersonation of what Jesus may have been like.

      They discussed how, many years ago, a community member drove a “Santa” around town on Christmas Eve, visiting selected houses where there were small children. The woman recalled a visit from Santa that year and the expression on the face of her small daughter as she saw the jolly man in the red suit and black boots, standing in their living room. After having left gifts for the little girl and her two older brothers, jolly old Saint Nicholas took his leave. A little later in the evening, out of earshot of the children, the wife asked her husband,”Who was that?”…..thinking he had arranged for the surprise visit. He looked at her with a blank look on his face; “I thought YOU had arranged it” he replied. For a short time that night, there were two adults who were about ready to believe in Santa Claus. Because they lived in a very small town and knew everyone who lived there, they could not figure out who was dressed in the Santa suit. It was not until years later they found out an acquaintance had talked his friend from a nearby city into doing the honors that special Christmas Eve.

      Ironically, when the little girl had become a teenager, the “Santa” stood by the mother as they watched the helicopter lift off from the local landing pad, transporting the girl some seventy miles away to a large medical center. She had been involved in an automobile accident and had suffered a broken neck and would need treatment there.

      The two friends decided it was time to part company; she had remembered the half-gallon carton of Blue Bell ice cream she had just purchased. She jokingly said she would go home, get a spoon and eat right out of the carton. He said he liked ice cream and just happened to have a spoon in his truck. There would be no problem for them to share the delicious frozen dessert.

      They hugged and said “Take care”….”You be careful, now”. So it goes in a small town. As she drove home, she thanked the Lord for having placed her in this part of the world; in a place where it was safe to stand around on the sidewalk, worrying not about a sniper’s bullet taking them down, nor a robber demanding their money. The Spirit of Christmas still reigned in her heart.