Thanks to the great kindness of my friends Katy, Bill, and Dyhrddrdh Colby, my children received an early visit from the North Pole last night. River heard the bells coming up the stairs, and her eyes grew very wide; little Inara didn’t know what to make of it all (she was having trouble seeing last night), but she smiled a lot.
Father Christmas came in with laughter and mirth, and Mrs. Clause told my daughters stories of the workshops at the North Pole, of the difficulties of finding often-moving military families to make sure children receive their gifts (and the ingenuity of the polar elves in finding ways to make sure Santa reaches service children … hint: Elf on the Shelf may be coming with North Pole GPS included, to guide the sleigh in), and of congested air traffic above Chicago.
River was delighted at Father Christmas’ pocket watch, as large as a bowl, which allows Father Christmas to set time back so that he can reach all the children before Christmas morning.
Inara was quite sleepy — and was having a low-vision day — but she cuddled into Father Christmas’s coat, which felt to her like the best thing in the winter, and I think her smile may have warmed the hearts of the Clauses and their Chief Elf, too.
After a frantic and busy month, there was much joy in our household last night. I am thankful for great friends.
Father Christmas even brought us s’mores and cocoa, a gift for two stressed but blessed parents.
Bless you all. You made a beautiful young girl very happy, and her joyous sister and her weary but delighted parents very happy, too. Thank you for bringing Christmas to our home.
May this season be, for all of you, a time of peace and joy, of celebrating a holy birth and all things made new, new as a winter night made wondrous by a fall of snow and a chiming of bells high in the air.
Stant Litore
Stant Litore is a novelist. He writes about gladiators on tyrannosaurback, Old Testament prophets battling the hungry dead, geneticists growing biological starships, time-traveling hijabi bisexual defenders of humanity from the future. Explore his fiction here. And here is one of his toolkits for writers, and here’s another book where he nerds out about ancient languages and biblical (mis)translation. Enjoy!
