Santa's Magic

By: Anu Subramanian Senthilkannan

Rachel had always been a curious person. She questioned everything that happened in the world. She needed facts as evidence so naturally, she didn’t believe in fantasies. She was different but special. As far as everyone knew, she was the only 10-year old in the whole of Greenwood who didn’t believe in Santa Claus.

This Christmas was no different than the others for Rachel, while all the other kids in the neighborhood were preparing their wish list for Santa Claus, she just watched them with disapproval. She could not understand why everyone believed so much in Santa Claus. I mean, he was just a fictional character that someone made up, right? She always thought her parents had bought those gifts for her to keep her happy. Oh, how wrong she was… Would something different happen this year that could possibly change her beliefs...

The week of Christmas came and the whole neighborhood was busy decorating their houses, making treats, and hanging up Christmas stockings everywhere. Though Rachel did not believe in Santa Claus, Christmas was still definitely one of her favourite festivals of the year. She loved all the lights, colors and treats! So, she was running all around the house helping her mother bake and helping her father and siblings to decorate the house and the Christmas tree.

One of the biggest festive traditions of their household was their annual Robinson Christmas Dinner. This was when the whole family, including her aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents came together and celebrated! They would gather around the huge circle table which had numerous foods on it and chatter about everything because this was the only time of the year where everyone would be present!

After a heavy dinner, everyone would move to different parts of the houses and as a rule, would always have a steaming mug of hot cocoa with them. Usually, the children took up the living room and would watch Christmas movies till they felt sleepy. But this Christmas, Rebecca, the oldest child decided to break the tradition of watching movies. She announced this just as Mark (one of the children) turned on the television.

“I think we should change things up a little bit this year, don’t you think? I mean aren’t you all getting bored of just watching Christmas movies every single time? Don’t you want to do something a bit more fun?” asked Rebecca.

“Honestly, I kind of agree. Let’s change things! Let’s break the tradition!” said Anton.

Everyone seemed excited after this announcement. They were intrigued, and thrilled to learn what they would do differently this year! Of course, Rachel was an exception to this. She hated breaking traditions. She believed that they must be followed religiously.

“I don’t agree with you guys! We aren’t supposed to break traditions!” argued Rachel.

But no one paid heed to her, everyone was talking excitedly in their groups.

Another thing Rachel hated was when people didn’t pay attention to her.

“HEY, SOMEONE’S TALKING HERE YOU KNOW!” shouted Rachel.

“Ugh, what do you want, can’t you see we’re busy Rachel? For once in your life, just listen to other people and stop being such a stuck-up and bossy person!” said Rebecca in a bold voice.

Rachel’s eyes became moist and she ran to the bathroom, her face burning up with shame. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and tears poured down like a waterfall but deep down inside, she knew that Rebecca was right. This just made her cry more but she somehow pulled herself together and went out again. She went straight to the circle her cousins had made and sat with them and asked what their plan was. An awed silence followed her because Rachel had never listened to other people if she didn’t agree with them.

“Uh, guys? Hello?” said Rachel.

“Uh, yeah. It’s just that this is really new. So, um, we were thinking of staying up and checking out Santa Claus.” said Anton.

“Seriously? That’s so lame, Santa’s not even real,” Rachel rolled her eyes.

“Uh, correction, Santa IS real and we are going to prove that to you tonight. Right, guys?” Rebecca said.

A general nodding of agreement went through the room. Everyone enthusiastically replied, “Yeah, that’s right!”.

“Fine, whatever. I don’t really care.” said Rachel, frustrated that they were going to do something so pointless and boring

“Good.” replied Rebecca and everyone continued planning what they were going to do while Rachel didn’t even bother to listen.

At exactly 11:00, all the kids managed to finish sneaking in a few cookies, some milk and a carrot onto a plate and they were trying to place the food in front of the fireplace as quietly as possible. This was because according to Rebecca, Santa always came through the chimney into people’s houses.

By the time it was 11:45, everyone had managed to find hiding spots in the living room. Finding the spots hadn’t been easy because there were a lot of children and not a lot of spots to hide in. But they all magically got ready by 11:45 anxiously anticipating Santa’s grand entrance through the chimney!

Exactly when the church bell struck midnight, they heard a loud thumping noise from above and saw the fire go out. They all looked excitedly at each other and were squeezing their hands together in eagerness. Just then, they heard something, or rather someone, sliding down the chimney (they were listening really hard for any noise). And as they watched with bated breaths, Santa appeared with his signature big red coat, red hat, big white beard and moustache and a bag full of presents.

At this point, Rachel unfortunately could not control herself and gasped really loudly. Anton hurriedly clasped his hand on her mouth and glared at her. Santa looked around doubtfully before noticing the tray of cookies and brownies, the glass of milk and the carrots left there for his reindeers. His face immediately bore a huge smile and he hurriedly started to eat the food. Rebecca gave a signal and slowly and quietly, all the children crept out of their hiding spots to stand in front of Santa.

They all said “Hi Santa Claus!” which startled the poor Santa so much that he fell backwards and stared upwards at all of them. He was taking in all of their faces when he suddenly realized that a bunch of children were standing in front of him.

“Don’t you all know you are supposed to be in bed right now and I am supposed to deliver your gifts when you are asleep?” asked Santa Claus kindly.

“Yes, we do know that Santa, we just decided to change things up a bit this year. I hope you don’t mind it if we just stay here with you till you leave.” replied Rebecca.

“Oh, uh, no, of course I don’t mind.” said Santa in a confused way.

But no one noticed his confusion because everyone was so enchanted by Santa, especially Rachel. She just could not believe that she was watching Santa. So was Rachel convinced that Santa really exists? Yes, it was magical for Rachel to meet Santa and get her gifts this year, unlike the previous years when she woke up to these gifts. So, from that Christmas onward, Rachel was a changed person. She started believing in Santa Claus however, she continued questioning everything.