...On the Big
Fat Guy in the tacky red suit. I hovered over my girls
as they flipped through the Christmas wish book
catalogue. "What do ya want? Do you want this? How
about that?" I held my breath as they studied the full
size jeeps and Barbie cars.
Whew, they turned the page. It was
October 31 and, while most mothers were busy sewing
last minute Halloween costumes, I was one step ahead
of them. My Sherwood had all the latest flyers on hand
and was prepared for a late night Halloween shopping
spree.
We were not going to be caught this
year! The last three years our little darlings had
been sucked in by the brain washing commercials and we
had relatives from Vancouver to Los Angeles combing
toy stores looking for the much coveted "everybody's
gotta have it" items.
I reminisced about Christmases gone
by...
First there was the Babbling Bear
that 'Rain couldn't live without. My brother knew a
toy department manager that passed him one in a plain
brown paper bag. "Walk away slowly - wipe that smile
off your face! What do you want here, a riot?"
<continued below>
The following year there was
"everyone else has a burping, slurping Barbie but me."
Again my brother with the connections came through.
Last year it was the Conversing
Furball. I told Sherwood, "We're NOT going there. No
way. I don't care if she's the only kid on the planet
that doesn't have one!" Christmas morning came and
'Rain was ecstatic to find her furry friend.
"Santa must have left it here
somewhere - he never lets me down!" She dug around the
pile of discarded wrapping paper.
"All the gifts are opened honey." I
tried to put my arm around her to comfort her, but she
was crawling under the tree.
Sherwood entered the scene, coffee
mug in hand, "Gee ‘Rain, what's that thing hiding in
the branches?"
Jumping up, ‘Rain almost knocked
over the tree. Screaming while ripping the paper off,
she stomped all over my modest pile of gifts. Sherwood
dove to intercept the Furball that was dropped in all
the excitement.
No, No, it can't be. He's done it
again! That big fat guy in the red suit has catered to
them once again. I was afraid to know how many pages
our Visa bill was going to be. The previous year they
had to ship it UPS in an overstuffed mailer. . .
But, that was last year - this year,
it would be different. The girls carefully cut out
pictures of their Santa wish gifts and glued them to
their letters. Sherwood snuck out that night and
shopped in an empty mega mall while all the other
fathers were dragging their kids door to door for
candy. We stashed the gifts in the basement, feeling
like we had just won the sanity lottery. No long
distance phone calls this year. No stalking toy store
managers leaving bribery messages on their home
answering machines. We were prepared! What a great
feeling.
Two days ago, I dressed the little
angels in all their Christmas finery and took them to
see the big fat guy. As they snuggled him in his chair
'Rain looked at him with her big milk chocolate brown
eyes and said, "I know we sent you a letter a looooong
time ago, but we've changed our minds. What we really
want..."
"Ho, Ho, Ho! No problem! You have
both been such good little girls this year. I'm sure I
can find one of those in my sack for you!"
The paramedics told me that they see
a lot of random fainting at this time of year. I
begged them to let me out of the ambulance. I had to
get to the toy store before it closed....
Copyright 2000 Hope Forrest.
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