Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Memories

Here is a charming Christmas memory to warm your heart. Every year, my grandfather would get a twinkle in his eyes. My grandfather had more than a sense of humor. He had a sense of fun. So the best stories started with the twinkle.

“Know what I’m going to do?” he’d ask. “I’m going to take a greeeat, biiig bag and sit up all night long and watch the fireplace for Santa Clause. I’ll hide behind this chair, and when old Santa comes out of that chimney…I’LL JUMP OUT AND CATCH HIM!”

At this point, my grandmother would yell at him, “Oh, Homer, stop that! You’re scaring the children!”

He wasn’t scaring me at all, though. I secretly thought it was a brilliant idea! Why had no one thought of it before?

Sad to say the only thing I worried about was whether or not it would work. What would my grandfather do with Santa once he was in the bag? Would Santa be forced to live with them, or would my grandfather let him go at some point? Wouldn’t Santa be mad? And since Santa is magical, might he have secret magical defenses against just such assaults? Plus there was also the question of whether my grandfather could take him. They were both old, yes, but my grandfather was clearly much thinner; would Santa’s extra fat slow him down or give him an advantage?

Somehow my grandfather never accomplished it. He always fell asleep waiting. This was Santa’s real magic, I decided.

So that’s my heartwarming Christmas story. At least you know where I got it.


The reason angels can fly is because they take themselves lightly. ~G.K. Chesterton

8 comments:

  1. This would make a wonderful story to submit somewhere--I guess we'll have to wait until Christmas 2012 to see it in an anthology or a magazine...

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  2. Fabulous, Tammy. What a super grandfather to have.
    I had two wonderful grandfathers, but neither of them came up with an idea like this one. I love it!
    K

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  3. Your heartwarming Christmas memory could provide the most scathingly brilliant idea for fiction: what if a grandpa captured Santa Claus?

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  4. Tammy, what a delightful memory. The joy and imagination of children...this could lead to a children's book.

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  5. Your Grandpa sounds like a hoot. His attempt to snag Santa reminds me of my son when he was about 8 and his plot to prove the existence of the Easter Bunny. He decided we should sprinkle flour all over the floor, and the Bunny would leave footprints all over the house. Mean old mommy me...I wouldn't let him cover my floor with flour. :)

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  6. Yes, easy to see where your sense of humor comes from. :) Hope you had a great Christmas Tammy.
    Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

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  7. Love it Tammy...thanks for sharing ; )

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