My New Special Friend

Tonight I was Santa at the Sandy Library.  I had finished with my usual visits and was heading to my car when a little child stood in the doorway of the library, surprised to see me.  I could see that he was nervous and didn’t want to talk to me.  He was coming into the library with a book in his hand which I noticed was The Polar Express.  I commented that it was one of Santa’s favorite books.  Hearing this, he lit right up and started talking to me about his favorite parts of the story.  He kept coming back to the part where the boy gets the first gift of Christmas which was a jingle bell.

Now being Santa, I make sure that I jingle when I walk so everyone can hear me coming.  I have a strap of bells that I carry with me, and suddenly had a great idea for my new little friend.  I took the strap and pulled off one of the bells and handed it to him.  His eyes welled up with tears and he threw his arms around me and said, “Santa, you are my special friend, ‘cause Santa only gives a bell to his special friends.”  I look up to see that his mother and father were also teary eyed which got to me and I started to get emotional myself.  I managed to choke out, “Yes you are my special friend.”

That strap of bells only cost me about three dollars, but at that moment being Santa was priceless!