Thursday, December 08, 2005

Whispered Christmas wishes...


In 1982 my grandmother approached her youngest sons about their Christmas list. They had for the first time failed to write one. My uncles Abbie and Chino then 5 and 6 had been told by friends that Santa didn’t exist and decided to put the jolly man to a test. They informed my grandma that there would be no list that year and added if Santa really existed he didn’t need for them to write him a list he would know what they wanted. After all didn’t he know who was naughty and nice?

My grandmother tried to get them to write a list for days and finally at her wits end called their big sister my mother, and told her what was going on. My mom was pregnant with me at the time and we didn’t know it yet but I would be making my debut 3 months early on Christmas morning which was less than a week away. My parents tried to reason with my uncles about the list, but they were stubborn kids and adamant in their belief that if Santa was real he didn’t need them to write him a letter. With Christmas closing in my parents decided to take the boys window shopping in the hopes that they would reveal something of their Christmas wishes. Mom was kind of sad on the drive back home, she still had gotten no hint of what the boys wanted. As they were driving she saw the boys staring at the decorations on 5th Avenue and decided to stop at the Rockefeller Center tree.

It was really late and bitterly cold when they parked thier car and walked over to the tree several blocks away. There weren’t that many people there so they were able to get really close to the tree. While looking at the tree my mom had an idea. She walked up to the tree and whispered her Christmas list to the tree, and my dad following her lead did the same. “What are you doing that for ?”, asked my uncle Chino. My mom explained that the tree was magic and that all wishes whispered to the tree were carried to the North Pole where they hung in the air like magic snowflakes until plucked by the elves and delivered to Santa. He then compared them to what he had on his list to make sure every child got exactly what they wanted.

She encouraged the boys to whisper their wishes to the tree as well. The boys walked up to the tree with my parents behind them pretending not to be listening in. As they whispered their toy list my dad committed everything they said to memory. The next day armed with that information my grandmother and mom began their Christmas shopping for the boys at break neck speed, finally finishing it on the 23rd.

I was born two days later. Several hours after I was born my dad made his way home. He asked the boys if they had gotten what they wanted for Christmas and they said yes. They then asked my dad about what he whispered to the tree and he told them,"I wished for a baby girl born on Christmas day.” That and their own granted wishes kept them believing in Santa for several more years. My uncles now have children of their own and during the 2nd week of December they troop their kids to Rockefeller center late at night and listen in on their children’s Christmas wishes.



Posted by @ 7:24 PM
2 comment from:  Emory Mayne,  sadiq,