Santa

“Mum, how old is Santa?” asked Master Eight pensively.
“Gosh, I don’t know. Pretty old I think.”
“So when Santa was a kid, who was his Santa?” he continued.
“Maybe in the olden days there was no Santa,” Master Six piped up saving me.
“Maybe he went with his dad and learned in the sleigh,” Miss Six chimed in.
Master Eight: “You know how Santa got here so quickly last year, I think it was because there were lots of naughty boys and girls.”
“How do you mean?”
“You know, he got to our place early, I think it was because he didn’t have many other places to go to.”
“Maybe. When I was a little girl I swear I saw the buckle of his belt shining in my room.”
“When I was a little boy I saw his beard,” added Master Eight.
“Really?”
“Yeah remember? It got stuck on the fire place.”
Oh yeah, that’s right. Silly Santa snagged his beard as he was entering last year.
“And his boot prints!”
So he did. He left snowy boot prints on our doorstep.
“Does Santa live up in the sky?” asked Miss Six.
“Yep,” answered her twin knowingly.
“No, he lives in the North Pole,” said older brother.
“Mum I don’t like those videos you play us when Santa opens up the book,” Master Six said.
“Why not?”
“Because at the end it gets real scary when he decides if you’ve been good or bad.”
“Yeah it’s real scary because we don’t know if we’re going to get the red light or the green,” added his sister.
That reminded me.
By the time the kids returned home from school they each had a personalised Santa message waiting for them on the computer.
As always, they squirmed with delight when Santa addressed them by name and they saw their own photo in his book. Santa then took them on a magical tour through to the barn to meet his reindeer before returning to his big wooden desk where he re-opened the book with all the information inside about the children. And then the build-up to the naughty or nice conclusion began.
The kids waited wide-eyed with anticipation as the elves went through a process to reach the verdict and then clapped with joy when the green light appeared.
However, Master Eight this year didn’t quite make it onto the ‘nice’ list and the devastation from all was absolute.
Apparently he needed to try harder to be nicer to his siblings.
But the disappointment that followed the orange light (not quite naughty or nice) was worth it for he immediately changed his tune and has become a different kid. (A subsequent message awaited him several days later where he got the green light.)
Based on the questions above, it may well be the last year this Santa approach works but, for now, peace and harmony have been restored.

# To make your own free personalised video from Santa, go to: www.portablenorthpole.com