My wife loves the classic Christmas movies: Miracle on 34th Street (1947), It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), and White Christmas (1954). I can sit through It’s a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart just fine, but the other two? Not so much. My wife also enjoys the Hallmark festive movies while baking her Christmas cookies. I think I married a true Christmas girl — you really have to love the season to look past the “B” rated acting in Hallmark’s Christmas movie collection.
I enjoy movies like Die Hard (1988) and Home Alone (1990), and of course all the Christmas movies starring Tim Allen. But the one Christmas movie I love the most is A Christmas Story (1983) starring Darren McGavin. It captures the true chaos families go through every December – the dad’s quirks, the mom’s quiet strength, and their determination to make Christmas perfect for their two boys, despite all the mishaps and misfortunes that compete with making it “the most wonderful time of the year”. Scenes like the leg lamp, flag pole, BB-gun daydream, and the neighbor’s Blood Hounds stealing the Christmas turkey are priceless!
I always pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance when deciding what to write about. Without fail, the Holy Spirit presents a topic – something I read, a conversation, an event. With this post falling on Christmas Eve, I wanted it to be really special but my request was met with silence. I am talking crickets! With Thanksgiving gone and Christmas closing in, I started pleading. Finally, the nudge came: “Talk to your wife.” So, I did. She said, “Write about the true reason for Christmas.” I groaned, “Everybody does that.” Then she smiled: “Fine. Tell one of your own childhood Christmas stories.” Bam! The Holy Spirit delivered again—just not how I expected. 🤔
Here goes!
My parents worked very hard to sell the Santa story down to the detail. In the days leading up to Christmas day, wrapped presents from mom and dad and loving relatives began to appear under the tree. On Christmas morning, the presents from Santa were unwrapped because Santa did not have time to wrap presents. The smaller ones filled our Christmas stockings while the larger presents were scattered around the tree. And to bring it all home, a plate with residual cookie crumbs and an empty glass of milk was even more proof that Santa was there.
My brother and I were about 12 and 10 years old with me being the oldest (but not so much the wiser). We were at that age where our innocence was lost to the cruel hard fact that our parents were not always truthful. That’s right, our teenage neighbor spoiled our fantasy that Santa was real. Our parents had been lying to us all those years. Unbelievable!
After getting over the shock that Santa didn’t exist—and that our church-going parents had been lying to us—my brother and I had another revelation: Where did Mom and Dad hide all the toys? They should be easy to find since “Santa” never wrapped them. The treasure hunt was on!
The initial cursory searches could be done discreetly—casually checking closets here and there. However, the full covert searches like raiding the attic had to be done while Dad was at work and Mom was at the grocery store. But the booty was nowhere to be found!
Then genius struck. The crawl space!
Our basement was mostly finished, except for a crawl space that ran under our kitchen and den. It was accessible from an access panel about four feet from the floor in the finished part of the basement.
We grabbed the step stool from the garage but… there was no working flashlight. (Dad was a city boy from D.C. – Boy Scouts and being prepared wasn’t his thing). But who needs a flashlight when you are raised Catholic. Catholics always have lots of candles, more than enough for all kinds of occasions. We snatched the tallest one from the Advent wreath and a book of matches from the kitchen junk drawer.
I went in first, candle in hand, my brother right behind me. He lit it once we were inside. The dirt floor came within a couple feet of the joists. Grown-ups had to belly-crawl; pre-teens could manage on hands and knees (or threes, when one hand is holding a flaming candle).
Cobwebs were everywhere with random wires brushing our heads. But the desire to find the treasure was stronger than our fear of the imagined unknowns lurking in the darkness.
Straining to see farther, I kept raising the candle. Suddenly the crawl space got a lot brighter. Really bright to where I could almost see the entire space under the kitchen.
My brother started smacking my backside and pointing upward. The paper backing on the insulation between the joists was on fire. The crawl space was now glowing!
The treasure hunters instantly became firefighters. We scooped handfuls of dirt hurling them upward at the flames. Miraculously, we put it out fast—or so we thought. Evidence removal began: yank down the charred insulation, hide everything, act natural.
Then Mom came home.
Detecting the smell of smoke, she opened the basement door to find a stairway filled with smoke and screamed, “Boys! Are you okay? What are you doing down there??”
With all the calm and innocence we could muster, we replied: “Nothing!”
We never found Santa’s presents that year, and surprisingly we didn’t get lumps of coal either. Mom was just relieved her sons (and the house) were still in one piece. The only warning we got was not to tell our younger sisters the truth about Santa. All was forgiven and although we knew who the real Santa’s were, we still enjoyed a wonderful Christmas that year.
My siblings and I were blessed to experience many wonderful Christmases in a faith-based family. We knew that “Jesus was the true reason for the season” and our parents worked hard to make every Christmas joyful and faith-filled, and they succeeded.
May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. God’s greatest gift was sending us His Son as a baby over 2,000 years ago. Tomorrow, we celebrate that birth—and His work on the cross that purchased our salvation. Just as God the Father gave us the gift of God the Son, Jesus gave us the gift of God the Holy Spirit. Turn toward Him and welcome his light to indwell within you and may He grant you and your loved one’s protection, peace, and joy. – Amen
Merry Christmas!
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