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One Christmas, before I knew that Santa Claus is not magic and not real, my younger sister – two years younger – announced she was looking forward to the new wig Santa was going to put on her doll. She happily put her doll under the sock she had pinned to the stuffed chair and left confidently expecting her surprise on Christmas morning.
I can only guess how my parents felt about this new surprise request that my younger sister announced on Christmas Eve. Even if they had known two months earlier – I wonder where they would have gotten just a wig – not a whole new doll. But…they would have!
My older sister – five years older – became part of the solution. I only know the story after the fact. My dad who was an inventor and older sister who was creative were up to the challenge. They got a white sock, found yarn – all they had was white – glue and a darning needle. Apparently, they were up past midnight creating a wig with white yarn in a beautiful French braid style. My older sister often braided our hair and did an exquisite job. Perfectly tied red ribbons were at the end of each pig tail. Apparently, the brown glue seeped through the sock and was visible in the scalp section in a few spots, so they patted white powder over those spots to make it all white.
Well, when we all came downstairs Christmas morning – the youngest first – my younger sister ran to see her doll and I must say – she was very disappointed! On top of it, she accidentally dropped the doll on the rug and the powder flew up in a ball of white dust! I’m not sure how my parents explained the unusual wig to my younger sister.
I DO know though – when a couple years later we got to hear the whole story – as a family treasure – that doll’s wig became a favorite of my sisters as she realized the creative love of my dad and sister as they labored past midnight. We all experienced that Santa Claus is the symbol of the magic realism of LOVE!
In fact, I still believe in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas times’ transformative LOVE.
12.6.10