I loved your story about your daughter's 'discovery' regarding Santa's
handwriting. It made me think of something that happened in my own
childhood that caused a 'paradigm shift' in my thinking.
I was right about that age where one starts doubting the authenticity of
Santa, but I was still young enough to wake up early on Christmas morning
with the excitement of what might lay beneath the tree downstairs. I
quickly roused my younger brother and we crept downstairs in the early
morning darkness to see what 'Santa' had left.
Much to our delight, there were several toys 'neath the tree and, as quiet
as two young boys bubbling with excitement could, we played with the new
treasures. Suddenly, there came a noise from the wintry blackness beyond
our front window. Could it be? It was the sound of bells jingling! In one
fantastically frantic moment, all the warnings about being 'caught' out of
bed by Santa came rushing to our young minds and faster than any reindeer,
we were up the stairs and into our beds.
We awoke a few hours later and joined the rest of the family in the living
room. My other sisters were busy with their playthings, my parents were
soaking in the scene and all my brother and I could do was glance
furtively at each other and wonder how close we had come to seeing Santa
in the flesh!
All of the sudden, the sound of those jingling bells was again heard in
front of our house. My brother and I looked wide-eyed at each other and,
emboldened by the sunlight of the morning, raced to the window, tore open
the sash and there saw, cruising down our snow-covered street, a city snow
plow with the chains on the tires making a soft, gentle 'jingling' sound.
It was my first, but lasting, experience with a 'paradigm shift'.
Happy holidays,
-- Jim Buscher lafeber@ais.net