Sleigh bells ring
Are you listening?
In the lane
Snow is glistening.
"A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.
"Dad, can I please stay up just one more hour to sing along with the carolers outside our home? Please?"
"Sammy, you have been singing along with every group of carolers outside our house since breakfast. It is after nine o'clock at night, far past your bedtime. Santa doesn't reward little boys who don't listen when their dad says go to sleep."
"Santa! I'll-I'll go to sleep right now. Good night, Dad! Tell Mom I said good night when she is done baking chocolate chip cookies for Santa," Sammy said with a rush as he buried himself under his dog breed sheets and comforter and fell right to sleep.
Sammy's sixth Christmas was to be a special one...hopefully. His first-grade letter to Santa listed one wish only - a Cocker Spaniel puppy, just like the one in his favorite movie, "Lucy the Forever Companion."
Sammy loved dogs, especially puppies. As he learned to write in kindergarten and now in first grade, Sammy practiced the same words every chance he had:
Dear Santa,
My name is Sammy. I am good every day. I do not cause truble with anyone. Mommy and Dad promis to adopt a puppy after I turn 6 years old. I am 6 now (since July 7). I wood very much like my puppy (you
Sammy's thoughts on this Christmas Eve lay nervously on the plate which was to be filled with cookies for Santa to enjoy. Would Santa like the letter too?
The holiday night was silent. Peaceful snow fell quietly outside. Sammy slept with a smile as he dreamed about his special wish. Silence.
Until there arose such a clatter. The shuffling of feet in the living room. The clink of cookie plate and milk glass. The rustling of ornaments and evergreen branches. The tapping of hooves on the rooftop. Could - could it be?
Sammy woke from his happy dream with a start. Someone was in his house, a stranger, a...
"SANTA!!!"
Sammy met excited eyes with a round-faced, rosy-cheeked, thick-bearded man wearing a red holiday outfit topped with a floppy holiday hat...the one and only.
"Hello, Sammy. I am pleased to meet you, too. Go back to..."
" I do not want to go back to bed. I want to open the presents you brought for me...with you," Sammy said as he slowly walked down the stairs.
"Well...Okay, you have been more than good this year. I will stay for a minute."
"Santa? Did you read my letter?"
"Yes I did. Your handwriting is improving. Sammy, look in the big, round, purple box with pink bow."
Sammy slowly walked from the base of the staircase to the overflowing tree skirt. The big, round, purple box was moving. Sammy ripped off the pink bow and yanked off the top to reveal...
"A Cocker Spaniel puppy girl, Sammy. You get your wish. You deserve the best because you are the best. Merry Christmas, Sammy."
Sammy was too busy loving his new puppy to notice Santa's sparkling magical exit. Sammy and his new puppy played for hours. At dawn, they were both exhausted. Sammy curled into a ball exactly where the purple box once stood, with his pup cozied in his arms. As the two fell asleep, Sammy whispered,
"I love you, Lucy. You are my best friend forever.
"I will never forget this Christmas."
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