by Shellie Riggs
North Salt Lake, Utah, USA
I was raising three little girls on my own working two jobs to just survive. One year I got pneumonia, was out of work for three months and lost my jobs.
It’s funny how your instincts work. A few month before, I had seen some dolls made and decided to buy the broadcloth and yarn to make them. But the project went unnoticed until Christmas time. I had no money, no presents for my children or other family members, and barely enough food to feed us. We had pancakes for almost every meal. But at least we had that.
So, out came the sewing machine and the project. I would work on the dolls late into the night after my girls had gone to sleep. I thought I was doing OK until it was Christmas Eve. We didn’t have a tree and that’s the one thing they wanted most. But all I had was a $5 bill. So my girls and I went looking for a tree that was discounted down to that $5 limit. We had made decorations out of newspaper, coloring books, tops of cans, anything the girls thought would look good on a tree — it’s unbelievable what they thought would look good on a tree. We finally found a “Charlie Brown” tree, bought it, took it home, and decorated it.
They all wanted this and that but when I explained that they were only getting one gift, they accepted it and hoped for a Barbie or Big Wheel or roller skates.
I finished the last doll at about 2:00 a.m. Christmas morning. I went to their room, found each one a stocking that didn’t have a mate, and filled it with an orange and some candy, put their doll in front of their stocking, and went to bed.
The next thing I hear is “Mom, Santa’s been here, get up!” I was so glad they were happy with their small Christmas so I got out of bed and went to the livingroom.
Santa had truly visited our home: under the tree were wrapped presents and boxes of food. I don’t know how he got into our home because we didn’t have a chimney and the doors were locked but there were presents for my girls and food to last a month.
To this day I believe in Santa Claus — be he a neighbor, a stranger, or just the “Spirit of Christmas”. We were saved by him in 1981.
Available in The Best of HeroicStories, Volume 2.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:27 — 4.1MB)
Audio Credits:
- “Girls laughing” by robinhood76 via freesound.org
- “Mini Christmas song” by milton via freesound.org
- “Music box carol” by acclivity via freesound.org
- “Sewing maching” by jagadamba via freesound.org
- “Santaclaus hohoho” by bollenator via freesound.or
Santa lives – and not just at Christmas. Thank you for this lovely story.
What an awesome story.
Uh oh. Immediate tears. Thank you for the gift of this story! It struck a deep chord. So happy for this family.
Yes, I am teary eyed. What a beautiful story.