It was Christmastime in the days before cell phones, caller ID, and GPS navigation. I was a boy of about 10 years of age and being the oldest child, I loved Christmas, decorated trees, stockings, elves, and, yes, Santa Claus. One wintry night my mom teased us opening the front door looking outside and pointing at various spots in the front yard and driveway while saying things like, “Look there! I just saw an elf!” and “Did you see the elf right there?! I think I just saw one!” I wasn’t completely convinced. We shut the door.
It wasn’t long before the doorbell rang. We weren’t expecting guests, but as we always did whenever the doorbell rang, my brother, sister, and I bounded to the door with excitement to see who came to visit us. We opened the door and to our surprise there was no one there. We were bewildered to see three beanbag chairs on the front step – brown, tan, and blue. We called and whooped and hollered for our parents. The beanbag chairs came with no note and no other clue as to where they came from. We didn’t know what to think, but we brought them inside.
Just two minutes later our phone rang. I picked up the phone and answered it. It was Grandma. She sounded excited! “Michael, you won’t believe what just happened!” she started. “We had some beanbag chairs we were going to give you for Christmas and Grandpa and I were trying to figure out how to get them to you. Grandpa decided to put them in the back of the truck and as he was doing that, some elves came and they stole the beanbag chairs! They put them into a sleigh and took off. Grandpa jumped in the truck and started chasing them down Commercial Street, but the sleigh flew away and he couldn’t follow them further.” Then with disappointment she concluded, “We’re really sorry, we won’t have Christmas presents for you this year.”
I couldn’t believe our good fortune! “Grandma, they’re here! The beanbag chairs are here!” I exclaimed.
“What, they are?” she asked dumbfounded.
And that was how we received our presents from Grandma and Grandpa that Christmas – from Christmas elves who brought them to our home in Albany from Salem. We were thrilled and tickled!
Years later when I was much, much older I learned the real story. My grandparents drove from their home in Salem to Albany and delivered the beanbag chairs to our front door, rang the doorbell, and ran for the truck and took off. They drove to the 7-Eleven at the entrance of my neighborhood and on a payphone called to tell us of the Christmas elves who stole the beanbag chairs! So there I had it – my grandparents were Christmas elves!
Recent Comments