Meg is in a bit of a pickle. It is coming up to Christmas and she is hearing the worst ever news. She has been told that there is no such person as Santa Claus and the presents are all bought by Mum and Dad. The sources of this awful news are her two older brothers who took great delight in telling her that she had been told a lot of lies by Mum and Dad, and the grandmas and grandads and the various aunties and uncles. In fact Meg is in more than a bit of a pickle; she is upset and cross and very confused. She does not like the fact that people she loves having been telling her fibs all these years but the worst is what if it is true? What if there is no Santa Claus living in Lapland? What if he doesn’t fly through the night on his sleigh pulled by his favourite reindeer – with Rudolf leading the way of course? What if he doesn’t climb down chimneys to deliver presents to all the good little boys and girls? (Meg always tries to be very good from October onwards so that she is definitely on Santa’s present list.)What if the snacks she leaves out for Santa are not eaten after all by Santa and his reindeer? So who eats the carrots and mince pies and drinks the glass of sherry if not Santa and his crew? In fact Meg is very upset at the very thought that this delightful man in a red suit will not be squeezing down her chimney this year and worst of all never has.
Meg went to see her dad.
“Daddy” she said “the boys say that there is no Santa Claus and that the presents come from you and Mummy. Is that true?”
“Did they indeed?” said Dad whilst thinking “I’ll have words with those two later.” “Well Meg all I can say is that I hope there is a Santa Claus. But you know I have never seen him and I do stay up late on Christmas Eve hoping to catch him.
“But you then fall asleep on the sofa-every time.”
“I tell you what Meg, go and ask Mummy. She knows about things like this.”
Not convinced Meg went to find her mum who was writing Xmas cards.
“What with the price of stamps these days I am not sure it is wise sending all these cards every year. We should give the money to charity – next year we will do that” Meg’s mum muttered to no-one in particular. “Oh hello Meg, what are you up to?” she said as her youngest came through the door with a strange expression on her face.
“Daddy sent me. He said you will know if Santa Claus is real or not because the boys have told me he is fake and that you and Dad buy all the presents.”
“What do you believe” asked Mum.
“I believed but now I am not sure. What if the boys are right?" said Meg.
Mum was really thinking hard at this point, trying to find the right thing to say.
“Well” said mummy thinking fast “I hope there is a Santa but the most important thing is what you want to believe. And if you want to believe in Santa Claus, then that is OK.”
About the author
Judith Skilleter is new to writing fiction after a long career in social work and teaching. Her first children's novel The April Rebellion, has recently been published. Judith is a Geordie, who settled in East Yorkshire forty-five years ago and is married with four grandchildren.
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Nice piece,well crafted. It’s reminiscent of the sentiment of a poem I used to share with my class as the doubters began to emerge. One of the lines was “the year you cease believing is the year he’ll cease to come”. I can’t recall the author - always loved the premise.
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