During my early developmental years, I received a strange green letter in the mail. It was adorned with a postal stamp of the American flag and an address.
I carefully unfolded the letter, not knowing what to expect.
Dear Chloe,
I received your letter. . .
Sincerely,
Mr. and Mrs. Clause
I was elated, of course. My brother, who had revoked his belief in Santa Clause, scrambled to write a letter himself. To be honest, I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking. I can’t even remember the days where I believed in those things. But I do know that my brother and I were determined to catch Santa Clause that Christmas. On the night of Christmas eve, I set out the leftover biscuits someone had gifted us, and retreated to my brother's room (I shared a bunk bed with him). We were already in our matching holiday pajamas, and we had set our light-up Christmas cups on the bed stand. Later however, when our parents came to say goodnight, my brother was already falling asleep. Soon after, I drifted off into dreamland as well, confident that Santa existed.
To this day, I still wonder who wrote the letter and what they are doing now. To them, it was probably one of many messages they had sent out as “Santa Clause.” But to my brother and I, it was proof of a mystical world we had both been doubting. We were given one more magical Christmas. The memory of this special Christmas has only added to my love of the winter holidays. Every year, I have the opportunity to work on the Polar Express in Monticello. Although dancing (in heels) on a moving train is difficult, getting to be on the other side of the magic is rewarding. However much the kids may test my patience with their attempts to unveil my ordinariness, I was once in their shoes and I am well aware of the gullible nature of young children. If I believe that I have convinced at least one small child, I am able to end the winter with satisfaction. I hope that whoever wrote my own letter gained this satisfaction, and knows of their impact (however brief it was) on a little kid’s Christmas.
I guess there isn’t much else to say about this story, since I eventually stopped believing that Santa had written to me. Occasionally, I would whip the letter out to show off to my friends. But as the first piece of mail I had ever received, and had addressed to me, this green letter still holds a special place in my memory.
I really like your blog! The reminiscent and conversational tone of the essay set the mood well and made it a very happy post to read. I also liked how you put the letter in italics because it immerses the reader more. You also make your story very relatable because I'm sure many of your readers believed in Santa Clause at one point or another. Personally, I loved the feeling of believing and the magic that came with it, so I think it's awesome that you get to continue to spread that. I think the transition between falling asleep and stopping believing could be smoother-- like if you described how you reacted to falling asleep (Were you upset with yourselves? Did you forget and not care? etc.). You could also incorporate how you stopped believing in Santa at the end if you remember that. This is a really cute story, though, and it's well written with the format of a personal essay!
ReplyDeleteThis post is really good! I think you have a good balance between telling/showing the story and reflecting on the experience. I also like how you illustrate being on the two "sides" of the Christmas tradition. I really loved the story you introduced at the beginning of the essay, and I think you could make the second half of the story just as illustrative by including a moment of an interaction with a kid who tried to unveil your ordinariness (This doesn't have to be too long, even a quote or two from the interaction could suffice). Also, for the ending, was there a moment when you realized that there was no Santa?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post. I like the tone of the essay because it immerses you in a story and it's almost like you're there. You definitely show personality in the writing and this story really feels authentic. I think it would be interesting if you could add a specific anecdote about the kids that try to prove you're not actually part of Santa's polar express. I think having a specific detail makes the story a lot more real, which you achieved at the beginning by talking about the "leftover biscuits" and it feels like that detail can't be faked. I really like how the ending goes full circle with the green letter.
ReplyDeleteGreat essay! I thought you did a great job creating visuals of the experience of going to bed Christmas eve. I also thought that relating the thoughts of the kids on the polar express to your own experience with Santa was really well done, as well as tying your own efforts to share Santa with the writers of the letter. The end of your essay was kind of abrupt and I think you could've fleshed out the end of your belief in Santa or the beginning of your doubts about the letter, but overall a great essay.
ReplyDelete