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I don’t know how it was growing up in your home around Christmas, but Santa and baby Jesus fought for top billing in our home every Christmas. Until I caught mom and dad in the act one Christmas Eve “helping” Santa out with cookie eating and gift delivery.
Score a victory for Detective Nicki that Christmas
I had been on to them for a few years at this point. Every year we would leave for church on Christmas Eve and every year my mom would “forget” her purse or have to run back in the house and change her skirt or tinkle one more time before we hit the road. And every year when we got back from church, Santa had shown up while we were out. There were Christmas presents under the tree and footprints in the snow up on the roof.
I later found out our neighbors were all in cahoots with each other throwing snowballs up on the rooftops for each other to “prove” the existence of reindeer. Talk about a close-knit community of parents committed to the cause of Santa! haha
Santa was on to me
Santa seemed to show up while we were at church. I was getting suspicious, so when mom said she had forgotten her purse one Christmas Eve, I offered to run into the house on her behalf. Me thinks she did protest too much that year because my spidey senses kicked into full gear. I was on to her. I felt I owed it to Jesus to bust the guy (or gal) who was taking away His glory at Christmastime.
After that, mom and dad shook it up the next couple years and tried to throw me off their trail by getting up in the middle of the night to put the gifts under the tree and eat the cookies. And of course, we can’t forget the act of throwing snowballs on the roof early in the am to make it look like reindeer had graced the freshly fallen snow. Crazy people!
They were truly committed to this elaborate ruse, that’s for sure. I look back on these memories now and they warm my heart and make me chuckle. I grew up in a very troubled home. My parents divorced when I was 14, and despite all the screaming, hitting and shouting that went on in our home, I take comfort in knowing that they probably had a little fun together at least once a year.
I busted Santagate wide open that year
I felt so victorious catching “Santa” in the act when I was about 8 or 9 years old. If felt like this great victory for Jesus!
I remember my parents laughing at how intense and serious I was catching them in the act. My dad was caught mid-chew eating Santa’s cookies, while mom was in the middle of putting presents under the Christmas tree. It was a memorable event in my childhood, for sure.
I was sworn to secrecy that snowy night and was told I couldn’t burst my younger sister’s bubble and “steal her joy at Christmas.”
Steal her joy…did you catch that? Talk about giving Santa way too much credit!
I was a young rebel, committed to the cause of King Jesus, so once I had this precious “top secret” information, I wanted to tell everyone that Santa wasn’t real. I wanted to free all my friends from the faux joy so they could focus on the real joy of Christmas. I got myself into a bit of a mess with that one. But I was on fire for Jesus!
