Member-only story
Santa’s Annual Headache
Bad acting didn’t ruin our Christmas
Like many families back in the old country, my family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve when I was growing up. It was in the evening of Christmas Eve that Santa came and when we opened presents.
It was the one day of the year my siblings and I could not wait for the sun to go down because none of the festivities started until then. Every Christmas Eve we went through the exact same routine.
First came dinner. Every single solitary year our mother would make salmon croquettes for Christmas Eve dinner. It was the only day of the year that we ever ate salmon. (Of course it wasn’t fresh salmon but rather salmon out of a can.) According to our mother it was against the law to eat meat on Christmas Eve or on Fridays which is why she served us fish sticks every single solitary Friday of the year. I never understood why fish isn’t considered meat but I certainly never complained. I was a kid and I ate anything and everything placed before me.
After dinner it was time for the family to go for a drive to look at Christmas lights. But first our mother would set out a tiny glass of milk and a plate with one cookie on it for Santa. When we returned home the glass of milk would be empty and the cookie would be gone; it was indisputable scientific proof that Santa had been…
