Christmas God Wink #1

About a week before Thanksgiving this year, I met Santa Claus.

I have been having a challenging fall semester and feeling generally defeated. My students went through a phase where they were heckling me while I tried to teach, and I hadn’t had a lot of support in dealing the problems in my classroom. That day I was dressed totally in black, reflecting my mood. The store was crowded. I was exhausted. It was dark and raining out, but I had to get groceries.

Finally, I made it to the checkout line. An elderly man came up behind me and started putting all his items on the conveyor belt. I glanced over and noticed that everything he was buying was holiday food: a turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing. He didn’t have a beard, but he smiled kindly. His hair was white. He leaned over toward me and handed me a coupon, “I think you need this.”

I shook my head because it was a store loyalty coupon, and I was pretty sure it had to be used with a certain loyalty card account number. “I don’t think it will work,” I replied, trying to hand it back to him.

“Just give it a try,” he said with a wink. He started to chat with me about the brand-saver bread he bought and how good it was. Before I knew it, my whole mood had changed.

Finally, my total came up on the cash register, so I handed over the four-dollar coupon he’d given me. The cashier beeped it. “It worked!” I cheered, the man was grinning, and even the cashier couldn’t help but smile.

“See?” He said. I started pushing my cart toward the exit and the rainy darkness outside, feeling a genuine warmth inside. “Young lady, take care of yourself, and one more thing,” he called, “Merry Christmas! I know it seems early, but the Christmas trees are already propped outside.”

A coupon and some good cheer buoyed me up for a good, solid week. Looking back, that's definitely the moment Christmas started for me this year.

Merry Christmas. Pass it on.