A VIP VISIT FROM THE NORTH POLE.

source

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚,

𝐈 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭.

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐮𝐦𝐛 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢'𝐦 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫, 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 25 𝐭𝐡. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢'𝐦 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐈 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡, 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐬. 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 1 𝐟𝐚𝐧,
𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱.

I folded my 6-year-old cousin, Alex's letter to Santa and handed it back to him smiling. "This is beautiful, you write so well."

He stared at me skeptically, "Do you think he will come? Is there something I need to change?"

"I can't guarantee he will come, though I don't see why not." I pulled him closer in a tight embrace. "You are such a cute boy with a beautiful heart, and I'm sure Santa knows that too."

"I hope he comes." He said pulling in his lower lip.

"It's time for dinner, Alex." My sister, Mojoyin, Alex's mom called out to him.

We were all seated around the table, myself, Mojoyin, and Adedibu, Alex's Dad. It was on the night of the 25th and after so much fun, we were finally settling down to eat dinner as a family.

Alex came down the stairs in his pajamas, looking sad and shattered. "I'm not hungry, he mumbled quietly."

"Don't be like that, Alex, you have to eat," Adedibu said walking up to meet him.

"Santa isn't here, I can't eat. I thought he was going to come. Shantel and the others will make fun of me, and call me stupid."

"The last thing you are is stupid," I chipped in, throwing a smile his way to defuse his tension.

"You see it's possible Santa couldn't make it this year because of one reason or the other, he likes you and......"

Mojoyin is cut short by the sound of the bell. I stood and made my way to the door, opened it, and exclaimed at what I saw. It was Santa!

Alex came running before I even had the chance to confirm if it was his Santa.

"Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! I am Santa, I came from the North Pole to honor my friend, Alex's invitation. Is he here?"

Santa was dressed in the customary two-piece red and white ensemble, he had a very long beard that trailed to his stomach. He was chubby-looking and had a kind of mischievous twinkle in his eyes as far as I could tell. Of course, he had his bag slung over his shoulder and he had an overall interesting look about him.

Alex jumped into Santa's arms and the latter hugged him tight.

"So, you got my letter? I thought you weren't going to come."

"I did my dear boy, and I wouldn't miss dinner with you for anything else. I had to distribute the gifts I brought down with me on my travel first. Let's go and have dinner, I hope you made those signature pancakes of yours for me."

"I did," Alex said excitedly, dragging Santa with him to the dining table.

His parents and I exchanged questioning glances to confirm who invited Santa among us. Shocker, no one did. It appears Santa did receive Alex's letter and came down himself.

We all had dinner and Alex pelted Santa with unending questions while we looked on in surprise, wondering, just how did Santa make it here?
We had dinner together and Santa told us all funny stories that made us laugh so hard our eyes watered.

It was a good night, and one we wouldn't forget easily. We took lots of pictures with Santa for Alex to have evidence to show Shantel and his classmates.

It was finally time for Santa to leave and Alex fought back tears. Santa bent and whispered something into his ear that made him stop crying immediately. He smiled and waved as Santa exited and went out into the streets.

I followed him to the door, and right before my very eyes, he sort of disappeared, not disappeared like vanished, but disappeared like I didn't know what direction he took. I ran to both ends of the street and he was nowhere to be found. That's odd, I thought before going back into the house.

"What did Santa tell you that made you stop crying?" I asked Alex as I tucked him into bed later that night.

"He said my Christmas gift will be the first thing I see when I look out the window in the morning, and not to worry, he will be back to see me next year."

"Oh, he said that?" I asked noncommittally. My mind was on other things, like who was the Santa that came? Did Santa actually exist in the North pole and where did Santa disappear to after he stepped out? Every year, we wrapped gifts and put them under our Christmas tree and claim Santa brought those gifts.

It was our experience too as children, and it was a tradition we continued to keep the kids happy. The only different thing this year is that Alex wrote to Santa for the first time. I encouraged him to write to Santa when he suggested it, most kids write to Santa and it's no big deal.

Does it actually mean that when kids write letters to Santa every year, and leave it under their pillows, Santa actually reads it? Nothing about it made any sense to me.

His parents also agreed with me and were as confused as I was about Santa's visit.

"It's cool, isn't it? I am Santa's friend. He said that."

I didn't believe what he was told anyway, I just nodded to flow with the conversation. "The letter you wrote to Santa the other day, where did you put it?" I asked out of curiosity.

He yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes, "under my pillow right here." He showed me the spot under his pillow.

"What did you do with it afterwards?"

"Nothing, it wasn't there the next morning so I knew Santa must have come for it during the night. Good night, Aunty Dupe." He said to me and pulled his blanket up to his chin.

I bid him goodnight and went off to my room after turning off the lights in his.

"Aunty Dupe, come and see something." Alex knocked on the door to my room excitedly the next morning. I moaned and rolled off the bed, groaning. I forced myself up and staggered to the door to open it. Alex was standing at my doorstep, bouncing up and down.
"What is it?" I managed to ask before he dragged me down the stairs to the porch, and guess what? There was a brand new color red bike sitting pretty there, on it was a card with the inscription, "From your dearest friend, Santa. See you next year, Alex."

source

"Can you believe this, Aunt Dupe? Santa gave me a gift, the bike I've always dreamed of owning."

That part is certainly true, I can testify to how many times Alex has stared longingly at that particular bike whenever we went to the mall. Just how exactly did Santa know what Alex has always longed for? I read his letter to Santa and there was surely no mention of anything like that.

I don't mind telling you that I'm sold on Alex's conviction that Santa is real, and he does travel from the North Pole each year. The evidence is all there and his parents confirmed that they had nothing to do with Santa showing up, so, it's not like they planned anything.
Santa does exist, and you can bet Alex is going to tell all his friends at school about it, show them evidence, and tell them to confirm from me and his parents. I would sure be on standby to confirm though.

Contrary to popular opinion, Santa does exist, and every year, he travels down to earth from the North Pole to meet his little friends and give them gifts.