Reaching into his pack, Santa pulled out another present and looked over at Sara Brown. “This gift is for you,” he said, holding out the present. Sara smiled and reached out confidently to take her gift. She had enjoyed watching the two preceding guests get their duplicate presents, and had wondered what on earth Santa would give her.
Sara was neither flashy or dumpy, she was perfect; in everything. She was the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the perfect homemaker, the perfect PTSO president, the perfect small businesswoman, the perfect neighbor, the perfect church member, the perfect friend, and the list went on and on. In fact, Sara had been awarded the ‘Mother of the Year’ award last year, which sat on a shelf with her many other awards which she had received for all her other contributions to society. She smiled inside, wondering what Santa would help her see about herself that she needed to improve on, because she was not only perfect in everything she already knew how to do, she also was perfect at wanting to improve.
Santa smiled warmly as he placed her gift in her hands, but Sara was a little taken back. Probably because her gift had been underneath the previous presents, (and they had been very heavy!) the wrapping paper on her package was wrinkled and crushed looking. There was even a slight tear on one side. Imperfections offended Sara, but she was also perfect at being gracious, so she didn’t say anything out loud.
“Thank you, Santa,” she said, as she took her gift and opened it. Inside was a lovely, miniature cottage hanging from a silken thread. It was a thing of beauty, and it took away everyone’s breath. It was as if a Thomas Kinkade painting had been magically reproduced in three dimension.
“Oh, Santa,” Sara sighed. “It is perfect!”
“Just like you,” Santa beamed. “Read what it says.”
Carefully holding the ornament on its side, Sara found the words printed underneath the house, (no one would have dreamed of marring the beautiful painting by writing on the cottage itself.) “You’re gift this year will be to have perfect children.”
“Oh my!” Sara exclaimed. The one perfection she had not been unable to obtain was perfect children, probably because she couldn’t do it for them. She taught them and helped them and did things for them and covered up for their mistakes, but she couldn’t be them, so as yet they were not perfect.
Sara held the ornament in her hand and looked happily at Santa. “This is so wonderful,” she thanked. “What is my other gift that will help me obtain perfect children?”
Santa grinned. “Aren’t you even going to try to hang this on your tree by itself?” he teased.
“I don’t think I need to,” Sara answered. “I already know I’ll need your help balancing this gift. I’m just excited to learn how I’m going to do it.”
“Alright,” Santa said as he pulled another lovely cottage out of his pack. “Here you go.”
Sara held up the beautiful ornament and read from the bottom, “Your gift will be the patience to let your children make mistakes, and the charity to not fix them.”
Sara looked a little pale as she lowered the ornament, but she smiled at Santa and asked, “Will I really have the gifts of patience and charity? And will you remind me throughout the year to use them?”
“Yes,” Santa said simply. Then he smiled at Sara and helped her place her two cottages on her Christmas tree. Standing back a little he cocked his head to one side and examined the tree. “Perfect,” he proclaimed.
“Now, for Stewart,” Santa beamed cheerfully, as he turned to a tall, dignified businessman wearing a perfectly tailored suit and silk tie. Stewart looked like a man who was quickly climbing the corporate ladder.
Stewart smiled as Santa handed him his gift, tastefully wrapped in midnight blue paper with a silver ribbon tied around it. Stewart didn’t tear the paper off his present. Carefully he untied the ribbon, folded it, then slipping his fingers under the tape, eased the paper off without tearing it a bit. Beneath the wrappings Steward found a solid gold ball hanging from a red silk ribbon. “Wow!” everyone in the room gasped. Steward smiled. Now this was something he could appreciate!
“What’s written on it?” someone called, and Stewart looked closely to see words etching themselves across the gold surface of his ornament. “You will have financial success,” it read.
“Hang it on your tree,” Santa suggested. “I think you will enjoy this gift all year long.”
“I know I will,” Stewart agreed. He jumped up and with precision hung his ornament in the exact middle of his Christmas tree. The tree leaned towards him at a precarious angle, the gold ball pulling it straight towards the ground. Before it crashed Stewart grabbed the ball.
“I need something to balance it out, right Santa?”
“I suppose you do,” Santa grinned, as he reached back into his pack and pulled out a second gold ornament and held it up for all to see.
“Before you hang it on my tree I’d like to know what it says,” Stewart demanded.
“Sure,” said Santa as he held the ball out to Stewart. “You will be blessed with the opportunity to donate great amounts of time and money to your community this year,” it read.
“I was afraid of that,” Stewart grinned, but he didn’t seem too put off. He actually enjoyed helping with community events and looked forward to having the resources to do more.
After both balls were hung on Stewart’s tree, Santa turned to Sam. “Well, are you ready to see your gift,” he asked?
Sam grinned. While he might not be as tall and dignified as Stewart, he was very well known. Samuel Wellington Farnsworth the third had inherited a fortune which continued to grow at an alarming rate. Along with the money, Sam had inherited his family’s habit of giving. Many organizations and programs owed their financial success to Sam’s philanthropy. He smiled as he accepted his gift from Santa, sure in his heart that there would be no second gift needed to balance his tree. Sam was already a well balanced man.
When the festive paper had been removed from Sam’s present he discovered a delightful ornament that looked an awful lot like Santa himself. It was hand painted porcelain, finely detailed, and everyone laughed when Sam held it up for all to see. What a perfect gift for a man who spent the whole year playing Santa.
“I don’t suppose you need anyone to tell you what your gift is,” Santa grinned at Sam, “but if you’ll look closely you’ll find something written around the belt on your Santa ornament.”
“Sam held the figure closer to his eyes and read aloud, “You will have the gift of being able to help even more people this year.”
Everyone in the room smiled. They all knew the good Sam did, and they were pleased to be able to share in his moment of acknowledgement.
Sam carefully hung the Santa ornament on a high branch of his tree, but to everyone’s horror it slowly started pulling the tree to the right. Obviously not as heavy as the preceding ornaments, it still pulled the perfect tree out of symmetry.
“But, Santa,” Sam questioned after he removed his precious ornament. “I already have balance in my life. I don’t horde my money or my time. Why, I’ve spent my life helping my fellow man. What more can I do?”
Santa smiled kindly as he reached into his bag and withdrew another porcelain Santa Clause. “I know you are almost perfect, Sam, and I appreciate what you do for the world better than you can ever imagine. Why, you’ve done so much good in this city alone that some years I don’t even have to stop here on Christmas Eve. But the gifts I’m giving everyone tonight are just that, gifts. You make it sound like my presents are actually reproofs.”
Sam looked a little crestfallen. He hadn’t meant to hurt Santa’s feelings, but it had seemed to him that the presents so far had pointed out something the receiver should improve in. He hadn’t recognized that these same gifts would also give their owners joy.
Carefully he took the second porcelain figure from Santa and read on its belt, “Your son still loves and needs you. This year your gift will be the ability to reach out to him and welcome him home.”
Tears filled Sam’s eyes. He had spent a lifetime helping the needy and unfortunate, and it had made him happy. But it had never completely filled in the hole torn from his heart when his only son rebelled against being Samuel Wellington Farnsworth the fourth. Perhaps this year he could find his son and spend the same amount of time helping and loving him.
There were other trees to be balanced that night, and as each guest received their gifts Santa’s pack shrank until finally it was empty. Their was much hand shaking and many thank-you’s as people happily carried their gifts out to their cars, although a few guests still had skeptical looks on their faces.
Santa, though, was the happiest as he left that evening. His pack had been heavy on the trip down, and now it was light. What’s more, it was time for him to enjoy a gift of his own. The Christmas season was a hard time for him to find balance, and now he was looking forward to spending a few well deserved days on vacation. Especially since he would be spending them with Mrs.Claus, because she was the other side of his Christmas tree, and she kept him standing straight.
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