As I passed by your office door, I saw some elves come rushing in and out of your office, carrying boxes. I stopped and looked in and saw you in your chair, your back toward me, not even knowing I’m there. The light from the hurricane lamp that is on the corner of your desk puts out a warm glow of light into your office. With the fire in the fireplace keeping you warm, you’re going through your list of names for the second time, making sure not one name is missed. With your cup of hot chocolate in your hand, sometimes you take a sip and sometimes you just hold the cup with both of your hands as you continue going down the list with your colored pencil — green check mark for good, the red one is for an X. The red pencil is in your shirt pocket; that hardly comes out to be used. As you look at each name and address, sometimes you smile and other times you raise your eyebrow just a bit, as if to say, “I will have to check on this name one more time.” With your elves still taking out the boxes that have been checked, they are bringing you more that still need to be checked twice.
You sit back in your chair and take your glasses off. You rub your eyes for only a moment, as one of your elves says, “Hello, Mrs. Claus.” You turn your head toward the door and smile at me, and with a gentle wave, you then bend down to open another box that is next to your chair to take another page of names out.
There have been many nights I would pass by your office door to see you checking your list twice so no child, woman, man or family pet were missed.
My Santa
From Santa’s White Christmas
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