Page 29 - LIfesOuttakes5

I thanked him and headed on my way. When I got home, I told Donna the story as we packaged the labels. The next two weeks seemed long as we waited for the wagon. But on Christmas Eve, it arrived. I spent until 2:00 in the morning putting it together, placed the old ribbon on it, and set it under our small tree. The sun wasn’t even up the next morning when I heard Celese’s squeals from the other room. “Annicka, he came! Santa came and he brought us a wagon!” After breakfast was eaten and all the presents were unwrapped, it was time to go for a wagon ride. Everyone bundled up, and we tucked our two little girls into the wagon wrapped in a big blanket. I told them we had to go past Santa’s house so he could see them in it. When we got to Scrooge’s home, Celese looked up at me. “Daddy, this couldn’t be Santa’s house. There are no Christmas decorations.” I just smiled and said maybe Santa was too busy to decorate. “Or,” she considered, “maybe he isn’t 23