Through a child's eyes

Dozens of ornaments were strewn across the length of a cream-colored love seat, spilling from a well-worn cardboard box. The box's text had faded years ago but a faint trace of the red and white logo remained visible.

"Ugh," sighed an old woman, her gray hair just visible under a knit green beanie. She was bent over the love seat, struggling to untangle a mess of ornament hooks beneath her and ignoring the aching pain in her lower back.

"Come on, Emily. When will you learn?" She admonished herself for not having devised a better hook storage system over the last 50 years.

50 years.

It had been five decades since Emily and her wife had moved into their ranch style home on the outskirts of Manhattan. She couldn't remember a time that she'd felt happier or more hopeful in her entire life. A sad smile spread over Emily's face and she desperately attempted to suppress the emotions flooding her mind.

"Not today," she whispered, closing her eyes tightly and returning her attention to freeing the hooks. After a few overly vigorous shakes, Emily managed to dislodge several and looked for the best ornaments to pair with them.

Her eyes immediately gravitated to a hideous looking red and green wooden star (….was it even a star?) situated directly next to a pristine red and white wooden candy cane. Emily couldn't help but laugh as she brought both ornaments to her eye level.

The red and green star looked as if it had been dropped into dirty paint water while the candy cane seemed to glimmer in the palm of her hand.

"Always the sweetheart," Emily giggled, momentarily allowing her mind to drift back through the decades.

"You better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout, I'm telling you why… Santa Claus is coming to town!"

An elderly nun fiddled with the dials of a beaten up old radio until Frank Sinatra's cheerful croons echoed loudly around the small classroom. It was the day before Christmas break and the nearly two dozen children in the class couldn't help but squirm excitedly in their seats.

For the last few weeks, their walls had been adorned with stick figure drawings of Santa while garland and tinsel nearly obscured the usual biblical quotes and crucifixes. A small Christmas tree, that each student had helped to decorate, stood lopsided in the corner. The anticipation of Christmas was nearly unbearable.

The elderly nun made her way to the front of the classroom and looked at her students that were sitting two to a table. "Are we ready to begin?" she asked her face filled with kindness. "Do you all understand the craft?"

"Yes, Sr. Anne!" they replied in unison, eagerly eyeing the paint, stickers and wood pieces that lay before them.

Sr. Anne laughed quietly and said "alright, alright, off you go!"

Nearly every child immediately began talking animatedly about their crafts, plans for the holidays and speculations about how Santa delivers all his presents in one night.

However, one student wasn't partaking in the holiday cheer. Her head was hung low and she seemed to have no interest in working on her project. Sr. Anne, noticing the change in her student's demeanor, approached her slowly.

"Emily?," she said softly, crouching down to her level. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

The young girl hesitated for a moment. Then she lifted her eyes and blurted, "do you think Santa can really see us while we're sleeping?" She pulled her eyebrows together in concern and added, "I don't like that."

"Oh sweetheart," Sr. Anne began as she fought back a smile. "Santa isn't something to fear. He's like your best friend who just wants what's best for you. He's very kind, very generous, has a big heart…not to mention a big belly."

Emily chuckled.

"Anyone who eats that many cookies can't be bad. They're too sweet!"

"Yeah!" agreed a small voice from behind them. Emily turned to see a petite girl with blonde curls and piercing blue eyes. "Imagine Santa being like your dog. You wouldn't be scared if she came to see you at night! He's just making sure you're okay. That's what my aunt says!"

Emily smiled softly and the traces of worry began to vanish from her face.

"Alison, why don't you switch with Noel and sit with Emily today?" encouraged Sr. Anne. Alison agreed and the nun shooed away a dark-haired boy who was dipping all his wooden pieces in red paint and letting them drip down the table.

"Hi," said Alison as she made herself comfortable directly across from Emily. "Do you have any dogs?"

"No, but I want one!" replied Emily eagerly.

"They're the best," gushed Alison. "My aunt's dog always tries to steal candy canes at Christmas and eats them WITH the wrapper on!"

"Ew!" laughed Emily loudly.

For the next 20 minutes Emily and Alison talked non-stop about their love of dogs, favorite colors, hatred of peas and fascination with the new series about a boy wizard named Harry Potter. They stopped only to ask the sister for help gluing their pieces together. After 40 minutes had passed, Sr. Anne announced the end of craft time.

"Time's up!" said the elderly nun. "Let's have a look at what you've done."

"I can't wait for you to see it," said Alison happily. "I made it for you so you wouldn't be scared anymore!" Alison smiled wide and stood up very quickly.

Unfortunately, in her haste to show Emily her creation, she lost her grip on her ornament. Emily watched as it fell to the table, collapsed on one side and spun into the half-dried puddle of red paint Noel had left behind.

"No!" Alison's eyes immediately began to well up with tears as she scooped up the remnants of her ornament. She held the deformed pieces toward Emily and said, "I was trying to make you a star. My mom says that if I'm ever scared to look at the stars and imagine myself in a circle of her hugs. I wanted to give you that in case you got scared again." Alison sniffled, hanging her head.

"It's okay." said Emily brightly. "You know my favorite color is green but my secondest favorite color is red! Emily grabbed the ornament from Alison's hand. "I love it."

"But it's ruined now," Alison protested. "It won't even stay on the tree."

"It's not ruined. It's my favorite," Emily countered, cradling the star in her hand. "I made you something too!"

"Really?!" Alison's eyes grew wide. "It's for me?"

Emily held out a crisp, near perfectly painted candy cane ornament. A perfect amount of glitter made the ornament gleam even in the dingy glow of fluorescent lights.

"You made this for me?" exclaimed Alison. She was beaming with joy. "Thank you!"

Emily felt warmth spreading throughout her body.

"I don't think your aunt's dog could eat it, but I don't really know. Ask your mom!"

Alison nearly shouted, "Thank you so much!" as she raced around the desk and held Emily tightly. "You're my new best friend!"

"My forever best friend," Emily thought wistfully as she traced the collapsed edge of the very old star.

After returning home from school that night, so many years ago, she worked with her mother on securing the deformed pieces. It's hung on her Christmas tree every single year since, only requiring one repair in five decades.

"I've been so blessed," she said aloud as she hung up the candy cane ornament and deformed star right next to each other. "I already miss it."