RECENT STORIES

Soaring Hawk wins Tri the Rock Challenge ( Town of Castle Rock )
Katie Casey was baseball mad ... ( Laura Richards )
School district kudos ( DCSD )
DC Express does it again ( Toni Whalen )
Police & sheriff's blotter: Assaults and DUIs ( YourHub.com )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Castle Rock \\ Stories \\ Holidays \\ Christmas

Santa's biggest blunder

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Connie Massa on 12/14/2007

It's a memory that still haunts me. It was Christmas morning 1996.

As usual, the kids woke up early filled with excitement. They tumbled down the stairwell and raced to the tree.

Sure enough, Old Saint Nick had stopped by our house sometime during the night. Underneath the tree was a cache of presents adorned in fancy papers, ribbons, and bows.

"Wait just a minute!" I ordered. "Before we open anything I need to get my stuff." Amongst the groans, I readied my camera, turned on Christmas music, plugged in the tree lights and got my morning tea.

We sat down in the living room and the kids went to work sorting all the presents into their respective piles.

"Okay, one at a time guys," I said. "That way I can get some pictures." It was important to me to capture that fleeting look of joy on their faces before they dug into the next gift.

One by one we took turns opening our gifts.

The kids received video games, assorted t-shirts, NFL jackets, games and electronic gadgets.

Mark and I received the usual Dad and Mom stuff. He got tools, clothing and a calendar. I received perfume, earrings and clothing.

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas.

After the gift bonanza was over, we were stuffing all the trash into bags when I peered an unclaimed gift under the tree, It was back in the corner out of sight. I pulled it out and read the label. To: Connie, From: Santa. What could it possibly be? I had received everything I was hoping for.

I felt like a kid, bubbling with excitement at this mystery gift. I was sure it must have been something that I had mentioned in a hurried moment, but didn't remember.

I sat down and began to peel off the paper. As I did this, the box began to tell its' story.

The first word I could see was "Oster". This was my first clue that it was something for the kitchen. I continued tearing the paper. The next words that caught my eye were "bread maker". I was perplexed.

I was sure I never asked for this appliance. Did Santa deliver this gift to the wrong house? I looked around the room to see if the true owner was present. Was it possible that I opened a gift with someone else's name on it? I felt a flood of embarrassment wash over me. How could I make such a mistake?

I reached for the wrapping paper and frantically searched for the name label. It still read To: Connie, From: Santa.

I looked at Mark and said, "This has to be a mistake. Santa has enough presents to deal with without giving people things they don't want."

"Santa must have thought you would like this bread maker," he sighed.

I decided to take the higher road and try it out. After many failed attempts at using it, I knew I wasn't worthy of this high tech appliance.

The following Spring I did what any decent person would do. I contributed it to a neighborhood garage sale. It sold to the first person that picked it up. I knew I had done the right thing.

I had a chat with Santa after this incident. I told him if it wasn't soft, didn't smell nice or wasn't sparkly, it probably wasn't the right gift for me. I'm glad that we are now both on the same page.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 2 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

Showing 1 of 1 comments

Submitted By: Michael Rule

posted on 12/15/2007 @ 7:46:43 AM

Rated Story

Hey, you gave it a go!

[Report as objectionable]

Showing 1 of 1 comments

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Connie Massa

Castle Rock , CO

Connie Massa has posted 23 stories and 3 comments since joining on 10/2/2007. Connie Massa 's average story rating is 5.

view profile » view other postings from Connie Massa »

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	Newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Castle Rock

All stories by Connie Massa

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad