Santa's Best Present

Three years ago, a little boy and his grandmother came to visit Santa at a shopping centre. The child climbed up on his lap, holding a picture of a little girl.

"Who is this?" asked Santa, smiling. "Your friend? Your sister?"

"Yes, Santa," he replied. "My sister, Sarah, she's sick," he said sadly.

Santa glanced over at the grandmother who was waiting nearby, and saw her dabbing her eyes with a tissue.

"She really wanted to come with me to see you, but she can't" the child exclaimed. "She misses you," he added softly.

Santa tried to be cheerful and encouraged a smile to the boy's face, asking him what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas.

When they finished their visit, the Grandmother came over to help the child off his lap, and started to say something to Santa, but halted.

"What is it?" Santa asked warmly.

"Well, I know it's really too much to ask you, Santa, but ...." the old woman began, shooing her grandson over to one of Santa's elves to collect the little gift which Santa gave all his young visitors.

"...The girl in the photograph ... my granddaughter. Well, you see ... she has leukemia and isn't expected to make it very much longer" she said through tear-filled eyes. "Is there any way, Santa, any possible way that you could come to see Sarah? That's all she's asked for, for Christmas, is to see Santa."

Santa blinked and swallowed hard and told the woman to leave information with his elves as to where Sarah was, and he would see what he could do.

Santa thought of little else the rest of that afternoon. He knew what he had to do.

"What if it were MY child lying in that hospital bed," he thought with a sinking heart, "this is the very least I can do."

So that evening, he went to the Children's Hospital and found out which room Sarah was in.

Santa quietly peeked into the room through the half-closed door and saw little Sarah on the bed. The room was full of what appeared to be her family; there was the Grandmother, and the girl's brother he had met earlier that day. A woman whom he guessed was Sarah's mother stood by the bed, gently pushing Sarah's thin hair off her forehead. And another woman who he discovered later was Sarah's aunt, sat in a Chair near the bed with a weary, sad look on her face. They were talking quietly, and Santa could sense the warmth and closeness of the family, and their love and concern for Sarah.

Taking a deep breath, and forcing a smile on his face, Santa entered the room, bellowing a hearty, "Ho, ho, ho!"

"Santa!" shrieked little Sarah weakly, as she tried to escape her bed to run to him, IV tubes intact.

Santa rushed to her side and gave her a warm hug. A child the tender age of his own son, 9 years old, gazed up at him with wonder and excitement.

Her skin was pale and her short tresses bore telltale bald patches from the effects of chemotherapy. But all he saw when he looked at her was a pair of huge, blue eyes. His heart melted, and he had to force himself to choke back tears. Though his eyes were riveted upon Sarah's face, he could hear the gasps and quiet sobbing of the women in the room.

As he and Sarah began talking, the family crept quietly to the bedside one by one, squeezing Santa's shoulder or his hand gratefully, whispering "thank you" as they gazed sincerely at him with shining eyes.

Santa and Sarah talked and talked, and she told him excitedly all the toys she wanted for Christmas, assuring him she'd been a very good girl that year.

Santa looked intensely at Sarah and said "Do you believe in angels Sarah?"

"Oh, yes, Santa ... I do!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I'm going to ask that angels come and watch over you," he said.

Laying one hand on the child's head, Santa closed his eyes and prayed. Then still with his eyes closed he started to softly sing "Silent Night, Holy Night .... all is calm, all is bright."

The family joined in, all smiling at Sarah, and crying tears of hope, tears of joy for this moment, as Sarah beamed at them all. When the song ended, Santa sat on the side of the bed again and held Sarah's frail, small hands in his own.

"Now, Sarah," he said authoritatively, "you have a job to do, and that is to concentrate on getting better. I want you to have fun playing with your friends this summer, and I expect to see you at my house at the shopping centre this time next year, okay?!"

He knew it was risky proclaiming that, to this little girl who had terminal cancer, but he had to. He had to give her the greatest gift he could, not dolls or games or toys, but little bit of hope.

"Yes, Santa!" Sarah exclaimed, her eyes bright.

He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead then left the room.

Out in the hall, the minute Santa was out of sight his eye's welled up and he unashamedly wept.

Sarah's mother and grandmother slipped out of the room quickly and rushed to Santa's side to thank him.

"Please don't mention it! My boy is the same age as Sarah," he explained quietly. "This was the very least I could do."

They nodded with understanding and hugged him.

One year later, out Santa was again back on the set in the shopping centre for his six-week, seasonal job which he loved to do. A few weeks went by and then one day a child came up to sit on his lap.

"Hi, Santa! Remember me?!"

"Of course, I do," Santa proclaimed (as he always does), smiling down at her. After all, the secret to being a 'good' Santa is to always make each child feel as if they are the 'only' child in the world at that moment.

"You came to see me in the hospital last year!"

Santa's jaw dropped. Tears immediately sprang in his eyes, and he grabbed this little miracle and held her to his chest. "Sarah!" he exclaimed in a emotional whisper.

He scarcely recognized her, for her hair was long and silky and her cheeks were rosy, much different from the little girl he had visited just a year before.

He looked over and saw Sarah's mother and grandmother in the sidelines smiling and waving and wiping their eyes.

That was the best Christmas ever for Santa Claus. He had witnessed a true Christmas miracle. He could hardly believe his eyes! Apparently Sarah was now Cancer-free. Alive and well. He silently looked up and whispered, "Thank you. Tis a very, Merry Christmas indeed!"