Santa Claus

Dad found out that his plant (the one he manages) was going to close in November, which means that about a month ago he lost his job. We've been doing fairly well, trying to make it on the severance pay and savings and other little income here and there, and so far have been fine. The kids got a great Christmas present this year with a personal visit from Santa Claus himself right to our front door. He came all dressed up with his bag of gifts. He gave each of the kids a special present: a bunch of lip glosses for Caelan, a noisy police car for Ben, a baby My Little Pony for Megan and a little outfit for Nathan. Even Mom and Dad got a $50 gift card to Walmart. What a treat. The kids were ecstatic when they saw Santa in their very own house, and then when he let them open a present days before Christmas they thought they had died and gone to heaven. Frankly, so did we. Some day, Ben

will understand the even greater magic that was behind this visit - what a Christmas miracle.