I dreamed I took my daughter to Christmastown for her present.\u00a0 We drove past the famous block outside Baltimore that does all the over-the-top decorations.\u00a0 It was closed \u2013 there was a huge gate across the entrance with a sign saying “Do not open until Christmas!”\u00a0 I had thought people lived there all year.<\/p>\n
We were early.<\/p>\n
As we approached Christmastown, the car slowed as we neared the White Gate.\u00a0 There was a Santa statue next to it, beckoning us in.\u00a0 Up close, by the headlights, I could see the paint on the gate starting to peel.\u00a0 We went over something like a speed bump just in front of the gate, and as the weight of the car hit it, the gate opened.\u00a0 As we crossed through the White Gate of Christmastown, our car became a gondola, and we left the ground.<\/p>\n
We were conveyed in our gondola toward the only visible structure in the enclosure, the Green Gate of Christmastown.\u00a0 I glanced at my daughter, whose face was a study in anticipation mixed with doubt.\u00a0 She held her silence.<\/p>\n
The gondola ran smoothly despite the fine cold mist, damp but not yet cold enough to freeze, to snow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We were early.<\/p>\n
Reaching the Green Gate of Christmastown, we saw it was actually the doors to what looked like a small green shed.\u00a0 The doors opened inward as the gondola pushed them and we saw Santa, all in white, with red silk scarf and white fur robe.\u00a0 He reached down and picked up a small green bag, the top of a present just peeking out, and in one fluid motion placed it in our gondola as we rode by.\u00a0 I realized as we passed that he, too, was activated by the presence of the gondola car.\u00a0 My daughter placed her present at her feet and huddled against the cold.\u00a0 The car reached the back of the shed and exited by a final door, back into the cold night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As we looked back, she waved a goodbye to the animatronic Santa, who had followed us out.\u00a0 He raised one hand in a farewell. The look on his face was a testament to his manufacturing, a look that spoke of the ages he\u2019d been there, the millions of times he’d performed his flawless function, the countless presents, the children.\u00a0 Any machine built to last that long develops a sense of identity, an empathy for those it serves, and those it serves with.\u00a0 \u00a0As our gondola passed from his sight, I glanced again at the silent girl beside me.\u00a0 Huddling against the wet and cold, she shivered and smiled, despite the damp, despite her doubt, delighted that after all this time there was still a present for her.\u00a0 It came to me why I’d seen that look on the Santa’s face, the combination of determination and recognition, looking not at her but at me, and knowing like-to-like.\u00a0 I understood now why we had called him Father Christmas, the Pater figure bringing home presents to his children, to all of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I never did find out what was in the green bag at my daughter’s feet.\u00a0 After all, it wasn’t for me.<\/p>\n
My present was her smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I understood why we had called him Father Christmas, the Pater figure bringing home presents to his children, to all of us. I never did find out what was in the green bag at my daughter’s feet. After all, it wasn’t for me. My present was her smile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[61,47,40,44],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=989"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":998,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.biguglymandoll.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}