by Jamie Busby
Santa?” asked Madison.
“Maybe you will Madison and a lot sooner than you think!....” he replied. “Now you must be going, Twinkle-Toes will show you out.” “Goodbye to you too Daddy!” Santa bellowed across the room.
“Goodbye Santa!” said Daddy, “Thank you for everything!”
Daddy walked across and picked up Madison who was clinging to her present. They followed Twinkle-Toes into the little side-room off the main Grotto, the room that Santa had walked out of when they first saw him. Madison’s eyes never left Santa’s eyes until the 3 of them found themselves in this little room. There was a chair and a table in this room, with a plate of bread & cheese on the table. Santa had been in here having a little snack before they saw him thought Madison! Past this was a stone staircase with 6 steps leading up to a little wooden door. Twinkle-Toes led the way up the stairs and stopped at the door.
“There you are Madison & Daddy, I hope you had a lovely time” said the little elf. “I know I did!”
“It was brilliant!” said Madison.
“Yes, it was wonderful, thank you so much!” said Daddy.
“Well, it’s time to say goodbye for now, but don’t forget what Santa told you Madison!” said Twinkle-Toes, opening the little wooden door.
“I won’t forget” replied Madison, “I will NEVER forget any of this!”
Madison went through the door first, Daddy crouched down and followed her.
“Goodbye then, to both of you!” said Twinkle-Toes.
“Goodbye Twinkle-Toes!” replied Madison & Daddy at the same time.
Just before the little elf shut the door, Daddy remembered that they had left their coats inside. “What about our coats?” he said to the elf.
“Just go back round the front and get them, I hung them up on the pegs” he replied. With that, the little door slammed shut and they could hear it being locked from the inside.
Madison & Daddy looked around and could see that they were round the other side of the shop where the Grotto was, in fact, they were nearly round the back. They could feel the cold now, so Daddy said “Come on then Madison, let’s go and get our coats.”
“Ok Daddy” said Madison dreamily. She was still thinking about everything that had happened in the Grotto with Father Christmas.
They walked back round to the front of the shop and headed towards the entrance. There was still a long queue of children & Mummy’s & Daddy’s waiting to go in.
“They are all going to have a lovely time seeing Santa aren’t they Daddy!” said Madison, she was feeling excited and wide awake again now.
“Yes Madison, I think they are!” said Daddy. He was excited too and couldn’t stop thinking about how amazing it had just been down in Santa’s Grotto too!
They walked towards the entrance and there were people dressed in elf costumes letting people in, but it seemed a bit different from when Madison & Daddy had gone in. These elves were normal sized grown-ups and their costumes didn’t seem to fit them very well. Madison & Daddy looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.
“Excuse me, can we come in and get our coats please, we left them on the pegs when we came in” said Daddy to a rather tall, fat elf. Madison thought that he didn’t look like an elf at all.
“Ok, come in” said this big, lumpy elf in his tatty costume.
As they walked in, Madison whispered to Daddy “Where are all the real elves Daddy? These are just normal grown-ups pretending.”
“I really don’t know Madison” said Daddy, “Let’s get our coats”.
They walked through to the pegs on the wall and there were their coats, just where Twinkle-Toes had put them. Daddy took them off the pegs and they put them on.
“That’s better isn’t it Madison, nice & warm now” said Daddy.
But Madison wasn’t listening. She was staring, open-mouthed & confused, at where all the children were going. Daddy turned and looked too, then he realised why Madison looked so puzzled……
They could see straight into the room where all the other boys & girls were going to see Father Christmas. There was a large man in a red suit sitting on a chair with what looked like a pretend beard stuck on his face. He looked a bit like Father Christmas, but he most definitely was not the same Father Christmas that Madison & Daddy had just seen.
“Where is the tunnel?” whispered Madison, “and where are all the little elves, the real elves?”
“I……I don’t know Madison” said Daddy, he couldn’t understand it either. This was totally different to when they had come in earlier.
Then Daddy looked up at the clock…….
What he saw made him rub his eyes; It was 6 o’clock, exactly the same time as when they had first met Twinkle-Toes! Daddy checked his watch; 6 o’clock. He asked one of the big grown-ups in an elf costume what the time was; “6 o’clock” they said.
“How could this be?” thought Daddy, “I’m sure we were gone for about an hour but it’s still 6 o’clock, it’s like time has stood still!”
“Are you ok Daddy?” said Madison.
“Yes sweetheart, I’m fine, I just can’t believe how quick we have been, that’s all” said Daddy.
But by now, he realised that something a bit strange had happened. In fact, Daddy knew that it must be Magic! There could be no other explanation, could there? Pretend elves, pretend Santa, no Twinkle-Toes & no tunnel. What was going on?.......
“Guess what Madison” said Daddy.
“What?!” said Madison, she was smiling now because Daddy looked so funny when he was confused!
“I reckon we’ve just seen the real Father Christmas and everyone else is seeing the pretend one, with pretend elves too!” Daddy told her.
“I know Daddy” said Madison, “all of this is just pretend isn’t it Daddy?”
“Yes it is Madison,” said Daddy, “but the thing is……”
Madison interrupted him. “Why did we get to see the real Father Christmas? Is that what you were going to say Daddy?”
“Yes it was!” said Daddy. “How did you know?”
“Because that is exactly what I was thinking Daddy!” replied Madison, “Why did we get to see the real Father Christmas?”
“Well, I think that maybe the real Santa only sees the special children, the ones who really deserve to see him” said Daddy.
“What makes me so special Daddy?” asked Madison.
“It must be because you’ve been such a good girl. Also, I think you saw the real Santa because you wanted your Christmas wish so much” said Daddy, “I told you, if you really want something and it is a good thing, you will always get it in the end!”
“Brilliant!” said Madison. She could hardly believe that she had been lucky enough to see the real Father Christmas!
“It is brilliant” Daddy told her, “but I think that we had better keep it as our little secret between the 2 of us. Otherwise, everyone will want to see the real Santa!”
“Ok Daddy, I will never tell anyone, EVER!” said Madison.
With that, they walked out of the shop and back towards Daddy’s car. They walked past the back of the shop where the little door had been, the little door where they had left Santa’s Grotto a few minutes before. And guess what? It was gone! Where the door had been was just a wall, it was like it had never been there at all. Madison & Daddy looked at each other with big smiles and hurried on. Both their heads were spinning with excitement and Madison had got the butterflies back in her tummy flying faster than ever!..
Madison held her present from Santa tightly all the way home in the car. It was the only thing she had to show for her visit with the real Father Christmas and she never wanted to let go of it! She was also wondering what it could be.
“What do you think is inside this present that Santa gave me Daddy?” she asked.
“I don’t know Madison” said Daddy, “let’s wait until we get home and you can open it then.”
“Ok” said Madison with a huge smile on her face. “I can’t wait
!”
When they got home, they went into the house and Madison ran up to Mummy, still holding her present off Santa.
“Mummy, we’ve had a brilliant time! I saw Santa and he gave me this present” said Madison.
“Whatever is it?” asked Mummy.
“I don’t know” said Madison and Daddy, both at the same time! Then they looked at each other and burst out laughing! After all the excitement of the day, now they were back home it was like they could sit back and enjoy thinking about everything that had happened.
“Why are you 2 laughing?” asked Mummy, she looked a bit confused.
“It’s ok” said Daddy, “it’s just that we had such an amazing time and it was all a bit……well…….MAGICAL!”
“Oh, I see” said Mummy, still looking confused!
“Come on Madison” said Daddy quickly, “I think it’s time you opened your present off Santa.”
“Yes please!” squealed Madison and sat down at the table…..
Madison put the beautifully wrapped present down on the table and sat there staring at it, her tongue was hanging out a little bit because she was concentrating so hard! Mummy & Daddy were watching Madison and were both wondering what she was doing.
“Are you going to open it then?” said Mummy.
“Yes Madison, you must really want to see what it is?” said Daddy.
“I don’t want to rush it and spoil it, that’s all” said Madison, “today was so much fun and it’s like I want it to last forever. When I open this present, it will be like the whole thing is over.”
“Ok Madison, but
