View
Alias Santa Claus
Rebecca Sicree on Childhood Encounters with a Christmas Icon
It was after dark on Christmas Eve, and my younger sister Jessie and I were arguing. I was telling her that Santa Claus did not exist. She was stubbornly refusing to believe me.
There was a knock at the door.
"Girls, come here," my dad called, with an odd expression on his face. "Someone wants to see you." So we went to the door.
And there he was.
"Ho! Ho! Ho!" he chortled. "Merry Christmas! I was at your neighbor's party and thought I'd stop by. What would you little girls like for Christmas?"
Jessie's face lit up with excitement. She said that she wanted a Chrissy doll with hair that grew. I stood and stared. Our guest seemed to think I was afraid of him. Finally, I stammered that I wanted a Chrissy doll, too. "I'll see what I can do," he assured us and left. Jessie turned on me with a look of fierce triumph.
"See?" she said. "I told you so!"
My parents burst out laughing.
Both of us had Chrissy dolls the next morning.
I was very, very confused.
Rebecca Sicree writes from Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. She and her family attend Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in nearby State College. She and her husband Andrew have ten children, six of whom are now adults.
more on Christmas from the online archives
21.10—December 2008
Early Christian Teaching on the Incarnation & Redemption by Patrick Henry Reardon
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!
personal subscriptions
Purchase Print &
Online Subscription
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
gift subscriptions
GIVE Print &
Online Subscription
Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
kindle subscription
OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)
Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.
more from the online archives
32.6—November/December 2019
Historical Truth, Beguiling Stories & Three Kinds of Hearers by Anthony Esolen
31.6—November/December 2018
on Childhood Encounters with a Christmas Icon by Rebecca Sicree
