You are about to hear one side of a chat that may be taking place this afternoon or maybe tomorrow, assuming it hasn’t already.  It involves a speaker who wants to get something off of their chest and a listener who is there for their own reasons.  I call this curious conversation: ‘Confession.’

How are you?

I’m fine, just busy, you know?

You, me, and everybody else.  Remember when today wasn’t so busy and everybody stayed at home?

Yeah, me too.  You’re gonna think I’m crazy, but I think it got this way because of me.

How?   *sigh*  Well, about six years ago, I saw Santa Claus.

Yeah, I know, everybody thinks I’m crazy, but I saw him.  I didn’t even hear him or anything, I just wandered into the living room because I just had this feeling, you know?  And there he was, leaving gifts under the tree.

Apparently when you catch Santa in the act, he grants you a wish…anything you want, in exchange for  keeping his secret.

I wished that it could be Christmas all year…hey, I was eleven years old, it sounded good to me!

Santa tried to talk me out of it.  He said something about ‘the balance,’ but like I said, eleven years old.  Santa said okay, and disappeared.

Ever since then, the Christmas decorations go up a little earlier, people start putting their lights a little bit earlier, and you start hearing Christmas music a little bit earlier.  Like I said, I think it’s my fault.

Why am I telling you this?  Well, I guess that I hope that if I break my promise to keep his secret, he’ll break his, and things will go back to the way they used to be…I guess Santa never breaks his word, even when it’s a good idea.

Crazy, huh?  I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t believe me.  I don’t believe it myself, sometimes…but well, here we are…and here’s your receipt, ma’am.  You have a nice day.  *sigh*

Next customer!

Tis the season, so the saying goes, Dear Listeners, but which one?  It gets harder and harder to tell.  For more telling tales told by me, visit Eduardo Soliz dot com. This has been Super-Short Storytime and regardless of which one you’re celebrating: Happy holiday, listeners!

I wrote a happier Christmas story to make up for this one called “Middlemen.”