Santa's Magical Key

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK...

“You may go after I call and check with Nana to see if it's okay, but you must be home before dark,” mom admonished.

“We will,” they agreed.

Mom hung up the phone and said, “Nana said to come right over. She'll be waiting on the porch for you.”

She opened the hall closet. “Get your coat and boots on.”

They bundled up and ran all the way to Nana's house.

“Nana!” both children exclaimed at once as they flew up the porch steps, “We have a question for you.”

“Come inside and get warm first. Then you can ask me anything you like,” Nana replied, leading them into her warm, inviting kitchen

Ȯnly Nana's kitchen smells better than ours, Holly thought, as she shrugged off her coat and boots.

“How would you like to help me bake while we talk?” Nana asked.

“Boy, would we!” The two clapped with glee.

Both children scrambled to put on the aprons Nana had made just for them to wear whenever they helped her bake. Holly's was decorated with – what else? – holly. Nicholas' had a snowman. It was one of their favorite things to do at her house.

As soon as they started mixing up and cutting out shapes in the cookie dough, Nicholas asked the question that had been both their minds all day.

“Nana, we're worried. It's especially cold this year and we don't know how Santa's going to get in to give us our presents if daddy keeps the fire going in the fireplace all the time.”

“Yeah,” Holly added, “Mom says Santa's magical. How is that possible?”

“Well, kids, Santa is magical. He and his reindeer are able to fly with ease from house to house every Christmas Eve because of their very special powers. He can enter houses where there is no chimney, so don't you worry your sweet little heads,” Nana reassured the little ones. “If you promise not to tell, I'll let you in on a little secret of my own.”

Nana smiled at Holly and Nicholas. She excited to let them in on a story she had been patiently waiting for sixty-something years to share with her future grandchildren and now they were finally old enough to be entrusted with her secret. It had not been shared with anyone else, not even her own children.

While Nana, Holly and Nicholas busied themselves baking and decorating Christmas cookies to give as gifts to everyone on their very large friends and family list, she began to tell the story of “Santa's Magical Key.”

“Many, many years ago, fireplaces were the only way people had to keep warm. In most homes, they were also the only way families had for preparing meals, which meant there was always a fire burning in the fireplace. That also meant that Santa had to be very creative in finding ways to get into the houses as quickly and quietly as possible. He had to take care not to waken the children while he was delivering all the toys the elves had worked so hard on all year long. He placed them under the trees so all the good little boys and girls would awaken early Christmas morning to a tree surrounded by presents.”

Nicholas and Holly put their special touches on the cookies while Nana carefully placed the previously decorated ones in the oven.

“Now how do you suppose Santa is able to get into houses without using the chimney?” Nana asked.

She and the children sat down at the kitchen table where Nana had placed frosting and sprinkles for them to use on the cookies.

“Through a window?” Nicholas asked.

“Maybe one of the doors?” Holly added.

“Both are good suggestions,” Nana agreed, “but how Santa does it is his big secret. So how do you think he gets in?”

Both children thought and thought then shrugged their shoulders.

TO BE CONTINUED...