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| The Man, The Myth, The Legend. |
Santa Claus: the jolly fat man in a red suit, who breaks into your house to leave you gifts under an overly decorated lovely tree. Santa Claus can be the scariest thing to infants but most delightful thing to young children all around the world. Melaina was a young imaginative seven year-old. The bouncy brown curls she once had as a child have now been constrained by a tight pony tail. She was a shy but curious child who would often question the things she was told.
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| My sister Danielle on Christmas Day with her brand new guitar. |
One day in Ms. Ray's vibrant second grade classroom she heard a few kids whispering, she approached them and inquisitively asked, "Whatcha talking about?" The children then looked around in a paranoid manor to see if any teachers were lurking. The young boy named Sam then looked at her with wide eyes and signaled her over with a slight hand gesture. Sam then said, "This is top secret you have to pinky promise not to tell Ms. Ray, PINKY PROMISE!!" Melaina complied and they wrapped their pinkies around one another and she said, "I promise." Sam looked around one more time cautiously and then said, "So ya know Santa Clause??" she replied "Duhhhh of course I do" Sam went on and explained, "Santa is your mom, Santa does not exist." Right then and there Melaina froze and forced back her tears and angrily spat, "No way, nuh uhh, you are lying, of course Santa is real!" Sam then said "I'm not lyin, my older sister told me. She also told me that my mom told her before she went to middle school." She was devastated by this news but still had hope that Santa was real.
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| My Christmas Tree |
Melaina ripped through her door and ran into her older sister Nicole's lime green room, she was listening to some pop music and doing homework. Nicole gave her an annoyed look for not knocking and said "What's wrong?" She had asked her older sister about what she heard. Melaina figured Nicole would know since she was in Middle School. Nicole's eyes got wide and she got nervous, she shrugged her off in a dismissive way, she said, "I don't know...ask mom" defensively. Melaina waited attentively by the door for her mom to get home from work. Her mom pulled in the drive way and came up to the door with a troubled look on her face at the sight of her daughter upset. She hurried to the door and when she opened it asked, "What is wrong Melaina?" She cried a little and then said, "Someone told me Santa is you and that he is make believe." Her mother Marie scrunched her nose and looked angry and said, "Who on earth told you that?" She replied, "I pinky promised I wouldn't tell" Marie continued, "Of course he is real don't be silly!" Unrelieved, Melaina waved her white flag but new their needed to be further investigation she waited for night time to make her next move.
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| My Family with "Santa" on Christmas Eve |
Sitting downstairs watching "SpongeBob Squarepants" Melaina heard the shower go on upstairs, she sprung up and went upstairs quietly like a burglar in the dead of night. When the coast was clear Melaina ran into her mom's room and began looking under her bed, in draws, behind furniture for any sign of Christmas presents. Finally, bingo Melaina had found a pile of wrapped presents in the corner of her mom's closet. She closely examined them boxes that were wrapped in red Santa Claus paper. The culprit was a small box with a reindeer tag on it. That was when she knew, in sloppy hand writing the tag read "To Marie Love, Santa." The world around her began to spin Melaina knew the truth, that her mom lied to her today and worst of all Santa was not real. She was filled with rage and sadness recognize all the other things that were not real.
Melaina took the present and went downstairs in the kitchen to wait for her mom to come down to pack lunches. She sat at the kitchen table admiring her Christmas tree from afar and as she looked down at the present she felt like a bit of her childhood faded. Melaina felt like a mom waiting for a teenager who came back late after curfew ready to lecture. When her mom came down the stairs she gave her the present and yelled, "You lied you are Santa." Her mother tried to keep it together by saying Santa came early but she knew her daughter was not budging. Then she became upset and Melaina was not ready for the lecture she was about to receive. Her mother went on about snooping and how awful it was. What Melaina did not realize is her mom was truly upset that her middle child has now figured out the truth and is growing older right in front of her eyes and their is nothing she can do to stop it. Melaina recognized she was growing up too and that because of this significant event. It saddened her that she wasn't oblivious to the magic of the holidays anymore. This was important because it reinforced her ability to not believe everything she was told. She learned to do her own digging to find the truth. Through it all Melaina felt lucky because she was happy that she still had her younger sister to keep the magic alive in.
Word Count: 933
Yes, you've chosen a key event in most children's lives--the moment when they recognize that Santa Claus is made up. This is such an important time moment because, as you've shown here, it's not just the loss of this particular fairy tale, it's way bigger--it's also when you realize that your parents are capable of deceiving you. And then you realize that it's not just your mom or your dad, but it's also the whole culture that keeps telling the lie. Lastly, it's the loss of the magic of childhood. You've succeeded too in achieving one of the main goals of fiction writing--your character has been changed by the action of the story. She's not the same person at the end as she was when we began. That is key. You'll notice that is what happens in most story-telling--the events of the story alter the individual(s) effected by them. For the next writing assignment, see if you can focus in more specifically on the particular details. You mention that the older sister has a lime green room, and you describe the girl in the beginning, but we'd like to see even more of her world and you can show that by giving us sensory details. You're our eyes into this scene and your words and descriptions are the only things that can make this vivid and specific for us.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this story since its very relatable. The moment of discovering santa is not real shows a key moment of growth in ones childhood.The dialogue within the classroom between other students is accurate to how young children would have talked and it is effective in displaying the setting.
ReplyDeleteThis brought me back to when I had realized that Santa wasn't real!! I still remember the morning I woke up and realized that my mom had been lying to me about him the entire time, and I believe I was really sad at first haha. The vivid detailing you include, like talking to the classmates who were also just starting to figure out that Santa was a lie, made your story very relatable and amusing to read.
ReplyDeleteVery fun story, and also very relatable I was able to make connections with your story and stories of my own. I do think the clear cut details that were included help you to actually try to remember times where i was in a similar situation with my parents or one of my siblings.
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