Twelve-year-old Ashley Enright loved the way that the town of Donnybrook, Maine looked during the weeks before Christmas. The day after Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations appeared all over town almost as if by magic!
The street lamps in town were wrapped with green garland and tied with big red bows. The huge fir tree in the town square was decorated with huge ornaments and strung with colorful lights. Each year, the storeowners had a meeting in the summer to decide the theme for their Christmas window displays. Last year, the theme was a Victorian Christmas. This year, the store windows were decorated with holiday scenes from literature and popular Christmas stories.
Two weeks before Christmas, Ashley was in town with her mother picking up a few Christmas gifts. She stopped to look at the window displays. Ella’s Sweet Shop’s display featured children nestled all snug in their beds while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. Ralph’s Electronic shop window showed Bob Cratchit in Scrooge’s counting house. Charlie Brown and his friends gathered around a Christmas tree in the window of The General Store. Schroeder’s Diner’s window showed the Grinch and his dog Max dressed up as Santa and his reindeer. Jay’s Hobbyland’s window displayed a bell on the branch of a Christmas tree and a copy of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” Ashley smiled to herself and thought about how this scene was from her father’s favorite movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
The window of Tyler’s Toys had a giant copy of Santa’s list. The list included items that were on the City Council’s “to do” list (like a new handicapped ramp for the entrance to the Senior Center and a new playground for the community center.)
The people in town were all talking about how some of the things on the list were being done by a mysterious person. The Donnybrook Globe had a small story on the front page about how a ramp had mysteriously appeared at the Senior Center overnight. The headline read, “The Search for Santa Claus.” Three days later, there was another story about how the community center now had a new playground.
One morning at the breakfast table in the Enright house, the family was discussing how things were being steadily checked off the list.
“I’ll bet it’s Burt Summers who’s doing this. After all, he is an expert at woodcarving,” said Ashley. Burt Summers was the apprentice to the town’s master woodcarver.
“Well, you should ask him the next time you see him,” said Ashley’s father as he folded the morning paper.
“Maybe it’s really Santa Claus,” said Ashley’s 6-year-old sister, Kelly, with wide eyes.
“It might just be Santa,” answered Ashley’s mother. “Have you written your letter to Santa yet?”
“No,” answered Kelly. “Where’s some paper? I’ll do it right now!”
Ashley laughed and said, “You might want to finish your breakfast first, silly goose!”
Ashley and her best friend, Josh, were talking about the giant list one afternoon as they sat in their favorite booth by the window in Ella’s Sweet Shop.
“Hey, hey,” said their waitress Carolann as she came to their table. “What’ll it be today? Oh, as if I didn’t know with you two!”
Ashley laughed and said, “Yes, I guess we’ll have the usual. Have you heard about how things on the giant list in Tyler’s Toys’ window are being magically done?”
Carolann laughed and said, “It’s not all magic!”
“What do you mean?” asked Josh.
Carolann shrugged and said, “Well, Kaitlyn and I provided the stacks of newspapers for the animal shelter.”
“Really?” said Ashley.
“Sure,” said Carolann. “Kaitlyn and I were talking one day about the list and we realized that this was something we could do. So, we went around town one day and collected newspapers. Even Ella helped out and provided fifty pounds of dog food and fifty pounds of cat food.”
“Wow,” said Josh. “That’s incredible! She always watches over her penny candy table like a hawk. Who knew she had a heart?”
“Of course, Ella has a big heart,” laughed Carolann. “She just doesn’t like people to know it! Even Fred Beasley and the other officers at the Donnybrook Police station have gotten involved and donated 100 new books to the library.”
At dinner that evening, Ashley was telling her family about how people in the community were checking items off of Santa’s list.
Gram smiled and winked and said, “That’s true, dear. I’ve organized a group who will regularly visit the residents of Donnybrook’s Nursing Home.”
Ashley was amazed at what her grandmother admitted. She was absolutely shocked when her mother said, “That’s right, I’ve donated a week of public relations consulting to local charities to help them with their fund-raising campaigns. Your father and his colleagues at The Powers Institute of Technology promised whale-watching tours in the spring for local schools.”
“Wow,” said Ashley in amazement. “That’s awesome.”
“Well,” said Gram. “This time of year it’s especially important to think about how we can help others and to do it!”
“Wait,” said Kelly. “What is Santa doing?”
“I’m sure he’s saved some important things on the list for him to do,” said Ashley’s father with a wink.
After dinner, Ashley called Josh and told her what her family had told her.
“Well, guess what, Ashes,” said Josh. “My father said that he’s offered a series of school presentations about archeology and my mom volunteered to host the reading hour at the library for a month and signed up her friends for the whole year! My mom said that Kathleen, the reference librarian, offered free quilting classes at the community center.”
Two days before Christmas, The Donnybrook Globe reported that the Community Center’s calendar was being filled with free classes to be offered by town members. The story said that the members of the City Council were overwhelmed by the generosity of the town. The story quoted Council Chairman George Fellmann who said, “Our Christmas wish list is almost complete. There are a few things left to go, but I know we’ll get them.”
The last thing on the Christmas list was a tree topper for the town square’s Christmas tree.
Christmas Eve in Donnybrook was very busy! Luminerios lined the streets that led into town. The stores were open late and provided hot chocolate, eggnog and Christmas cookies. Carolers wandered the streets singing Christmas carols. The Enright family with Josh and his family slowly wandered through town before going to Midnight Mass.
Ashley and Josh hung back to look at the Christmas tree in the town square. “We’ll be right there,” Ashley yelled to her family. Then she sighed and said, “It looks like everything was done on the Christmas list except the tree topper.”
“Oh well,” said Josh. “There’s always next year.”
Ashley laughed and said, “That’s what my father always says about the New York Mets ‘there’s always next year!’”
“Well,” said Josh. “It’s true.” Then he gasped and looked at the top of the tree. “Ashes, look!” He pointed to the top of the tree where a beautiful angel now sat on top.
“Where did that come from?” asked Ashley.
Then they saw a man in a red velvet suit with white fur trim move from behind the tree. His blue eyes twinkled and his belly shook as he laughed. He winked at them, laid a finger alongside his nose and disappeared.
“Ashes,” whispered Josh in wonderment. “Was that who I think it was?”
“I think so,” answered Ashley. “Merry Christmas, Josh.”
“Merry Christmas, Ashley,” said Josh.
Merry Christmas to all! My wish is that 2007 is filled with love, peace, joy, happiness and prosperity for all! Warm regards, Lauren E. Smith
