“There he is Momma!” My hearted pounded. Could it be? I pressed my nose against the back window of the car and pointed toward the night sky. “I see Rudolph’s red blinking nose!”
My mother gazed out of her side window. “Sorry honey. That’s a blinking light from an airplane.”
“You sure Momma?”
She paused for a second. “Yes, I am.”
My eight-year-old eyes continued to probe the star-filled night sky. I have always loved gazing into the Heavens, especially at night. I still do. But that night I was desperate to see Santa’s sleigh in flight. There was a horrible rumor going around my class at school that Santa wasn’t real.
I needed to prove he was real. Not believing in Santa was one step toward growing up that I wasn’t ready to take.
It was a short drive to my Mamaw Holbert’s house on Christmas Eve, so that didn’t leave me a lot of time to find the light from Santa’s sleigh. Unfortunately for me, I saw many red blinking airplane lights. Even now when I see an airplane flying at night, I think of that ride in the car.
On the way back home, I leaned my head against the back window. Why even bother to search the night sky? Maybe it was time I faced the truth. The disappointing truth.
Then I had an idea, but it was a long shot. What if I needed to be looking toward my house instead of up in the sky? When we drove past the spot where our house was on the other side of the ridge, I leaned forward and pressed my face into the window again.
Right above the tree line, I saw a humongous dazzlingt white light. Directly in front of it was a small red light. They both flashed and, in an instant, they were gone.
In those days, cameras had the flash with a large bulb. Let me tell you, when they went flashed, you saw spots in front of you for about ten minutes. To me, those flashes were almost painful. Well, this bright white light was the same kind of brilliant flash, except it didn’t hurt my eyes.
In my child’s mind, I knew I had seen Santa and his sleigh rise up from our backyard with Rudolph in the front. And the brilliant flash was them rocketing skyward before anybody could see them.
I jumped around in the seat and exclaimed: “I just saw Santa and his sleigh take off!”
“No, you didn’t honey. It was just your imagination,” My mother answered.
“Didn’t you see that light?” I couldn’t believe they had missed it.
“Neither one of us saw it,” my dad answered this time.
I knew what I had seen and I couldn’t wait to get home and prove them wrong. As soon as my dad stopped the car and shifted it into park, I leapt out and ran toward our house. My parents didn’t like that either. But once we were inside, I saw the presents Santa left behind.
“See! I told you!” I proclaimed as I ripped into them.
Needless to say, when I went back to school after the Christmas break, I told everybody in my class about my close encounter with Santa Claus.
That was fifty years ago and I can still see that flash of white light in my mind. But, what did I really see? Was it just the imagination of a desperate child? Or did I see some other kind of marvel and interpreted it as Santa and his sleigh?
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:27
Actually, this will always be a fun and awesome memory. Even now, I smile when I think about it. But there will only be One who will be coming in the Eastern sky one day. There will be no doubt about how real He is.
Do I still look into the sky on Christmas Eve? Yep, I do and I plan on continuing to do so. That is as long as I have a cup of hot chocolate with me.
Brooke Cox is an author, speaker, and storyteller. She was a 2016 Selah Awards Finalist for Debut Novel. Her children’s book: “Dinosaur Eggs,” is now available. It is based on Ephesians 6: The Armor of God. Her novel “Until the Moon Rises: A Conniving Cousin Mystery” is also available. Also, she has two books out in her storytelling series: “Saucy Southern Stories.” The Amazon links for her books may be found on her website: brookecoxstories.com. Please feel free to contact her. She would love to hear from you.