Yes, Virginia - er, Will and Owen - There is a Santa Claus, and I Have His Phone Number!

Please join me in welcoming a guest blogger, my sister-in-law, Fun Aunt Molly. She posted this story on her blog, and she gave me permission to reproduce it here. She's a wonderful writer and storyteller. Enjoy!

(originally posted on 12/15/09)

HE DOES EXIST

This past Friday afternoon, I took my almost-five-year-old nephews out to the MOA for a birthday field trip. We had juice boxes at Starbucks, went on the log flume, built monkeys-in-star-wars-costumes at Build-A-Bear, went on the log flume again, and played some kind of remote-controlled boats game. That last one is a little fuzzy to me, because while the boys were busily ramming their boats into each other, Nurse Jane called to have me clarify a couple of birthday/Christmas presents with them.

"Boys: which one of you wanted the remote-controlled spider, and which one of you wanted the remote-controlled scorpion?"

Owen gave me a look of scorn and said, "Who's askin'?"

"Santa. Which one did you want?"

"Well... the spider. Is it really Santa? Tell him I'm SAVING UP FOR IT and he can get me something else."

So I wrapped up the call with Mom and resumed boat-crash-watching. I could tell Owen was still pondering my phone call, as he'd given up chasing his brother's boat and was just bashing his repeatedly into the wall of the pond.

When it was time to leave, I bent down to zip up Owen's coat and he looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Were you really talking to Santa? How'd he get your number?"

"Yes! I've known Santa for a long time. He and I keep in touch."

Will had been remarkably silent the whole time. As he reached up to take my hand so we could head out to the parking lot, he said, "Does Santa know you are with US?"

I told him that I was SURE Santa knew.

And just to prove it to them, I decided we should have a conference call with Santa.

I sent a text to one of my (and my brothers') oldest & dearest friends, Davey. For those of you who don't know Davey: too bad for you. Also: he is the world's biggest kid. And he has a great, deep baritone voice that can HO-HO-HO-HO-HO like no other. My message said "Davey! Are you around? Owen & Will don't believe that I have Santa's number."

He responded with "Oh, BUT YOU DO."

The three of us headed over to Punch pizza in St. Paul, and when we pulled into a parking spot in the lot, I put the car in park and dialed Davey's number. My car syncs phone calls through the speakers, so we could all hear Davey and he could hear all of us. The next five minutes went something like this:

"HOOOOOOO HO HO HO HO HO HO!! Helloooo!"

"Santa! It's Molly."

"Well HO HO HO HO hello! And... are you... are you with... OWEN WATSON??"

{crickets}

"hisanta."

"And if Owen is there... that must mean... IS WILLIAM WATSON THERE, TOO?"

"i'mherehisanta."

"So it's the WATSON BOYS! HO HO HO HO HO! Well, boys, I haven't seen your letters to Santa yet! Have you sent them?"

"WE'RE SENDING THEM TONITE WE'RE SENDING THEM TONITE!!!!!"

"OH good!! Have you boys been GOOD BOYS this year?"

"SO GOOD. YES. YES!! NO. Well... YES! YES!"

"And are you going to leave me some... COOKIES?!?!"

"And MILK! And milk!"

"I WILL LEAVE CARROTS FOR THE REINDEER!"

"Well, thank you, Watson Boys! Now, don't be stingy with the milk this year, because Santa is NOT lactose intolerant and he likes lots of milk with his cookies!"

"AND WE WILL LEAVE CARROTS!! FOR THE REINDEER!"

"I WILL LEAVE YOU ALL THE COOKIES WE HAVE!!!"

"Well, I am out on a training run with my reindeer right now. And... what's this? I am flying over St. Paul, Minnesota right now!!"

The boys craned their little necks to try and look out the windows.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!?!?! ARE YOU IN THE SKY?!"

"Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! Merry Christmaaaaaaaaaaaaas!"

And he hung up.

I turned around and looked in the backseat of my car, and there sat two little wide-eyed boys. I think there had been a collective pants-crapping as soon as they heard the first "Ho".

"Well? Now do you believe me? I DO have Santa's phone number!"

Will just stared at me with those innocent eyes, like HOLY CRAP. WE ARE IN FOR IT NOW.

Owen got hold of himself, turned to Will, and said, "Will, we better get our letters mailed."

Will could only nod. We all got out of the car to go in and order pizza, and as he again reached up to grab my hand so we could walk across the parking lot, he looked up at me, got the biggest grin on his face, and said, "You must be on Santa's nice list. And Owen. AND ME!"

And I just died a little inside with the sweet innocence of it all. Can you imagine? You're almost five and you JUST TALKED TO SANTA ON THE PHONE? Probably the best night ever. I know it's definitely in my top five.