The Picture of Santa

Christmas of 2003 my family traveled to New York to celebrate with my Brother-in-Law's family. His daughter, Jacqueline, was five at the time and just on the cusp of not believing in Santa. They do not have a fireplace, thus no chimney. They always told Jacq that Santa had a Golden Key and entered through the front door.

Jacq was very concerned about this. With us staying there one of my boys would have to sleep on the couch in the living room where the Christmas tree was displayed. She was concerned Santa might wake up Taylor when he entered with his key. If Taylor was awake Santa might bolt and forget to leave the presents. This meant the "Shopping Spree Barbie" doll she asked for might not be forth coming. My brother-in-law, Cleve, called me for elder parent advice on how best to deal with the situation. After thinking about it for awhile I came up with a plot worthy of the CIA. Here was the plan.

On Christmas morning Taylor would tell Jacqueline this story:

In the middle of the night he heard the door open and it was Santa delivering presents. He pretended to be asleep, but secretly grabbed his camera and just as Santa finished he snapped a picture of him, as he was leaving. Unfortunately he was out the door before he could get a good picture of his face. Then Taylor would show Jacqueline the picture on his digital camera.

To accomplish this Cleve sent me pictures of his front door from various angles after the tree was up and decorated for Christmas. It was then my turn in "PhotoShop hell" for a few days. I constructed the major parts of Santa Claus, scaled it to fit and layered the various parts between the door and the room. It took a while to get the shadows to line up and everything to register but it was a labor of love. After it was done I downloaded it to Taylors camera and the ruse was set. I was certain that physical photographic evidence of St. Nick himself exiting her very house would be a moment Jacq would never forget.

The morning came, the "Shopping Spree Barbie" was under the tree and Jacqueline woke us all up very early. Taylor let her absorb the moment but at just the right time started to tell the tale.
She listened and smiled and when the smoking gun clue flashed on the screen of the camera, her face was a blank. "That's nice," she said, and quickly returned to attending Barbie. It was not the reaction I had anticipated.

As we thought about it later we realized we were looking at it with non-believers eyes. Of course she did not go crazy with wonder. If you believe in Santa Claus, why is a picture of him in your house any more astounding than a picture of any of us by the front door. A picture is a picture.

The next summer I moved to New York for my off Broadway run. On a day off I went to Cleve's house for a 4th of July party. There were several of Jacqueline's friends and parents there. I was introduced as "crazy Uncle Jay" who plays with puppets. At some point Cleve quietly called me down to the basement to observe the girls at play. They were all sitting around the computer. Jacqueline was holding court. It went something like this.

"And that's when my cousin, Taylor, who was sleeping on the couch took a picture just as he was going out the door." She clicked the mouse and up came the Santa Photo from the Christmas before onto the screen. One of the little girls said, "I knew he was real." The others "oooed" and "ahhed" at the proof. Cleve and I beamed silently from the shadows.

Sometimes you don't know what you have accomplished until months, days, maybe years later. But one thing I know for sure, any task you do for love, comes back in the most delightful ways.
As you were,
Jay