It’s December 24 in the evening. Already. A beautiful flaky snow is falling gently on the city. At the age of 6, little Rose waits quietly.
She wonders if Santa will finally stop for her. The truth is that behind her long blonde curls, Rose fears the worst. The Christmas before, Saint Nicholas had not stopped at her house. An unexplained tragedy.
Not even the slightest greeting from his large hand wrapped in his beautiful white gloves. No gifts. Santa Claus had simply forgotten her.
It was the first time, it must be said. Rose’s heart had shattered into a thousand pieces. His friends in the neighborhood had seen Santa Claus. He exists because he had visited them.
The gifts they had received were concrete proof of this. Rose knew this perfectly well. But why hadn’t he come to see her?
Tonight, Rose prays. She looks up into the sky towards the North Pole. Alone in her room, she implores Santa Claus not to forget her again. Her mother, worried to see her so sad, invites her to go to bed.
“Santa Claus won’t come by until after midnight,” she told him, “so you have to sleep so he can do what he has to do.”
The sound of bells
Rose looks at her mother with her big brown eyes and says nothing. For a year, she has never dared to ask him why Santa Claus had ignored their address.
Listening to her mother, she goes to bed for the night. His mother is sad too. In fact, she is more and more often, but she never says why.
Worry eats away at Rose so much that she is unable to sleep. At midnight, a beam of light suddenly pierces his window. Rose hears the sound of bells.
She sees the silhouette of a large flying sleigh pulled by majestic reindeer, the first of which appears to have a particularly red nose. She just can’t believe her eyes.
Rose no longer has a choice. She has to go see what’s going on outside. In her flannel pajamas and knitted slippers, she goes out in silence. It’s cold, but his heart is warm. Then she sees him. Straight in front of her is Santa Claus himself.
Yes yes. It’s him. The truth. Enveloping little Rose in his beneficent gaze, he waits for her to speak. “How come Santa Claus,” she asks him with tears in her eyes, “that you didn’t come to see me last year?”
“My beautiful Rose, let him whisper to her so as not to wake the neighbors, I was waiting for your question. How to tell you? First of all, I deeply apologize. I wanted to bring you your presents, but your dad, who has serious addiction problems, forbade me from entering.”
“I was very angry about it. But knowing you like I have known you since you were born, I knew you would be brave. Above all, I knew that your hope would be great enough for you to know despite my absence that I will always exist for you.
The greatest gift
Rose doesn’t know what to think anymore. Why had his own daddy done such a vile thing? she asks Santa Claus.
“You see, my little Rose,” he explains to her while the reindeer eat their snack, “we will never know the real reason. Perhaps he was too suffering in his being to open his heart to the magic of Christmas, who knows?
For Rose, it’s a big relief. She now knows that Santa never intended not to come see her. She is so happy about it that she forgets to ask him where his presents are.
Santa, fortunately, is well prepared. “Ho ho ho, my beautiful Rose! You must surely know that I have a very, very special gift for you. A gift that is priceless. A gift for life. For your life and that of your family. You wouldn’t have waited for me all this time for nothing.”
Santa Claus then takes out a large red satin envelope, topped with a magnificent golden curl like Rose’s hair. He told him this:
“My dear child, I offer you the most beautiful renewal. I offer you an end to your father’s addiction problem. You will find everything you need for him in the envelope. A wonderful center whose mission is this will be waiting for him as soon as he is ready. I trust. You and your family will live much better days afterward.”
Rose is stunned. How had Santa managed to guess that this was in fact the only gift she had dreamed of since her cradle?
With that, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Whether we are alone or not, may he bring us all the love that cannot be bought.