A True Account of Father Christmas

By Yvette Gayet, Denmark

Once upon a time, so long ago that there is probably no one who remembers it any more, Saint Nicholas sat on a white cloud and let himself be rocked by a light breeze up in the blue heaven. He sat there and thought, with a distant look... he was extremely bored. Think what passivity! But what should he find to do? He loooked up, and saw that the sun, that shone brighter than ever, untiringly continued its everlasting movement.

Day after day Saint Nicholas looked out over the horizon, while his thoughts were lost in space with an indescribable monotony. He leaned casually forward and his eyes met, like so many times before, the globe down there, which turned slowly round.

If only he had not been a Saint, he would joyfully go back to the lively world down there. That idea got him to dream a moment, he got a lively gleam in his eyes and his halo went a little crooked. Then a faint smile revealed that he had found a subject that attracted him.

Suddenly he took a long look, looked long, and long again... no he could not believe it ... but nevertheless his hearing became sharper, his eyes more clear-sighted, and his binoculars (? if this is correct) became really sharp. My God! he exclaimed with his holy voice, "what is happening down there?" Thousands, Hundreds of thousands of children were praying. What were they so strongly taken up with?

As well as he could remember, no one had ever seen anything like it.

A whisper of it came to his ear, and he caught it. It concerned sweets and toys and games and much, much more. When he leaned even further forward his eye was caught by some children who had crawled together in a corner. Their sad eyes seemed to want to say: We are hungry, we freeze, we can use a bit of love, we can use some hope! We so much want to be glad!

After a few seconds Saint Nicholas sank down in deep meditation. Finally he lifted his halo laden head. He had made a decision. Now he needed to get into action. One could not let the situation get worse. The children on his greatly loved earth needed help and it must be a fast and effective help.

Without wasting a second he rushed into action with his telepathic cable and contacted all the known factories in heaven and gave them orders to immediately make a mass of things. So many that even he could not count them.

Gradually the orders came in, were checked, registered, stored or returned (for even in heavenly factories there could very well occur a mistake in the middle of this hectic business).

You saw Saint Nicholas everywhere, here and there and all places, checking that all went precisely as it should. He had recruited some angels, who again had taken some assistants to help, and there was an enormous flapping of wings.

At last all went as it should

After a number of months' activity the storehouses were filled up and Saint Nicholas made a final examination of the plan of how the gifts should be distributed.

Christmas Eve, the 24th. December was chosen, and on that night there were tremendous disturbances in all comers of the planet. Therefore I won't make a detailed report.

No one was disappointed about the final result.

It was an unforgettable night. Never before had so many children had so many wishes granted. Never before had there been so many glad faces and heard so many cries of joy from all the corners of the earth. No one had seen anything like it before.

On Christmas day, the 25th december a light wind blew over the surface of the earth and swept all sorrows, all anger, and all brutality away.

The air became as clear as crystal, as Saint Nicholas again retired to his white cloud. He leaned forward again and saw that the earth lay bathed in a quiet atmosphere of gladness and happiness.

It was a complete success.

Since then, no one has seem Saint Nicholas bored.

Finally he had found a worthwhile activity to work with and all his thoughts were concentrated on the wonderful night, when he should once again be Father Christmas to the great joy of all children.

So, long live Father Christmas, and may his magic name be echoed by large and small from one end of the planet to the other.

For ever.

Editorial note: On being presented with this manuscript we were presented with a problem: Did it have enough to do with scientology to bring in this magazine? We present it to you, with our heartfelt wish for a good Christmas (for those that celebrate Christmas) and best wishes for a 1996 (to all who use that type of calendar). But another little problem presented itself. Many moons ago we adopted the editorial policy of having a light, even funny article to start the ball rolling in each issue. We have not done it. Help! Readers - send us some short, light, even funny articles (that have a little to do with scientology, or the spirit behind scientology).