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Letters to the EditorsSanta wore brown
The Christmas my daughter Penny was 3 years old, I had a chance to go to college. So we left Texas and got our own apartment two states away from my extended family and all our friends. Christmas that year was long distance, courtesy of the U.S. Mail and UPS. Every so often a knock on the door and a large brown box was delivered. These boxes held presents from grandma or Auntie or numerous other relatives. It was soon to became Christmas Eve, and I finally managed to put a very excited 3-year-old into bed. Santa was coming that night! Penny had set out the traditional cookies for Santa on the red and green plate we bought for the occasion and a Coke. Santa liked Coke. All the commercials said so. So the chocolate chip cookies were set out and so was the Coke, and off Penny trotted to bed. About 11:30 that night the door bell rang. I opened it to see the recognizable brown UPS truck at the curb and the young driver in the brown uniform holding a large box. I was signing for the box when my daughter came running down the hall. Santa had come! And he had brought presents! She skidded to a stop and ran to get the cookies and Coke to give to Santa. The young man knelt down to receive them from her, and she scampered back to bed. He then told me that he had been making his rounds since five o'clock that morning and it would be another four hours before his truck was empty and he headed for home. He looked at the cookies and Coke in his hand and added: "Thank you. Your daughter has just made my job worth it." Then Santa climbed into his brown UPS truck and continued on his rounds. My daughter Penny was the center of attention when she got back to preschool because, you see, she saw Santa on Christmas Eve and gave him his cookies and Coke.
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