Great story Paul!

My Mum used to always go that extra mile, too. She never pulled off anything of that calibre, but she made it a lot of fun.

One year we woke up to find that she'd left us a kind of treasure hunt all over the house with clues to guide us to find our eventual stash of pressies. The clues were all beautifully written and decorated with little bows and things. I reckon the hunt must have lasted about half an hour, which was pretty inventive seeing as we didn't have a big house. Great fun.

When I was grown up, I mentioned it to my Mum one time as the best Christmas I could remember, and she burst into tears, and told me that she'd done it to try to distract us from not having many presents. My Dad had walked out on her (again) at the beginning of December that year and not left her with anything but bills.

Both my sister and I can remember very clearly the whole hunt thing, but neither of us can remember noticing, much less caring, that our Dad wasn't there. Which kind of says it all.

Sadly, by the time I got my stepson he was already not believing in Santa anymore. But if I'd thought I could pull off a feat like your Dad, I'd have gone for it!

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"you are terrifying
and strange and beautiful
something not everyone knows how to love." - Warsan Shire