Holiday Memories: Clara & Santa

Clara & Santa

Our daughter, Clara (now 6 years old; Down Syndrome, Autism) was born at 26 weeks so she was medically housebound her first Christmas. We were really focusing on the fact that our first baby could not have her picture taken with Santa Claus. We lived near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and went nuts when we drove past a little tourist trap of country antique stores and saw Santa rocking and waving from a cabin porch. It seemed perfect – no malls, no crowds, and Clara was already dressed in a preemie Santa suit. We rushed in and pushed our 6-pound baby into Santa’s surprised arms, ng tube, apnea monitor and all! As Santa and Clara stared at each other in shock, I got a closer look at old Santa’s red, chapped, and dirty hands. I saw his bloodshot, runny eyes, and my “baby’s first Christmas” obsessed brain finally focused.  The antique mall and cabins were a series of sheds with no running water or electricity. I went from “hooray, it’s Santa” to “Santa probably has to pee behind his shed and has no place to wash his hands and I just handed him my baby.” We got our precious picture, together with a bonus gift of priorities.

Anara Midgett, Thompsons Station, Tenn

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This post originally appeared on our November/December 2011 Magazine