The Advent Surprise
It was in December of 1930, as I recall. My brother Joe
and I were very excited as Christmas approached. We had
already been treated to a personal interview with Santa
Claus on our cousin Billy Betson's birthday on December 7th.
Following a movie at the Palace Theater, his father had
taken about seven or eight of us down to Block & Kuhl's
Department Store and requested (and then demanded) that
Santa come out of the front window and personally greet each
of us kids! While cousin Bobby steimel and Joey (as he was
called in those days) were awed by the experience, Billy and
David Andrews and myself contented ourselves to confirm that
Santa's beard was a big fake.
As we prepared to celebrate Christmas in our home, things
pretty much revolved around Joey and me. (Brother Tom was
only a year and a half, and sister Mary would not be born
until the following September. At age 7, as indicated
above, I no longer believed in Santa, but my brother Joey
was a true and devoted believer in Mr. Claus, and spoke at
length with great emotion to the neighbors and family
members about Santa's coming and the many gifts he expected.
I should emphasize that Joey was a precocious child,
obviously possessing a high IQ, with an excellent
vocabulary, and with a great memory and talent for reciting
nursery rhymes and singing songs to perfection and without
prompting. In other words he could really communicate!
It was about the middle of December, when Dad got me
aside one day and said. "John, you know the Federal Bakery
horse and wagon that goes by our house. The next time that
the horse has a BM (language has been slightly altered
here!) in the street, get a shovel out of the garage and
spread some of it around the base of our chimney." My only
response was, "Why?" Dad replied, "You'll understand
later." Within a few days, the horse did his job, and I did
mine!
That night the conversation at the dinner table again
centered on Christmas. Both Mom and Dad gently reminded
both Joey and me that Santa is keeping an eye on all that we
do. When Joey expressed some doubt about this, Dad said
that he was sure that he had seen Santa just last night
looking in our windows. Joey's eyes appeared as big as half
dollars. Dad suggested that after we finish supper that we
take a flashlight and go outside and investigate. As we
came around the northwest corner of our house you can well
imagine Joey's utter astonishment when the beam of light
fell at the base of the chimney and revealed fresh
"reindeer" droppings! Dad casually suggested that we might
wish to share the news of this amazing find with other
members of our family.
I was instructed to go back to our garage, find a small
can with a lid, and bring it back to the site with a shovel.
Mom was not too keen about the idea, but Joey and I could
hardly wait to get into the car and head for 109 Ellis
Street, where we could share this exciting treasure with
Aunt Marie and Grandpa Trefzger. By now I felt like an
adult and an "insider" in this adventure, and was delighted
to observe others' reactions. Joey was almost breathless as
he told the whole story to Grandpa and Aunt Marie, now with
eyes as big as silver dollars, and dramatically gesturing on
each detail. When the can was opened, Marie thought it was
hilarious, while Grandpa in his gentle way, quietly chuckled
and patted little Joey on the head.
Obviously, one does not argue with success! Instead of
staying at Grandpa's for some candy or at least a soda pop,
with inspiration I suggested that we immediately go down to
Aunt Mary Schifeling's. Joey thought that was a good idea,
also. Marie was all smiles, and Dad offered no objection.
So, it was down Main street hill to Franklin, and on to 612
Second Street.
I can still hear the creaking of metal on metal, when we
opened the gate of the wrought iron fence in front of Aunt
Mary's old two-story house. It was awfully dark on the east
side of the house, but that was where the narrow sidewalk
led to the small porch and side door. (The front door was
only used for special occasions, and never in the winter
because it led into a small unheated hall that branched off
to the equally icy parlor on the right.) Aunt Mary was our
deceased grandmother Trefzger's maiden sister, and was
always happy to see us. No one had to explain how it
happened that we had come to visit that night. Four year
old Charles Joseph Trefzger, Jr. took the floor. With
genuine excitement he told the dramatic story in detail
about how Santa is soon coming at Christmas, and how he
brings toys to good boys (we didn't know much about girls at
our house--yet!), and how Santa has been looking in our
windows to see if we have been good. Aunt Mary listened
attentively and shared an encouraging smile with little
Joey, and said, "My, my, child!"
Finally Joey reached the exciting climax of his tale with
proof that Santa had been to our house with his reindeer
just the other night. He proudly took the top off the can
so that Aunt Mary could see for herself. Poor Aunt Mary was
not quite prepared for this Advent surprize! She looked
into the can with disbelieving eyes, but carefully smiled at
little Joey, and said as kindly as she could, "Isn't that
nice." But before she had ended that sentence and not yet
taken another breath, she looked up at my Dad with a look
that could kill and snarled, "You bugger!"
Anecdote from "I RECALL"
by John D. Trefzger
J23A-la
December, 1992
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