"Will I still get presents?"
Joey queried his Dad with an absolutely appealing childish voice full of
wonder. He was gazing out the French doors that opened onto their backyard patio. His light brown hair looped around his forehead and his innocent blue
eyes peered up at the tall kindly man, with the giant hands and knowing look, standing to his right.
Joey's second grade class had been studying
geography and Joey learned that nothing stood at the North Pole but a mass of shifting sea ice.
There was no Santa Claus, he had concluded. It was a made up story and the gift's and tree were
all placed there by his parents.
"There" was next to the outdoor fireplace that stood at the far end of the backyard patio. The Turf
Barbers had installed the fireplace two and a half years ago. Santa,
AKA Dad, had mysteriously begun leaving the tree and gifts in front of the fireplace,
and he explained that it was probably easier for Santa to leave
everything there than to carry it down the chimney. When it snowed, real snow, instead of
fake silver glitter, decorated the stately, holiday pine.
"Will you still leave a glass of
milk and plate of delicious cookies by the fireplace?" asked Dad.
"If I'm getting toys, you're
getting the milk and cookies," replied Joey.
"It's a deal," his Dad responded.
The plate of cookies was set out; the
toys came; and, as past years, the tree was left out until after New Year's Day. It had snowed twice between Christmas and New Year, and when Joey's father
finally took the conifer down, a thick bed of shimmering white was all that remained of their recent holiday festivities.
To install a professional patio and fireplace in the Yorktown Heights, Westchester County and Putnam County, NY area, call the Turf Barbers at (914)302-2469, or visit their website at http://www.theturfbarbers.com/Masonry.php.
