A letter from Santa

It is Christmas time! And people in Missouri are sparkling with joy and laughter. They are exchanging greetings cheerfully.

“Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas!”, a Missouri man in the Santa Claus Costume greets the pedestrians on the pavement.

One can experience the magic of Christmas with beautiful street decorations and lights in Missouri. Even Ella’s clothes store is illuminated with lights.

Inside the store, the slim looking Ella is designing a lovely frock for a customer while humming to the tune of a classic Christmas song, ‘Jingle Bells’. She is a hardworking woman with no pay because the store is run by her step-mom, Nancy and step-sister, Ava. Yet, Ella is a self-content and happy soul.

Her life is so predictable. She not only toils day and night at her boutique but also at home. However, the universe creates some life-changing opportunities in her life.

One fine morning, when Ella, clad in her white tee and blue jeans went to the store, her friend Rosy stopped her at the entrance.

“Happy Morning, Ella, check out this pamphlet once! It brightens up your day!

“What is it about, Rosy?” asking her inquisitively.

“It’s a music competition! It is going to be held in the community hall.” said Rosy.

“Really? Let me look at it! Oh my god! It is tomorrow evening.” said enthusiastically. But, I don’t have much time for preparation!, said worriedly.

“You can do it, Ella! Just start working on it.” said encouragingly.

Okay, Rosy! Thank you so much for the motivating words. I will start preparing for tomorrow’s event right away.” said Ella

That’s great, Ella! See you tomorrow.” said Rosy

As soon as Rosy left her with exciting information, she went inside the store happily. A few minutes later, her step-mom and step-sister dropped by the store.

Seeing her step-mom, Ella eagerly exclaimed, “

Mom, a music competition is organised on Christmas Day. I would like to participate in it!”

Her cold and cruel step-mom scoffingly said, “How silly that a poor girl like you wants to sing!” Both step-mom and step-sister laughed out loud looking at each other.

“Forget it and get back to your work!” said her step-sister glaringly.

Hearing this, Ella’s head hung low and had tears in her eyes. She slowly dragged her feet to work. That night, lying on the bed, she gazed at the stars in the sky from her skylight window and remembered her mom. She gradually drifted off to sleep with a heavy-heart.

At 12 in the midnight, there were sudden bright flashes of light in the sky as if the universe is conspiring something. Out of the misty sky, there comes our Santa Claus on his sleigh with lots of presents on the eve of Christmas!

Santa stops by her glass window and enters her dark-lit room. “Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas, Ella!” utters with a warm and compelling voice. And then, he leaves a square shaped gift wrapped box near her and swiftly goes off to another lovely person.

Next morning, when Ella woke up to the chirping of birds, she caught the sight of a purple coloured gift box on her bed. “What is this?” asked herself curiously looking at the box. “How did it come into my room?”, seeing all the doors and windows are closed.

At once, she opened the box and looked for the contents of the box. To her surprise, she found a letter and read it eagerly.

My Dear Ella,

Believe in yourself. Hold fast to your dreams!

Love,

Santa Claus

Seeing a special letter from Santa, her happiness knew no bounds. She immediately jumped to her feet and ran towards her cupboard to look for a suitable dress for the music competition. Luckily, she found her mom’s gown and re-designed it into a beautiful frock with a small red coloured bow at the midriff.

On the special night, she wore the pretty red frock and stealthily reached the community along with Rosy.

The entire community hall was decorated with a Christmas tree, Christmas ornaments, wreaths and garlands. The stage was raised at the centre of the hall for the music competition.

Ella approached a volunteer and asked, “Hello! Where is the registration counter? I want to enrol for the competition.

“Okay, Please go straight towards the tent where you can register yourself for the competition.”

“Thank you,” said Ella

After the registration, she eagerly waited for her turn. When her name was announced, she jumped to her feet and went on to the stage. Her melodious voice mesmerised everyone, including the judges and a young organiser, Joe, who was held up at the back stage. He immediately came to see the melodic singer.

When Joe approached Ella,

Hi! Ella, congratulations on your big win!”, praised her.

Hi! Thank you for your good wishes!”said Ella warmly.

“I am Joe, co-organiser of the event. You have a breathtaking voice. You need to come up with more stage performances.” said Joe

“Okay, Joe! Thank you. I will think about it.  It was nice meeting you, “said hurriedly as she knew she had to be at home asap.

She reached home and was thankful to Santa and her mom for such a huge opportunity. That night, she had a peaceful sleep.

Next morning, step-mom and step-sister were perplexed to see a man standing in front of their house. When her step-mom asked him his whereabouts, she got to know that Ella won the music competition from him, she was furious but kept to herself.

Ella was surprised to see Joe at her home.

“Hi Ella! I am here on behalf of my company to make an offer to you. We want you to give live performances in some cities. We will sponsor your events”, said Joe.

Ella was astonished hearing the proposal. She took some time to reply to him.

“Okay Joe, give me some time to think over it. I will get back to you on it”, said Ella thoughtfully.

“Alright then! Here is my contact number. We  are looking forward to your positive response,”said Joe and left the house.

Ella’s step-mom and step-sister were about to blast her, but Ella was not in the mood for an argument. She left for her room, contemplating on what to do about the offer.

She opened a box where her mom’s things like jewellery and diary are kept. Whenever she is at crossroads, she opens her mom’s diary for guidance. She randomly opened a page, and as the saying goes, “if you’re going to rise, you might as well shine!” Seeing it,  she was overwhelmed with tears and decided to follow her dreams!

She immediately went downstairs to her step-mom and step-sister,

“Mom, I am going to accept the offer.I know you won’t be happy with my decision, but it’s time for me to pursue my dreams”. said Ella confidently.

Her step-mom and step-sister knew it was coming and felt helpless. It looked as if the whole universe and incidents were conspiring against their will. They also know that they had lost control over Ella and her life. So, they remained silent.

Next day on phone,

“Hi Joe, this is Ella.”

“Hi Ella, I am waiting for your call.”

“Joe, I want to accept the offer.”

“That’s great news! We will meet tomorrow for further formalities.

“Okay Joe, Cya tomorrow.”

Since then, Ella’s life has completely changed for the better. This was possible not only due to her willingness to grab the opportunity that came her way,  but also her courageous nature to chase the dream and fulfil it.

Although she knew that the clothing store was in her name, she never claimed it. They parted ways and lived happily hereafter.

Moral: The universe conspires to make our dreams happen if we truly believe in achieving it.

-Haritha Atluri is an educator in phonics, and language, and a passionate education writer with 9 years of experience. She specializes in adult communication and children’s phonics.